Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Culture and History by Nick Joaquin

    Uploaded by

    Daniel Jade
    497 views12 pages
    Understanding the evolution of human culture

    Original Title

    Culture and History By Nick Joaquin

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Understanding the evolution of human culture

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    497 views12 pages

    Culture and History by Nick Joaquin

    Uploaded by

    Daniel Jade
    Understanding the evolution of human culture

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 12
    ib Culture and History EL SNE EN the botanical one: Potatoes are culture and history. According toa modem German writer, Gunter Grass the introduction of the potato was a more important event In the history ofthe German people than all the martial Witories of King Frederick the Great. Indeed, Gunter Grass fonsiders the potato a crucial factor in the development of Hurope. It was the potato, says he, that made possible the Inustrialization of Europe and the rise ofthe proletariat. We can see what he means. The potato iss highly ourishing food that is atthe same time very cheap, because fan be grown so quickly and easly. The potato fs the fist ist ocx in history, if we except the manna that dll on Teralites, And the advent of ths fastfood, this potato, i errfc consequences. One it rescued the European he from age-old hunger TWO, it developed them into a sturdier working elas. (We always think ofthe Ges example, asa big, stout man; and this solidity iss result of potatoes, though German beet also helps more and more people were released fom farm became available for factory labor. Four, indus meant more income forthe masses, better homes 3 chools and increasing political power. Five the s stondard of living in tun produced an at, a literati science and a technology that have made Furopean supreme inthe mavtem world It can be argued therefore thatthe image toda a highly civilized, cultured and progres individual can be traced back, partly a least, tothe the potato, But now let us bring in a counterargument. Lets imagine, say, # Gertnan chauvinst who is rabidly an potate. For im, the potato is nota boon but a bane him, the pot mmething that should never ha For him, the potato isto German cultare wh apple was to Adam and Eve, because, by eating potato, the German, the European, lst something & original nature, with the result that European ull is. deviation from a pristine original: the true Eu the European before the introduction of the potato But how restore that uncorrupted original? Our imaginary German chauvinst demands th [At once, of course, we see the flaw in his proposal Abolishing the potato will nat restore European man prepotato condition, Why not? Because from the have come such developments as industraliz ne ‘Culture and History sturdier working chs (We anys think ft Can el txampl aba bi, out an, ad hs sity is Ingle reult of potatoes, though German beer also helped) Ths Hath ton people wee roared sen cn became aval for for lor Four, nde] roe ‘meant more income forthe mace, beter homes and fehoot and Inreng pole powee Five the al ‘democratization, modernization and so forth: And these sevelopments have so radically altered European man that he would sil remain what he has become even if he stopped eating potatoes altogether. In other words, potatoes are the culture and history that cannot be cancelled in a desire to recover a former standard of living fs tur pretuced an at iterate @ From potatoes let us move on So nn cco ee supreme in the modern world. You eat potatoes — and that's salt.“ av comes Icon be argued therefore thatthe image today ofthe Yes, able salt Paes uropean as a highly civilized, cultured and progressive One time I had dinner with ‘nesta cating fndividual canbe traced back, pail atleast to the some friends of mine fany overnioni, othe potato. sxdmire for thelr ationais, nnn ut nove let us bringin a counterargument although they rather tend to make Imagine, say, a German chauvinist who is rabidly 4 display oft AF this dinner, the potato, For him, the potato snot a boon but a dlsplay consisted of using a stone Pob him, the potato is something that shoul never At the table: a roundish grey stone attend alone to change Europe because it 0 forlgh about the size o plots. This, ey tae ‘xo, For im, the potato is to German cul stone — it was actualy piece of eannethe apple was to Adam an Bve, because by rock salt — was passed around ancien potato, the German, the European, lst instead of salt, because, said my thirteen Criginal nate, with the rs that hosts that was how the ancient Ypinscchis {sa deviation froma pristine origina the Filipinos salted ther food. You the European before the introduction of the essed the sone on your rce and But how restoce that uneSel fish, you rubbed it against your meat, you soaked it in your (Our imaginary German chaavinis ‘woth, for the desired saltiness abolition of the potato, ‘im afraid they all looked down on me when I said a At once ofcourse, we 9 the fw. Father have ordinary table salt. ln this particular instance of Abolishing the potato will not resore Invdition versus modernity, {was all for modernity, if only prepotato condition. Why not? Benne cause that stone which, in the name of nationalist have come such developments as Iniltancy, Las supposed to use instead of sal strongly sald altar and History ltr and History reblided me of those stones which in the old days you into i Neverthe, the Pasig remains the Pasi hough pelaie nie Lahore sapbaip scans reins: ‘fom one moment to the next t's no longer the same river. iba. And certainly wase’t going to put such a stone into ‘This is the dynamic view of identity. eit tea aa cine fm afraid we havea diferent view of identity: diferent Sill, Twas charmed by the sentiment behind the Secause we tend to regard culture and even history as state display, the nationalist nostalgia. What bothered me were happenings — and that term is appropriate though it sounds the implications behind the sentiment In effect, my hosts 40 selfconiradctory Just fo make it clearer, I borrow ‘were saying: "Look how truly lipo we ate Instead of -Amang Rodsguee’s definition of politic and say that ve sing a sacl, which sfreign, we use a salt stone, Filipinos tend to believe that culture is simple addition, “whichis native." The implication there is thatthe more we History is mere addition. We ourselves ar, or were, a fixed return lo what is native and the more we abolish what ‘original identity to which certain things — alien cultures, foreign, the more truly Filipino we become. alien histories — have ben aided, layer upon layer. “This may be true— but what I could’ help noticing ‘Therefore, if clare is tration, identity is subtrcton. All then was the inconsistency. Why’ pick onthe poor ‘we have to dois remove all hose imposed layers and we salicelar? On the table were fork and spoon, which are shall end up withthe tru Basic Filipino identity. rot native; and bee and cabbage, which ae albo not That the static view of identity cxiginally Philippine; and I knew that the food had But culture is of simple addition, Culture isnot a stew to dressed inthe metho called su, of gus, which which you can add anything and it will stil remain a sew, native, and cooked in a son or a esl o a fig Rather i culture lke those laboratory experiments in which ae all also foreign By retaining these while chemistry where the moment you ada new ingredient the abolishing the salteeliar, you are proctialy saying: riginal mixture becomes completely transformed into sacle bigger hindrance to bing tly something different, say, cabbages or easols. Anyway, can you When history added the saltcetlar, and fork and spoon, came away from that dinner with the imp fn beef ancl cabloge, and the guia, to our culture, the saltclar sa bigger danger to Philippine entity ofthe Flpino was so completely transformed hat ee ubpeaaen there can be no going back wa pristine original even if we (OF course Low what question was ‘belied the saltelar, the fr and spoon, etcetera. Culture answered at that dinner table with the ab te! history ae the lowing waters that make it impossible to salicellr: the question of identity ep ito the same river of identity vce Identity, I would say is tke the iver ‘The trouble i that when we say culture, we only mean ‘You remember the saying: “You can never fligion an pottis and art and Iiteratur, That's too narow same river twice.” The river has changed: A view of culture, The salicellar i culture, Forkand apoxn i Cire ae History culture Boefiand cabbage is culture. The ised is colture ‘And so when we say that our original culture was perverted by an alien culture, we should understand precisely what we mean. And what do we mean? That we ‘were perverted by the sltcellar, by fork andl spoon? When ‘we say thatthe West brought us nothing but evil, do we: ‘mean that beef is evil that eabbages are evil, that the sao is evil? And if we lament that ou arto our mie ‘snot “truly® Philippine because of alien inluences, shouldn't we also beveail that our felds and our are likewise not “truly” Philippine because of foreign dations? The Filipino farmer who raises com and and cals, or the Filipino gardener who plants roses and cadena de amor, are just a great a trate to Filipino culture as the painter who has learned Picasso or the Filipino ‘who works in the light Clr a lis FL were to say that we were damaged by being forced to leam a foreign religion we did't understand and found hard to understand, a great many Filipinos would heatily agree. But these same Filipinas would surely froth in the ‘mouth if | were fo argue tht Filipinos shouldn't be made to learn, say, electronics, because electronics isa foreign technology we don’t understand, that we find hard to ‘understand, and that might damage our identity, Which is uite true, Electronics is ight now altering our culture, is "ght now altering us. If we say that Christianity is evil because it changed our culture, shouldn't we also denounce the transistor radio as evil because itis changing our culture, altering our identity? entity is such a problem for us hecause we are of tro ‘minds about it.On the one hand we say that we must change, we must leave the past behind, we must move foeward, we must update. On the other hand we insist that there is a fixed primeval Filipino identity to which we must make our way back. And at the same time we are asking: ‘What isthe identity ofthe Filipino today?” Everybody thinks that is = question impossible to Actually the answer is very easy and very pain. ‘The identity of the Flipino today is of a person asking, What i his identity ‘That is nota frivolous answer — as you'l realize jst by thinking of the tribes inthe Philippines today to which the {question of a national identity would never occu, because ‘entity for them is defined by the tribe. However, the tril rituals that define the tribal identity do show an understanding of the question which we have yet to learn. For in tbl ital, Klentity is nota beg but a becoming. Cute and Hisory [entity isa process — which is why the rituals that define iar called rites of passage. When a boy of the tbe turns twelve or thirteen, the ‘men ofthe tribe ell him thatthe Big Crocodile is demanding his foreskin. The frightened boy runs to the ‘womenfolk, who weep and wail over him and try to hide fhm, But finally he i draggest away by the menfolk and circumcised, He is givon a new name to impress on him that he has outgrown one identity and taken on anther: He is ‘no longer Totoy the chil he is now Totong the young man. And he leas that the most shameful thing he can do is ‘want to return to his former identity; to waat to be a hil again who, when seared, can run and hide among the ‘womenfolk: He will undergo other rites of passage when becomes a husband, when he becomes a father, and 6 fot. ‘The idea expressed inal hi s that a human being, keep growing and thatthe proces is ierversibe retarded have a fined identity. Normal people must undergo the process of change and they cannot be to rtum 0a fetus postion until they’ die. Then buried in a fetus position, the poition of the dent. vi 1 wonder i inthe debate over the lipo’ idenity theres not an unexpressed desir foetal position —a dese, ne might say, 40 ‘ourselves and reassume the simple identity pagan tribesman would cll such a desire Cristian would call tthe sin agains the certain militants of today would call the exact opposite of nationalism, complox and advanced stage of poi Cle and tory ‘something that occurs late in history, and only after can and tribe have been outgrown. So how can we say we are being nationalist when we advocate a rekum to our pre-1521 identity when that was a clan iclenity, a tribal identity? To recapture our pre-1521 identity, we would fest have to abolish this nation called the Philippines, Yes, [know the counterargument: 1 know that it's being argued now that this nation already existed before 1521 ‘under another name: Maharlika, Mai, or Thre Islands, or What have you, Alas, it just n't tru. Ws absolutly not true that wha is now the Philippines was known to the ‘ancient Chinese 28 Mai, The Chinese may have known, say, the island of Mindoro, or the isla of Marinduque, or part ‘of Luzon, as Masi, but is absolutely impossible that when they Sie Ma they meant what we now know as the Philippines forthe simple reson that the Chinese really knew very litle aboutus and alinost nothing about our ‘geography, as their old’ maps hilariously demonstrate Nor is it possible thatthe tem Tiree Islands, if such a term did exis, referred to « Philippines composed of Luzon, the Visayes and Mindanao, forthe simple reson that Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao do not compose three Islands but over 700 — and the habit of regarding the Philipines as threesin-one did not develop until Lon, the ‘Visayas and Mindanao had become th Philippines; that is, ater 1565: In fact, f Formosa and Homes had remained part of our politcal geography, as they were for a time, it would now be perfectly natural of us to think ofthe Philippine archipelago a being composed of five islands, ‘ot thee, and we may now be arguing that, even before 1521, we were known in Asia as the Five Island ‘There s nothing inevitable about geography. Clare ae History ‘Geography is mostly politics — and what politics has created, politics can change, a8 the Americans changed their ‘geography from the orginal Thirteen Colonies to a continental expanse extending from ocean to ocean. The Philippines was not ipso facto the archipelago we know today; our geography was a political creation and was stil changing, or being changed, up to the 18th century. You can't change geography? Nothing i easier to do! For the last 200 yeas, for example, Australia has been part of the ‘Wester, not the Easten, Hemisphere; and today it has so changed its geography again that its nearest neighbor in ‘Asia isnot Indonesia but Japan. Cuba was part of Latin ‘America until 1898, when it became part of Gringo America Today Cuba has become so much 4 part of Communist geography. fa rene tha that Havana is now far cleser 16 when wey Moscow than to Washington. cat wt nly What Idsite about the ‘rean nigim and saying that you can’t change _plitcsandartand ——_esogaphy is the ftalism it ‘iat implies: the determi. that environments destiny. Teatitrnarmee ——_‘aworment is what you tet ofentuen it and destiny i he you re mbar nls oka pps ey Aepant cabs ‘ult The pride cate ot ou of it What of ‘ent polit ie molly * (Catare an Hisory nh Cb ae carey bg ote Co Ha a bof Meno, ra we a ow belgie of eras a part of Aan an do tla, esol eet re single an that Aa her etd us Think fal he entre ‘efor 5 Wore we prt of Aa thn? Were we eve put of At Tih fal he overeat ting ome ces te proton oH mya ‘penance of te Buda an his fle, te develope fon Bde nthe Kang lip tin dept pn th Alan eats at ‘ein belo esr Caen Kore nr Un Maly ah neal we fhe Clee eer td Chinese pics, and of inn at and dan iecnolgy Wee eve Wee Involved in those movements? cor riginad endian Did we even know about sem prety an them? And why were we still in elton. what Jn the dak of prohistory when Mowe monn? That ne all Asia was exploding with sn pore by the history? Why? Because Asia saltcalar, by fir passed us over, because Asia sed joo? snubbed and ignored us, because Asia disdained us. We When say thatthe ‘were nothing to Asia but a tat Sgt ws market forthe cheaper sething ut 08 ve Chinese porcelains and a mean that hefice, supply source of the slave (hat cabhages ar ov trade of the Indies at the guise “And now we are told that ene ve fel such a stranger in Asia Calta ae History because of air Western colonial history. Bull To the pre- ‘52 Pllc em Chr ee lpa woubeeP ge pple nea nba Neth fhe lta! ogrphy of pla aint ope aloe ees pe iso Fre opric Plies ever a that hepa ayy cial cal arenas aa eto EES Resin ea ees Kea ah Seems aion bugis at ICL oa A peat nr fe el Sn on iin) be ol nd i WF poste would ee ee iy Sgstey ae wa ce se tcciat | srg, Ba yh he it Jlocingnisgy ay Lamour ro oil Watek tig yee San thi cue vTokarcons prewar ays, lpn Fevescrelan ——expreced what an only be Joa okatebam eld the "ck of cogal itd nmi the kd of int identification that we don't ‘when we go to China or India. Nowhere in continental Asia can we behold the scene and exclaim: “This i ust” How can we, when never Hindu or Confacanist oF Buddhist or Shintist? {in Tahiti in Samoa, even up in Hawai, what survives aboriginal culture arouses in the Filipino some deep ancestral emotion that makes him ery out “This ums ‘And there indeed it is: the Philippines post that we sock in Asia, We won't find it there. The music of Calta ae Hitry not our ancient music the folklore of Asia is as foreign to us as Eskimo folklore; and the art of Asia fs mostly inaccessible {0.us, But one look at the art of the South Seas and we recognize the pre-Hispanic at that survives in Igorot sculpture; and when we listen to the music ofthe South ‘Seas, we seem fo be hearing something we heard long, long, agp, in some other life, Nothing. in fac, the world of the South Seas ean be stange to us — whether it be the religion, with its animist worship of trees and volcanoes; or the cuisine, which is ric, fsh, pork and yams cooked in coconut milk and banana leaves; oF the cultural enserable, ‘where we find again our paadyog, our headcloth, our ‘squatting position, our tattooing, our folktales and even our style of talking. If we are to identity the pre-Hispanie Filipino with «cultural geography, this the world 9 ‘which he belonged: the pagan world ofthe South Seas, when it was completely distinct from the Hindu or Buddhist or Sinified or Islamized world of Asia, Our true twlatives are the Polynesians, However, I dont propose going back to some peimeval Polynesian identity of ours. am against allthis tlk ebout joing beck o stripping of, a if identity were just a matter of taking a bus or taking off your clothes. Identity i not a ‘commuter; identity is not a burlesque dancer. Identity isthe history that as gone into bone and blood and reshaped the flesh. Identity isnot what we were bat what we have become, what we are at this moment, And what we are at this moment isthe result of how we responded to certain ‘challenges from outside You may have heard of the nearshuman monkey fond in the heatt of Africa and which some anthropologists regard a the “missing link” betwoen ape and man, The (Cltre an Hiry elt cal le a pe iy ‘hen oe onmer member of bam Manan Deg perfectly adapted to its envi agriculture. They were confronted with the problem of shelter and safety and they had to come up with tools. But created the human being. One beings mgreting that they ever eft ‘environment, where there were no 91 challenges. But, according to anth lever restless curiosity to lea what lies beyond the: ‘what les beyond the next horizon. Because the Tasaday iawn beyond the next hil, the next have been able to preserve intact the identity that man ‘The Christian Filipino, on the other hand, is, you (Cats and History ‘sy, s0 unhappy because since the 16th century, his environment as been in upheaval, has been perpetually changing, And iti in upheaval, its ever changing, because “The Filipino i the product of began inthe 16th century and ou i chiefly formed by what I consider the f events in Philippine history, greatest because they were the ‘epochal ones the ones which, by the way we responded to them, determined our response to a the Shoop, the Turkey, the Goose, ets, and ofthe Carabao as Draft Animal The Introduction of the Fabrica, or Factory ‘The Introduction of Paper and Printing alte a istry 8. The Introduction of the Roman Alphabet 9. ‘The Introduction of Calendar and Clock 10. The Introduction of the Map and the Charting ofthe Philippine Shape 11, The Introduction of the Ars of Painting and Architectare 12. The Introduction of the Guibado ‘These twelve events are the greatest in our history ‘because they have been affecting us since the 16th century ‘and will continue to affect this ration as long as there are FFlipinos. They affect not only the Christian majority but also the highlanders in the north andthe Muslims in the south, They affect the artist in his studio as well as the housewife in her kitcen. In short, thei effect is universal and at the same ime deeply intimate, for these are the events that first informe the identity called a Filipino. Take the twelfth event: the Introduction of the ‘Very simple is the process ofthe sauté or gui, but the French say i's the foundation of civilized cooking: and whens we thus leamed to dress food, our whole culture ‘ransformes! and became the Philippine culture of the adobe, the meno, the guinisi reel, the tna ‘everytime we sit down at table, the gukado is still an for 1s continuing event, and one so vital thatthe rman in every Filipino, and especially in every ‘would undoubtedly declare thatthe introduction usu is, for us, afar more important event tha founding of the Katipunan, (Or take the introduction of com, which ‘Visayan from age-old unger and has been his for the last four centuries, Would the Cathe nd ison agree that the introduction of corn i a greater event than, the Kawit proclamation of 18987 Or lake the intreduction of ‘cumot, which now seems to us so typically Philippine and which has been delivering from famine those pars of our

    You might also like