February 11, 2009

  • Cultural identity continues to be important within and among nations. However, I have encountered many Filipinos that question the "authenticity" of their identity. Somtimes they are uneasy about the heavy Spanish influence that came in with colonialism. At other times they wonder if their culture is a mixture of conflicting traditions and beliefs. Moreover, they fear that the Hispanic presence seems an oddity in a Southeast Asia that defines itself as non-Western.

    However, there are other ways to look atthe encounter between the Western and the indigenous. Dr. Steffi San Buenaventura introduced to me the concept of sycretism, where encounters of different cultures have generated a broader sense of community, where local culture and Spanish influence are combined, even as it was itself transformed by the latter, resulting in a new culture. Even "Southeast Asia" is a recent construct that should be redefined to reflect the diversity of the cultures present in it.