Linatoc, Princess Diane M.

BSA 2.1A

Rizal’s Life and Works

Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson

Cultural Roots
 Tombs of the Unknown Marxist and Cenotaphs hold cultural significance due to their
association with religious imaginings, suggesting a strong affinity with death and
immortality.
 Mortality is a natural part of human life, often viewed through traditional religious
worldviews, which provide imaginative responses to suffering.
 The author suggests that nationalism emerged in the late 18th century, not due to
religious erosion, but rather aligned with pre-existing cultural systems like the religious
community and dynastic real.
 The Ummah, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism, imagined
themselves as central through a sacred language and written script, allowing unlimited
spread of signs.
 The liberal proposes exterminating Indians through free tribute, private property, and
immigration with white, civilized semen, aiming to redeem them through redemption
through immigration.
 Ancient sacred silent languages, including Chinese, Latin, and Arabic, represented
global communities, but non-arbitrariness led to Church Latin, Qur'anic Arabic, and
Examination Chinese, based on sacred script.
 After a victory, the grand khan returned to Kanbalu, commanded Christians to bring their
Gospels, and attributed their reverence to Jesus Christ, the Saracens, Jews, and
idolaters. The Pope, once a powerful figure, is now seen as the successor to Saint
Peter, reflecting a shift in Catholic naive realism towards political intent.
 In the 17th century, Western Europe's sacral monarchy legitimacy declined due to
Charles Stuart's beheading and plebeian protectors, but monarchs like Anne Stuart,
Louis X V, and XVI defended legitimacy. After 1789, legitimacy was defended, and
monarchy became semi-standardized. In 1887, succession-by-legal-primogeniture was
instituted in Siam, aligning with European civilized monarchies.
 In 1914, dynastic states dominated the world's political system, but many sought national
identity. Four fictions from different cultures and epochs, except one, are linked to
nationalist movements, including Jose Rizal's 1887 masterpiece Noli Me Tangere.
 Noli is a Filipino literary work by Francisco Balagtas, contrasting Baltazar's famous novel
with its setting, time, and space. It features Christian Albanian noblemen and Muslim
Persian aristocrats, using Spanish and Tagalog words. El Periquillo Sarniento, the first
Latin American novel, criticizes Spanish administration in Mexico.
The Origin of National Consciousness
 Humanists revived pre-Christian antiquity literature, promoting appreciation for ancient
stylistic achievements among trans-European intelligentsia, leading to a more
Ciceronian Latin with an esoteric quality.
 The Reformation's success was largely due to print-capitalism, as Martin Luther's theses
were published in German translation, resulting in a significant increase in German-
language books. Luther became the first best-selling author, selling his works on the
basis of his name.
 Luther's leadership sparked a religious propaganda war across Europe, utilizing the
expanding vernacular print market created by capitalism. The Counter-Reformation
defended Latin, exemplified by the Vatican's Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This siege
mentality led to smuggled print production.
 Protestantism and print-capitalism merged to create new reading publics, mobilizing
them for political and religious purposes, leading to Europe's first non-dynastic states
and the spread of specific vernaculars.
 Administrative vernaculars in England predate 16th-century print and religious upheaval,
possibly affecting the erosion of sacred communities. Before the Norman Conquest,
Anglo-Saxon court language was used, followed by Norman French.
 The 19th century's language choice was gradual, pragmatic, and haphazard, contrasting
with nineteenth-century dynasts' self-conscious policies. Old administrative languages
were used for convenience, competing with Latin and contributing to the decline of
Christendom.
 Modern self-conceived nations and nation-states have national print-languages, but
many have them in common, while only a small fraction use them in conversation or
paper. The discontinuity in connection between print-languages, national consciousness,
and nation-states can be attributed to the Western hemisphere's new political entities.

Creole Pioneer

 In the late 18th century, South and Central America's middle classes were insignificant,
with landowners, merchants, and professionals leading. Fear of lower-class political
mobilizations led to independence in Venezuela, Mexico, and Peru, with support from
slave-owning agrarian magnates.
 In the late 18th century, Madrid's control tightened, leading to liberalizing ideas,
increased taxes, monopolies, trade restrictions, and migration. Improved trans-Atlantic
communications facilitated rapid transmission.
 The American Revolution was influenced by 'uti possidetis' principles, preserving
territorial status quo and breaking up Gran Colombia and United Provinces of the Rio de
la Plata.
 Creole communities in Americas, Asia, and Africa led to the appearance of Eurasians,
Eurafricans, and Euramericans as visible social groups, foreshadowing modern racism.
Portugal's conversion to Christianity was a significant example.
 The Enlightenment led to the distinction between metropolitans and créoles, with
Pombal expelled Jesuits and criminalizing offensive names for 'coloured' subjects, based
on ancient Roman imperial citizenship and climate-influenced writings.
 The focus has been on the Americas' strategically important but small worlds, predating
American national consciousness. Print capitalism spread early to Spain, but remained
under crown and church control. Between 1691 and 1820, 2,120 newspapers were
published.
 Spanish-American newspapers in the 18th century were characterized by their
provinciality and plurality, reflecting the awareness of provincials in parallel worlds. This
created a doubleness in early Spanish-American nationalism, with local creóles seeing
themselves as the center of the New World.
 The argument focuses on the socio-economic basis of anti-metropolitan resistance in the
Western hemisphere between 1760 and 1830, rather than its 'national' forms,
highlighting the economic interests at stake.
 Liberalism and Enlightenment criticized imperial regimes, but did not create a new
community to defend against their depredations. Pilgrim clergy and provincial printmen
played a crucial historic role.