READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

ACTIVITY NO. 6 CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“AUTHENTIC THOUGH NOT EXOTIC”

Through ages, our Filipino identity had made an impact in the

history books and it is something to be proud of. Our identity of
being a Filipino were distinguishable on how we act, speak, show
our traditions and other things that set us apart from the others and
by that we were marked or identified by other people especially the
foreign ones. As influences from other cultures were brought
during the times of occupation , it became more unclear for us and
made us question the affirmation of our identity due to the fact that
we are now culturally diverse. As we all know, the question of the
Filipino identity has always materialized from it. But how these
things affect the identity of being a Filipino?

This work of Dr. Fernando Nakpil Zialcita emphasized on the

positive and negative attributes of colonization that shaped culture
and the society. He pointed out the attributes of these biases to the
following: the demonization of Spanish influence, limited menu of
binaries for interpreting culture, and reductionist interpretation. The
essays also shows that Filipinos do have the distinct way of living
worthy of recognition despite us being unable to fit into the East-
West division and the observation of the unawareness of other
societies of the lowland Christian Filipino of the typecast and fits in
the western image.

The main theme of this piece is basically about Filipino identity and
how the changes in our culture from the time our country was
colonized affect our identity. This piece of work influenced me to
open my eyes even wider and to delve to the history. Personally, I
didn’t think a lot at that time to recognize the truest identity of
Filipino because I’m used to appreciate all the cultures that we had
and the fact that it got us so far but I really think the main response
he originally intended to create was to be educated with our wide
eyes oped and to be proud to our identity as a Filipino.

For the style in his approach in his work, he used historical,

anthropological, and philosophical approach to answer the
question and defend his arguments about Filipino identity. The
author used first-person interaction. The essays were plain
narrative as seen in this piece of work.

This book is definitely a significant piece because it achieved to

understand us in our identity toward the value of culture and
heritage. It gave a dramatic impact to the readers especially it
really contribute to a better appreciation for our Filipino-ness. It
fully expresses the depth and the value of the topic discussed. In
shaping the Filipino people as well as the future authors, we must
continue to strengthen our culture and identity which are also
integral to develop a sense of nation among young people. This
indeed make us agree that our identity as a Filipino is authentic,
not exotic.