gardant

Percentages on racial lineage remind me of this…

ellobofilipino:

1935 Chart from Nazi Germany used to explain the Nuremberg Laws. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 employed a pseudo-scientific basis for racial discrimination against Jews.

People with four German grandparents (white circles) were of “German blood,” while people were classified as Jews if they were descended from three or more Jewish grandparents (black circles in top row right).

Having one or more Jewish grandparents made someone a Mischling (of mixed blood). The Nazis used the religious observance of a person’s grandparents to determine their race.

I wonder though if Filipinos who actually flaunt the percentages of their racial heritage go to this extent. And if they do, how do they actually do that? How does one actually say I am 60% of this or 35% of that? Do they use the same formula as those used by the Nazis? I wonder…

Seems like it’s the lack of exact numbers that allows social ascendancy. While I have heard some Filipinos try to claim proportions, when interrogated, they will tend to pull back into the unknown (referring to records that no longer exist, unverifiable oral histories, etc.).

The colonizers were the ones most analogous to the Nazis (or rather, homologous), so concerned with strict quantification—this chart from Mexico being one of the many examples. They were dreadfully afraid of miscegenation, but by turning it into a pseudo-science, something knowable, they could try to control it. For example, compulsory involvement with the Church (wedding records, baptismal records, etc.) would have been one effective way to monitor lineages; furthermore any mestizos/as born “sa labas” would be socially pressured not to reveal their status, revoking their access to racial privileges.

In a sense, the widespread claims to Spanish ancestry is a backlash against the colonizers (though I wouldn’t call it an anti-colonial act for reasons I’ll get to later). Despite all attempts to regulate and study us, our bodies and our lineages remain defiantly unknowable. Even with that one genetic sampling survey estimating that >4% of the population actually has any Spanish ancestry, it’s not as though individuals carry around certificates with copies of their genome. And because our lineages are unknowable, we can weaponize them to fulfill one of the colonizers’ greatest anxieties—indios partaking in European privileges by cheating their system.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s at all noble to be spouting claims of mixed blood. This might allow a person to scale the racial hierarchy, but one is merely maneuvering through the colonizer’s system—defrauding it, but remaining complicit within it. It is only a productive strategy insofar as it buys into colonial logics re: race, culture, etc.; it’s a prime example of what Audre Lorde meant when she talked about “using the master’s tools.” Only by dismantling the system can we reveal that the racial hierarchy—and all it’s pseudo-biological/anthropological scaffolding—is itself fraudulent.

Sama Dilaut Origin Myth

“Long ago the ancestors of the Sama Dilaut lived in Johore, a place to the West near Mecca, in houseboats much like those they live in today in Tawi-tawi. One day as strong wind began to blow. To secure his boat, the village headman stuck a pole into what he thought was the sea floor and tied his boat to it. The other villagers, also fearing the wind, tied their boats to that of the headman’s.

“It turned out, however, that instead of going to the sea floor, the pole of the headman was stuck in the nose of a giant stingray that lay sleeping beneath the flotilla. That night as the Sama Dilaut slept, the ray awakened and began to swim, pulling the boats behind it. When the Sama Dilaut awakened the next morning, they were adrift on the open sea and did not know their way back to Johore.

“For one week, they drifted helplessly until finally the leader pleaded to Tuhan for help. Within minutes, Tuhan sent down a saitan [spirit] which entered the leader, who thus became the first djinn [shaman] among the Sama Dilaut. The saitan instructed the leader to sail for two days toward the East. The flotilla did as instructed and, on the second day, land was spotted.

“Upon reaching shore, the headman again stuck a pole [called samboang in Sinama] into the sea floor and all the boats were tied to it. This was the first mooring place in the Philippines for the Sama Dilaut and was consequently called “Samboangan.” Today it is still called this by the Sama Dilaut while the rest of the world knows it as “Zamboanga.”

“Shortly after their arrival in Zamboanga, the Sama Dilaut became subjects of the powerful Sultan of Sulu. During the course of his many marriages throughout Sulu, the Sultan gave groups of Sama Dilaut a bride wealth; thus, the Sama Dilaut became scattered throughout the Sulu Archipelago.”

H A Nimmo. "Reflections on Bajau History," Philippine Studies 16, 1 (1968). 

Education as a Colonial Tool

philippines1900:

“Education is power- the power to forge realities, the power to propel cultures, the power to interrupt life.”                                                                                             -Isabel Pefianco Martin

Both photos each show an American woman teaching a group of Filipino children at an American-run school.

In the first decade of American colonialism over the Philippines, the United States government immediately sought to instill an educational system that would prepare the nation for eventual independence. Enforced by the Taft Commission, President McKinley advocated for a free public school system that would help train and enforce Filipinos of the duties of an ideal colonial. In 1901, under the Department of Public Instruction headed by the United States, the Philippine Commission developed a centralized public school system. This authorized 600 teachers from America, known as the Thomasites, to teach in the newly colonized nation. As a result, colonizers created schools that closely resembled the American public school system arguing that self-rule would be possible only through their guidance and support. In reality, however, controlling the educational system was their way of not only maintaining authority, but also as a way to pacify all aspects of nationalism. Rather than encouraging the advancement of Philippines’ literature and language, colonists imposed Western practices, ideals and values. Consequently, the history of the Philippines was taught under American colonial perspective.

This type of education played a profound affect on the future of the Filipino people. For one, an American education meant that instruction was in English. At the start of American colonialism, English became the official language of the Philippines. Students were not only taught in English, but they were required to read, write and speak the foreign language as well. This has several negative implications since it meant forcefully erasing their native tongue. Instead of educating and informing the people, Americans’ methods of teaching was meant to train Filipinos so that they manifest into the ideal colonial. They were brainwashed into believing certain sets of information and values, which may not necessarily have been applicable to the Filipino people. Moreover, teaching practices did not comprise of the “student-teacher” model but rather paralleled the “student-soldier.” Rather than assisting, nurturing and helping a student flourish mentally, they enforced strict rules and policies. Thus, education was treated as an instrument of colonial policy instead of a tool to free the people from illiteracy and ignorance.

Overall, the education of a Filipino was another way for American colonists to subjugate a people and gain power. With the support of the United States government and its military leaders, American interests were at the center of the school system. As a result of colonialism, the educational system in the Philippines still mirrors that of America’s system. For example, English continues to be a widely spoken language in the Philippines. Moreover, schools do not stress Americans’ discriminatory and prejudice acts and still view them as “liberators” and “allies” despite their imperialistic policies. Ultimately, by gaining control over education, they were able to reshape history and alter the memory of the Filipino people.

Posted by: Arianne Magat