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STUDENT’S EDUCATIONAL PACKET

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Grade12
nd
2 Quarter - Week Eighteen
Memory of the Empire and/In the Cosmopolitan Port City

OBJECTIVES: How does Garcia critique the notion of cosmopolitanism in his poem on Amsterdam?
1. Situate the texts in the context of the region, the nation, and the world
2. Articulate the significance and place of cultural and national memory in an increasingly globalized
world.
3. Respond critically to the poem and consequently articulate this response through a conceptualization
of a monument that memorializes a particular event or person in contemporary Philippine history.

INTRODUCTION: Trackback
When we think of “the modern age” or the “21st century,” we normally visualize towering skyscrapers
curtained by a veil of neon lights, the newest and fastest motor vehicles knifing through the open highways,
enormous planes that can cross ocean and land at an airport where hundreds of other planes are loading
passengers. In other words, we think of cities. Sometimes, we even imagine specific ones like New York or
London or Hong Kong. Cities are critical and definitive markers of modernity. They materialize the features of
modern life: order (spaces in the city are organized according to zones), predictability (good are valued through
prices, travel time is calculated based on traffic conditions at a particular time of the day), and scientific
advancement (the city houses everything that is “latest”).
Another important feature of the modern city is what we call “cosmopolitanism.” From the words cosmos
(universe) and polis (city), cosmopolitanism refers to a global mindset. It characterizes an openness to the
different cultures and worldviews of people.

Task 1: THE PHILIPPINE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE

Directions: In the table below, look up and identify one important legacy of the Spaniards and the Americans
in each specified category. Identify if these had a more positive or negative effect on our culture. Be sure to
give arguments to justify your side.

Read the poem:

“XVIII, FROM “AMSTERDAM: A CYCLE”
by J. Neil C. Garcia

It is late in the hour of imperialism

Look at how wistfully this city reels them in:

The creoles, the Natives, the Others,

From the plundered spaces of a plundered earth.

They are here whom the Empire had divested

Of their cinnamons, their diamonds, their posterities,

Of their women and their men in their nakedness.

Pushed into the chaste habiliments of culture,

Away from the dank gardens of a savage past,

Here they walk, and ogle, and fail to remember

Their lost memories raised this city from the sea.

Markers:
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole.
Metonymy is a figure of speech that uses of the name as a substitute for another name.
Cosmopolitanism is a mindset that is characterized by a particular kind of openness to the world and its varied
and different cultures. This mindset is reflected not only in the way a person views other people but how cities
in general build their environment.

The Author: J. Neil C. Garcia

J. Neil C. Garcia finished his BA Journalism (magna cum laude) in the University of Santo Tomas in 1990. He
is currently teaching creative writing and comparative literature at the University of the Philippines, Diliman,
where he also serves as an associate for poetry in the Institute of Creative Writing . He is the author of numerous
poetry collections and works in literary and cultural criticism, including Our Lady of the Carnival (1996), The
Sorrows of Water (2000), Kaluluwa (2001), Philippine Gay Culture: The Last Thirty Years (1996), Slip/pages:
Essays in Philippine Gay Criticism (1998), Performing the Self: Occasional Prose (2003), The Garden of
Wordlessness (2005), and Misterios and Other Poems ( 2005) His latest critical work , Postcolonialism and
Filipino Poetics: Essays and Critiques , is a revised version of his PhD dissertation in English Studies: Creative
Writing, which he completed in 2003. He is currently working on a full-length book, a postcolonial survey and
analysis of Philippine poetry in English.
LET’S PRACTICE
Task 2: Directions: In pairs or inn threes, draw the dramatic situation of the poem below. Be conscious of the
setting. Where do you think we are in the city? What time of the day is it? Label the persons in your illustration
to identify them. There is no dialogue in the poem but a lot of thinking takes place. Your picture should then
also include thought bubbles-who is thinking what?

Task 3: Directions: Using your illustration as a guide, respond critically to the set of questions below:
1. Who is the person in the poem? Look at the first four lines of the poem. What do these tell us about his/her
attitude towards the people that he/she is seeing?

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2. Examine the first line (“It is late in the hour of imperialism”) more closely. What does this line mean literally
and figuratively?

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3. Who are “the Creoles, the Native, the others”? Why are these terms especially significant in relation to the
setting of the poem (Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands)? How is the persona related to these people?
Is he/she one with them, or on the other side? Justify your answer.

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4. Fill the table below with three objects of metonymy and synecdoche in the poem and what they represent or
are associated with.

5. Look at the way the idea of nakedness and savagery is contrasted with clothing and chastity. What is the
persona seeking to establish with this contrast? How is this connected to the people the persona encounters in
the poem? Does he/she view clothing as something positive?
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6. Explore the literal and figurative significance of the last stanza. How can the memories of the Creoles, Native,
and other lift a city like Amsterdam from the sea?

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Task 4: Condense
Directions: Below are photos of landmarks and objects that you find in the Philippines. Identify the significance
of these objects and briefly discuss why it is important to remember them and the cultural memories associated
with them.

OBJECT/LANDMARK WHAT IS IT ASSOCIATED WITH WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO

REMEMBER WHAT THIS
STAND FOR
ASSESS: Constellate
Directions: After going through the material, we will have an exercise on memorizing. In groups of five to six
members, think of a current event or a person that you think ought to be remembered. As a group, come up
with a proposal to erect a monument based on the following guidelines.

Current Event/Person

Intended Monument/Landmark

Location of the Monument/Landmark

Why should we remember that event/person?

Sketch your intended monument and present this to the class.

Grading Rubric

ITEMS EXCELLENT 15-10 GOOD 9-8 MAY STILL IMPROVE 7-5 POINTS
1. DISCUSSION
Clarity - 10
Organization - 10
2. PRESENTATION - 15
OVERALL
ENGAGEMENT - 15
TOTAL POINTS

SYNTHESIZE
Directions: Complete the following sentences.
1. Synecdoche and metonymy are figures of speech that are identified by means of______________________
2. Cosmopolitan cities are often__________________________ cities.
3. Cosmopolitan is a perspective that is characterized by________________________________________.
4. Garcia’s poem laments how __________________________ has blinded the denizens of Amsterdam to
their histories.
5. Objects can be markers for___________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT
How would you have been different if these so-called “creoles, natives, and others” remembered their history?
Rewrite the poem, using the same structure from their perspective.
REFERENCE
Read more on Brainly.ph - https://brainly.ph/question/765680#readmore