Reading women and the Arts

In and Out of Blank Space

Albina Peczon Fernandez
Albina Peczon Fernandez
 Teaching literature courses (children's
literature, sexuality, gender and Philippine
literature, The Life and Works of Dr. Jose
Rizal) graduate courses at the College of
Social Work and Community Development,
Dept. of Women and Development (gender
and society, feminist theory and the women's
movement); served as Deputy Director for
Research and Publications at the UP Center
for Women's Studies
Three liberation movement
 The women's movement which aimed to
liberate women from disempowering ideas
and social practices

 The national movement aimed to overthrow

Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines

 The literary movement that that sought to

usher moribund Philippine letters into the age
of realism.
The Women's Movement
The women’s movement was fueled by the
effects of the French Revolution and the
Industrial Revolution.

 The first produce constitutional governments

that guaranteed the rights of the governed to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not
to mention, the right to be protected against
government abuse.
 The second developed the means of
production that made possible
industrialization which necessitated the
performance of production work in factories
outside the home

 Historian of the Women’s Movement

 Refers to a “first wave”, and a “second wave”

Let creation/Recreation/Re-creation Begin

 How Rizal connect the three women’s? Why

does he connect them?

 Maria clara, Sisa, and Doña Consolasion

 Letter to the young women in Malolos

 Kundiman ni Dr. Jose Rizal

 Truly hushed today
Are my tongue and heart
Harm is discerned by love
And joy flies away,
'Cause the Country was
Vanquished and did yield
Through the negligence
Of the one who led.

But the sun will return to dawn;

In spite of everything
Subdued people
Will be liberated;
The Filipino name
Will return perhaps
And again become
In vogue in the world.

We shall shed
Blood and it shall flood
Only to emancipate
The native land;
While the designated time
Does not come,
Love will rest
And anxiety will sleep.
Tunay ngayong umid yaring dila't puso
Sinta'y umiilag, tuwa'y lumalayo,
Bayan palibhasa'y lupig at sumuko
Sa kapabayaan ng nagturong puno.

Datapuwa't muling sisikat ang araw,

Pilit maliligtas ang inaping bayan,
Magbabalik mandin at muling iiral
Ang ngalang Tagalog sa sandaigdigan.

Ibubuhos namin ang dugo't babaha

Matubos nga lamang ang sa amang lupa
Habang di ninilang panahong tadhana,
Sinta'y tatahimik, iidlip ang nasa.
Smashing Patriarchal/Colonial and
Aesthetic canons
 Gounod’s “Ave Maria” is one of those
canonized compositions that have enjoyed
appreciative audiences everywhere. because
they are songs admired by the “cultured”
 Catholic Church in whose name colonization

of the Philippines by the Spanish crown was

justified),
 Principally , not the kundiman in tagalog ( the

language of the colonized ) nor the dance of

the Medusa
 Lumpen proletariat
 Doña Consolacion is not participant in the
procession. She stays in the barracks,
 Sisa’s kundiman, Doña Consolacion’s

memory address her.

 Sisa’s Flower, the barrio lass who climbs the

social ladder:
 The alferez to Muse of the civil Guards and

now Medusa . Song’s words are all wrong

 Sentimental and too mushy to give comfort/

enjoyment to her
 Sounded like anything at all
 Doña Consolacion subjects Sisa’s song to her
“gaze” as the former undergoes the dialectical
process of becoming. Rizal as father/author
name.
 Just like his taking to wife Josephine, baptize

this being as muse of the Civil Guards.

 “Muse of the Civil Guards”
 Medusa reincarnate
 Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipino
Art connect the disconnected
 Recall that the work does not record any
meeting of Doña Consolacion and Maria
Clara.
 Women’s realities separated them from one

another. Sisterhood
 Biology is destiny
 The Us-against-them
 Doña Consolacion and Maria Clara are

disconnected until Sisa’s song connects them

Conclusion
 "Women and the Arts: In and Out of Blank
Space" provides a comprehensive and
thought-provoking look at the contributions
of women to the arts, and makes a strong
case for the importance of recognizing and
celebrating these contributions in order to
gain a fuller understanding of the history and
evolution of the arts.
 Thank you !!

Martillan, Margie B.
Megallon, Julliana Grace