Professional Documents
Culture Documents
RememberingandForgettingAmerica
greener pastures. When we look at Americans, we see friends and allies. Many Filipinos go
through lengths to get to the US, to marry an American, and have that American twang when
speaking English. We love their cars, their chocolates, their education, and even theirgenes.As
Patricia Evangelista describes, she and many children all over the Philippines wanted to be
blonde,blueeyed,andwhite.1ManyofuswanttobeAmericans.
see them as a huge power. However, we were also colonized by the Spanish and the Japanese,
we look at it, we were colonized by the Spanish for a much longer periodcompare the measly
three centuries of Spanish occupation, we dont fluently speak their language, watch their
movies, or mimic their clothing. We did get, however, some of their culture through their
religion, food, and love for siesta, but we dont hold them in the same godlike status we hold
thattheirinfluenceonthePhilippinesandtheFilipinoswillremain.
1
Evangelista,Patricia.BlondeandBlueEyesretrievedfrom
http://www.patriciaevangelista.com/blondeandblueeyes/
PhilippineAmericanRelations
The way we see the Americans has evolved throughout time. As we discussed in class,
theyprogressedfrombeingourconquerorstobeingourcolonizerstobeingourliberators.
us liketheSpanishdid.Whoknowsiftheyareanybetter?Next,wesawthemascolonizers,they
assimilated us into their systems by giving us civilization and acting on their white mans
burden. They guided us and our state through giving us education, communication, and other
nation would. In the WWII, they freed us from the Japanese. Douglas McArthur uttered the
famous words, I shall return and was forever a hero to us. To this day, weseethemasheroes
andallies.Tothisday,weplacethemonapedestal.
SocialMemory
But even individual memory is not simply personal: the memories which
constitute our identity and provide the context for every action are not
only our own, but are learned, borrowed, inheritedin part, and part of, a
common stock, constructed, sustained, and transmitted by the families,
communities, and cultures to which we belong...history itself is both a
productandasourceofsocialmemory.
RIMoore2
Social memoryistheofficialmemorythatbecomesastandardstoryofthepastthrough
state.3 Social memory holds a lot of power because this is how we remember who we are and
what has happened to us. It begs to answer the question: which things are valuable enough for
2
Fentress,James&Wickham,Chris.SocialMemory
3
Bickford,Louis.MemoryandTruthTellinginLatinAmerica
them to be remembered? More importantly, it is how a community reaffirms its valueswhich
values must be upheld, which acts must be punished, and which accomplishments must be
rewarded. Inthisway,socialmemoryshapeswhatasocietyisanddictateswhatitwillbe.Social
memorycanmakeorbreakasociety.
In this way, it is truly interesting to try to see not only what we remember of our
them that way. Which things do most Filipinos forget and remember? What is our construal of
theUnitedStatesofAmerica?
RememberingtheUnitedStates
mountains, and landit was the minds of the Filipino people. They used culture, education,and
ourfamiliesastheir ideologicalstateapparatus.4Theyshowedusthattheirvalues,traditions,and
beingarebetterthanwhatwehaveeverhad.
When you ask a pupil, Whats the greatest contribution of America as our colonizer?,
most likely the response you will get is, Education! This influence can still be seen today, as
we learn our subjects in English. We even get penalized in school for speaking in Filipino (1
PHP per Filipino word!) and ridicule fellow Filipinos whose grammar are lessthanperfect.The
influence does not stop only at language we are taught American values as well, and,
particularly during the American occupation, we are taught that the American way of life is
superior.5 We are taught things like working hard, equality, freedom of speech and punctuality
4
Althusser,Louis.IdeologyandIdeologicalStateApparatuses
5
Racelis,Mary.BearingBenevolenceintheClassroomandCommunity
of it, candefinewhat someoneknowsandwhatsomeonewillremember.BecausetheAmericans
andwillcontinueteachingtotheirchildren.
Education was not the only means of remembering they were able to influence. They
ensure that our selfidentity is forever tied with theirs. They guided us through the process of
defining ourselves and seeing nationalism. They helped us build our state through defining
controlled communication through public works, transportation and mass media. These
andshared.6
ForgettingtheUnitedStates
By controlling what we can remember, in turn, the Americans can also control what we
do not pay attention to and thus forget. By controlling the means by which we can remember,
theyalsodictatewhichnarrativesweignore.
We forget how they raped Filipinas, burned down villages, and tortured Filipinos. We
forget that the Filipinos who fought were not bandits, but Filipinos who hold the Philippines in
therewereFilipinoswhowantedandfoughtforindependence.
In dictating what we remember and what we value, the Americans can dictate what
exactly we have to discard. By promoting civilization and uniformity, we were made to discard
6
Mojares,Resil.TheFormationofFilipinoNationalityunderUSColonialRule.
our rich cultural identities as a people, our own traditions, andourownvalues.Thesehavebeen
replaced not exactly all for the better. Just as they discriminate black people, we in turn have
caucasianAmerican.
influencewhatwearenot,andweloseouridentityintheprocess.
ReclaimingtheFilipinoIdentity
Right now, no one still knows what Filipino Identity is. We are faced with many
different issues and conflicting ideas and narratives. We are still in that crossroad where we
decide which things to remember and which things to forget. Which artworks to show in
inthedifferentstoriesfromdifferenttimes.Whichthingstowriteinabook.
I still remember how my history teacher in grade school or high school told us that the
an illustration about it. The same class told us that the Americans took half of the collected
Philippinetaxesforthemselves.
Its not only important to see which things to remember and which ones to forget but to
also make sure that these things are real. Given this experience, I think its not only me who
somehow doubts sources, but when sources are dubious, its difficult to see which to believe
andcreateonedefiningnarrativethatcanbindustogether.