The Philippines at the turn of the 20th century Asia
by Steph Bucag
Last 15 September 2022, Asia Society Philippines, together with Manila House and Ateneo De Manila University’s Departnment of History of the School of Social Sciences, presented "The Philippines and Asia at the turn of the 20th Century," supported by the College of Liberal Arts, De La Salle University; Institute of Arts and Sciences, Far Eastern University; and the Asian Studies Society, University of Santo Tomas.
Southeast Asia comprises diverse nations and ethnicities with different political and economic structures. As the global community called for it, this prompted the region to embody solidarity and integrate their efforts to form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This sentiment still prevails as Asia Society Philippines’s Executive Director Joy Alampay highlighted the key priority of 2022 ASEAN month, which is "strengthening people-to-people bonds to enhance the spirit of One ASEAN Identity."
The program featured Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz, Ph.D. with Japan Foundation Research Fellow from Hitotsubashi University, Karl Ian Uy Cheng Chua, Ph.D., as moderator. Dr. CuUnjieng Aboitiz’s presentation 'The idea of Asia in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Filipino political thought and action.’ underscored how the 20th century witnessed how colonialism plagued Southeast Asia and how its nations tried to free themselves from it. Revolutions and uprisings were starting to brew amongst these countries, and the Philippines was at the forefront of this phenomenon.
Dr. CuUnjieng Aboitiz, Ph.D. challenged the Western-dominated historiography of how the 1896 Philippine Revolution came to be. "The historical literature treats the Philippine revolution as if it happened in a different corner of the world entirely.” She further expresses how Asianism is present in the foundation of the Philippine nation and the history of its revolution.
She also illuminated how the Philippine Propaganda Movement, the Philippine Revolution, and the Philippine-American War were significant to the provocation of Filipino identity. Their call for independence, its uprisings, and consequent war helped draw upon Malayness and Pan-Asianism. The latter, as she explained, conceptually originated from Japan’s and China’s calls for Asian solidarity as Western political and cultural spheres dominated the globe. She then cited Edmund Burke’s concept of a place as a territorial and social entity, which she asserted the Filipino nationalists had applied to their circumstances. Their conception of an Asian place resulted in an othering status from the West, linked ethnolinguistic differences, and an encompassing anti-imperial rally from the region.
Questions about the program were soon asked, which were moderated and filtered by Dr. Chua. Some queries asked for clarification regarding the theories and concepts discussed in her talk, while others inquired about the application of these research approaches in the contemporary context. Dr. Chua himself inquires a question about Western anthropology and its idea of race and place for Asianism, in which Aboitiz answers, "Intellectual history in this period, specifically for the creation of the Filipino nation, was a paradoxical denouncement of hierarchical racial frameworks, while at the same time, legitimizing them." Questions from the audience were also entertained, which spanned from 18th and 19th-century Philippine history to the strategic stimulation of the Pan-Asian spirit today.
In closing the program, Bambina Olivares of Manila House reiterated the importance of our continuous search for the Filipino identity, in the ideological and political sense.
Dr. CuUnjieng Aboitiz’s presentation evokes intellectual streams of Asia and the Philippines and how they wove into each other to form the Filipino nation. Her social imagination and innovation push us to rethink and resolve how we perceive and interpret Philippine and Asian history. May these renewed perceptions and thoughts will then influence how we plan to change our society today.
Watch the full video of “The Philippines and Asia at the turn of the 20th Century” on Facebook.