THE CASE FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES: A FILIPINO PERSPECTIVE Fernando N.

Zialcita Like any free and independent State, the Philippine Republic must chart its own course vis-a-vis other States, while enabling its citizens to live and work in dignity. It has interests which do not coincide at all with those of other States. Externally the Philippines must avoid becoming the client state of Dominant Powers, for this is to fall once more into a colonial trap. Hence it should form alliances on the basis of its long term interests and enter into networks that will protect its independence. Internally it must promote a dynamic economy while reducing sharp divisions brought about by class, ethnicity, and religion. The ideal is a citizenry living together as prosperous equals. Another ideal is that citizens know the history of their society and how it came to be what it is today, for the past offers not only lessons, but also opportunities. There are reasons why Latin American Studies are important for the Filipino. I will dwell on just three: 1) As a sovereign state, we should get to know other states dialogically. 2) Because of a shared heritage, Latin Americans and us can work together on mutually beneficial initiatives. But we need to cultivate their support. 3) There are themes in Filipino history and culture which can be understood with Latin American lenses, rather than with American and Asian lenses. Sovereign interests in the Global Village We should look at the world from perspectives other than that of Washington DC, and not be forever crafting a foreign policy that takes its cue from American policy makers, or that relies only on interpretations made by English-language writers. To be truly independent we must understand how people in other nation-states view the world and their place in it. Hence the Philippine should produce a corps of experts on the major regions of the world. One of these regions should be Latin America, This vast and diverse region simply cannot be ignored. Brazil, along with India, China, Russia and South Africa, is one of the new emerging giant economies. Venezuela is one of the top producers of oil and has developed creative barter agreements with fellow Third World countries. Chile is one of the more dynamic countries today in the economic sphere. Argentina has a superior scientific and technological tradition that has produced Nobel Laureates in the natural sciences. Mexico is the regional power in Central America, and has an expanding economy. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are members of the G-20, the league of the worlds major economies today. Despite embargo by the U.S., Cuba exerts an influence worldwide that is out of proportion to its size because of its brilliance in the biological sciences and in the arts. Panama has one of the largest merchant marines and employs many Filipino sailors. It plans to set up a Maritime University and hire Filipino instructors. Needless to say, future Filipino experts on particular Latin American countries should know Spanish and Portuguese and dialogue with colleagues in that continent. The Philippines is a member of the forum called the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation which seeks to foster more trade between countries along the Pacific Rim. Mexico, Peru, and Chile are members of APEC. Common sense dictates that we should get to know better our partners. Thinking beyond APEC, the reality is that every country today has to export in order to grow. Latin America is a vast market.

In 1989, our northern neighbors, Taiwan, Korea and Japan were far ahead of us in terms of the number of institutions, whether public or private that teach Spanish and in the publication of journals in Spanish.1 Figure 1: Three Asian countries where Spanish is valued, 1989 Number of universities Radio/ television Journals/ magazines in where Spanish is programs teaching Spanish taught Spanish 8 3: 1 bulletin, 2 scientific reviews 28 Unspecified 7 newspapers number 110 1: Japanese 1: An annual scientific Radio Television review

Country

Korea Taiwan Japan

This remains true today. For instance Korea has 188 universities; of these thirty teach Spanish as a foreign language while fourteen have their own Departments of Spanish Language and Literature. In 2005, 15,000 Koreans were studying Spanish. While English continues to be the preferred foreign language, Spanish has gained ground over French and German. In the private sector, there are eight language centers in Seoul alone that teach Spanish. 2 Unfortunately I do not have a more recent figure for Japan. However, Professor Hiroto Ueda, in a 1992 interview, claims that the number of Japanese taking up Spanish continues to grow. He cites data from the University of Tokyo which indicates that while in 1992, 5.8% of its incoming freshmen at Tokyo University choose Spanish, in 2001, 13.9 % opted to study Spanish3. Reasons for popularizing Spanish in these countries vary widely. One reason has to do with national interest. With the exception of Taiwan, these are heirs of ancient states with centuries of diplomatic tradition, of maneuvering vis--vis other states in advancing their national interests. Although Japan and South Korea are allies of the U.S., they seek to craft their own national policy vis--vis other countries. Moreover, these four dragons are export-oriented. They eagerly look for markets all over the world. Latin America is a huge market which has an advantage over other regional markets like Southeast Asia or even Europe. There is only one major language: Spanish. And there is Portuguese which unifies all of Brazil.4 Another reason for studying Spanish is non-utilitarian. In Korea, Japan and China, students were asked why

Antonio Quilis, La lengua espaol en el mundo: presente y future, In Actas del Segundo Congreso de Hispanistas de Asia, Manila, Asociacin Asitica de Hispanistas, 1989. 2 Eunhee Kwon, El espaol en Corea del Sur, El espaol por pases: Asia meridional y oriental, Centro Virtual Cervantes, http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_26.pdf, Retrieved November 22, 2008. 3 Hiroto Ueda, La industria del espaol cmo lengua extranjera: presencia de la lengua espaola en el mundo y en Japn, instituto cervantes.es, 2008, http://congresosdelalengua.es/valladolid/ponencias/activo_del_espanol/1_la_industria_del_espanol/ueda _h.htm, Retrieved November 22, 2008. 4 th th We also have to consider that historically during the 19 and early 20 centuries, many Chinese, Japanese and Koreans migrated to Latin America in search of better opportunities. Hence for their countrymen in the mother countries, it is interesting to study how these migrants have adjusted to their new countries.

they choose Spanish. A common excuse had nothing to do with usefulness. The students stated that they wanted to be able to communicate with colleagues from other cultures.5 In June, 2007, the Second Conference of the Consejo de Estudios Latinoamericanos de Asia y de Oceana took place at Seoul. On the last night, we were treated to a program of Latin American songs and dances as interpreted by Koreans. It was announced that in August of that same year, an international festival of Latin American song and dance would be held in Seoul, and the slogan would be Seoul: The center of Latin culture in Asia. This December, Malaysians will host an international conference to launch their Center for Latin American Studies. They are aiming high. Because of government support and generous funding, this purportedly will be the center in Asia for Latin American Studies. The irony could not be more bitter. For decades, our Asian neighbors have ridiculed us Filipinos for being more Latin American than Asian as though the term Asian is all that clear. For their part many Filipino nationalists have been embarrassed by our Latin American connection. They stress that We Filipinos are Asian and that is all that matters. Those of us who have advocated fostering closer ties with Latin America have been derided as colonials who are sentimental about an oppressive past. Meanwhile our Asian neighbors have seen gold in the Latin American connection, and are eager to cash in on this. The reality is that the Philippines has been marginal in East Asia over the past 30 years because of our political instability, our anemic economic growth, and most importantly our reluctance to strategize. If we dont think strategically, we will become marginal even in areas where we have a comparative advantage -like the Asian - Latin American connection. Support based on familiarity In everyday life, we gravitate towards people whose ways seem similar to ours. Familiarity leads to trust. Mexico entered World War II on the side of the Allies. It sent a group of pilots, the 201st Fighter Squadron, to liberate the Philippines. But why the Philippines? Why not the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) or Malaya (now Malaysia)? One of these pilots became a friend of my father, Dr. Hilario Zialcita, at the graduate school for medicine in Michigan in 1946-47. According to this pilot (whose name my father has forgotten), We felt that if we were to die, we might as well die on behalf of a sister nation. Seven of these pilots did lose their lives in combat. A monument honors them in Intramuros beside the Pasig River. Historically, the Philippines has turned to the Hispanic bloc in international bodies when it needs support for its initiatives. Thus Carlos Romulo, it is said, became the President of the Fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949-1950 partly because of the overwhelming support for him, as a Spanish-speaking Filipino, by the Latin American bloc. Dr. Benito Legarda y Fernandez was a member of the executive board of the International Monetary Fund and was a consultant to the World Bank. In conversations and in lectures, he has emphasized that the support of Spanish American representatives in those bodies enabled the Philippines to win approval for its initiatives. The Philippine government continues to call on Hispanic support for some of its recent initiatives. Recently, we were told by Filipino diplomats in Spanish America that they worked hard to get the Hispanic vote for Sen. Miriam Santiagos bid to be voted into the International Court of Justice. She did not make it. Significant

Kwon, op. cit;, Ueda, op.cit., Maximiano Cortz Moreno, Aprender espaol en Taiwan: el factor motivacin, Glosas didcticas, no. 7, Autumn, 2001, http://sedll.org/doces/publicaciones/glosas/fin7/taiwan2.doc, pp. 1-16. Retrieved November 28, 2008.

nonetheless is that our government continues to regard close ties with the Latin American countries as crucial for some of its initiatives. Most Filipinos do not speak Spanish. So why would Hispanic countries see us as one of them? Though language is indeed the most important component of any culture, nonetheless there are other components that shape a culture: Religion, customs, social relations, political tradition, art and literature. Let us consider 1) religion and 2) political tradition. The culture prevailing in Lowland Christian Philippines connects with two worlds: the Austronesian-speaking world and Spanish America. Several years ago, Herri, my Indonesian student, and I stayed in the house of a farmer in the uplands of West Java where animism, rather than orthodox Islam, was very strong. It was twilight. Suddenly a siren wailed. I turned to our host. He replied that day had ended, night had fallen. The spirits of the dead would now venture into the streets. So beware. At that moment, I thought of Luzon. In the provinces of Tagalog-speaking Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, the church bell rings at six oclock. People stop to pray the Angelus, locally called Orasyon. Then they greet each other good evening. Children are kept indoors because the spirits of the dead are out in the streets, taking the cool night air. Bumping into an unseen presence can make them sick. The substratum of Filipino culture is Austronesian. Our languages belong to the same family of languages as Indonesians, Malaysians, Micronesians and Polynesians. There are thus cultural practices we find in our islands that recur in other parts of the Austronesian world in variant forms. However, many institutions and practices of the urban tradition of Christianized Luzon and Visayas originally came in the Hispanic form of Western civil culture. Thus while our farmers continue to believe in a world inhabited by ancestral and nature spirits, much as their indigenous, prehispanic ancestors did before 1565, they respond to this world using Christian concepts, rituals, symbols and objects. Should an unpleasant encounter with an unseen spirit take place, Tagalogs will use Catholic prayers, crosses, rosaries, holy water, or indigenous amulets and talismans. Indonesians and Malaysians can connect with our indigenous, pre-Christian, pre-Islamic practices. But they cannot connect with those rituals and ceremonies, brought in by Spaniards and Mexicans, that form the very core of the social life of our communities. We Filipinos love Christmas and celebrate it with many colorful customs. We observe Holy Week with processions and even feasting. Annually we have a fiesta to honor the towns patron saint. In contrast Latin Americans can relate to these. To turn to another field, the political, Indonesians and Filipinos waged revolutions to get rid of their Western colonial masters. The aims were similar to establish independent republics that were also democracies. But the methods and ideologies that were used differed greatly, for the urban traditions were different. Indonesians initially rallied to an Islamic party, called Sarekat Islam, to express their vision of a free Indonesia. Eventually, recognizing that there are also Hindus and Christians in Indonesia, a secular ideology focusing on the Panca Sila, the Five Principles, took shape. Filipinos, on the other hand, sought inspiration in two sources. One was Free Masonry which had become widely popular among the elite of Latin Europe and Latin America beginning in the 18th century. Such societies were secret in nature and were highly critical of domination by the clergy and the monarchy. They espoused the rationalism of the French Revolution. The other source was Christianity itself. Despite censorship by church authorities, sectors in the clergy believed in fighting for the rights of the oppressed majority. Hence two priests, Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Morelos, led the war against the Spanish

authorities in New Spain (now Mexico) in 1810. There is a monument to Padre Hidalgo in front of the Puerta Sta. Lucia of Intramuros. Three Filipino priests, Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, were wrongly accused in 1871 of instigating the mutiny in Cavite and were executed. Their death inspired the Propaganda Movement of the 1880s and the Revolution of 1896. Some prominent members of the Filipino clergy, like Mariano Sevilla and Gregorio Aglipay, joined the revolution. They celebrated victories with high masses and Te Deums.6 Thus, looking at the Philippine Revolution, Indonesians can relate to its struggle against colonialism. But they will find unfamiliar the recourse to Free Masonry, to Christian theology. In contrast the Spanish American, and for that matter the Spaniard, the French and the Italian, will find both this and our anti-clericalism familiar. Latin American studies matter because, through them, they are crucial for keeping a Filipino presence in a continent that can better appreciate the Latin dimension of our tradition. Our shared heritage with Latin America offers diplomatic, political and economic opportunities. But sentiment has to be cultivated consciously. The reality is that over the past 30 years, influential Latin Americans have discovered that many educated Filipinos snub them and prefer either Asians or Anglo-Americans. So why should they be interested in us? On a personal note: in my own life, I have met Spanish Americans, here and abroad, who, while not academics, have read passionately on the Philippines. These encounters have led to enduring friendships. There is a third reason why Latin American Studies matter for us. Some themes in our history and culture get distorted when interpreted with either Asian or Anglo-American categories. Understanding an aspect of ourselves For instance from the late 16th century down to this day races and cultures have intermingled in our country. How different we Lowland Christian Filipinos are from other Asians is shown by the following facts. First, some of the key figures in the struggle for emancipation were not pure natives but were Spanish mestizos, or possibly even creoles, that is, Spaniards born in the islands. Examples are the martyred priest, Jose Burgos, and the first president of the Commonwealth, Manuel Quezon. Burgos was the son of a Spanish lieutenant and an Ilocana mother.7 Quezon was the son of Spanish mestizos who had settled in Baler.8 In other Asian countries, Eurasian has a negative connotation. It connotes bastardy; for it is assumed that the Eurasian is the child of illicit unions. Second, Chinese mestizos seem better integrated into our national mainstream when to some Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia. Corazon Aquinos father was a Cojuangco, whose ancestors, the Co, came from Fujian. Her mother was a Sumulong from the Tagalog region. She led the fight to oust the dictator Marcos through organized non-violence and became the first woman president of the Philippines. Together with her in this peaceful struggle was Jaime Cardinal Sin whose father was a first generation migrant from Fujian. Indonesians remark that, in their country, it is unthinkable that Indonesians of Chinese descent should assume such
John Schumacher SJ, Revolutionary clergy: The Filipino clergy and the nationalist movement , 18501903, Quezon City, Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1981 7 Fidel Villaroel OP, Father Jose Burgos, university student, Manila, University of Santo Tomas Press, 1971, pp/ 1-2. 8 Manuel L. Quezon, The good fight, Introduction by Gen. Douglas McArthur, New York, D. AppletonCentury Company, 1946.
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high positions in the state and in religion. Indonesians who are seventh generation Chinese are still looked upon as Chinese. In contrast, both Chinese and Chinese mestizos who have accepted baptism into one of the Christian churches and adopt Filipino ways, are regarded as Filipino, despite jokes and snide remarks. Family names like Lim, Tan, Yap are common in the Philippines and do not necessarily connote Chinese ways. Third, despite conflicts, in the past Europeans, Chinese and native Filipinos mingled more easily in the Philippines than in other Asian countries. Commenting on the situation in the city of Mexico during the 18th century, a Mexican author said that what was in force was separation but not segregation. Boundaries were crossed. For instance, a Mexican creole landlord would rent part of his mansion to Amerindian families. He and they would become friends, and soon compadres. 9 The Sound-and-Light Museum of Intramuros, appropriately nicknamed The Museum of Horrors claims that the Spaniards in Intramuros segregated themselves from the rest of the non-Spanish population in Manila. It completely ignores the facts. A report to the government in the 1840s indicates that half of the residents of Intramuros (then Manila) were Chinese mestizo and native Filipinos. For instance, they occupied a hundred houses and all the colleges.10 Sir John Bowring, the British consul of Hong Kong, visited Manila in the 1850s and remarked that the lines of separation between ranks and classes were less marked and impassable than in most Oriental countries. Indeed he adds, I have seen at the same table Spaniard, mestizo and Indian priest, civilian and soldier.11 Mixing also took place in well-to-do Manila neighborhoods, like Quiapo where I grew up. Oral traditions and genealogies of the late 19th century show that Chinese mestizo families like the Paterno, Zamora and Ocampo were neighbors on the same street as Spanish mestizo families like the Legarda, Araneta and Zaragoza. And they were friends via common tongues: Spanish and Tagalog. Why the difference between us and other Asians when it comes to viewing inter-racial and inter-ethnic mixtures? Let us examine the situation in Latin American societies. Their views on inter-racial and inter-ethnic marriages differ from those of Asians and Anglo-Americans. Race is one of the more contentious topics in Anthropology. It has been used to oppress other people. Allow me to put it thus. We all belong to one human species, Homo sapiens sapiens. Within this species there are variations in physical appearance. These are what is meant by race. But what are the races of Humankind? Again this is a controversial issue. If we use one perspective of physical anthropology this is subject to revision -- some of the races are the Negroid (represented by the Agtas), the Mongoloid (the Austronesian-speaking population and Chinese migrants) and the Caucasoid (Europeans and Americans). These are present together in the Philippines. Another important aspect of us Filipinos is that our culture fuses several cultural traditions together. Let us focus on Lowland Christian Filipinos. Our basic culture was shaped by the Austronesian languages, such as Tagalog, Cebuano, Waray, etc. Mixed in with these are practices from India, China, Japan, Mexico and Spain.
Pilar Gonzalbo Aizpuru, Convivencia, segregacin y promiscuidad en la capital de la Nueva Espaa, Actas del Tercer Congreso Internacional Mediadores Culturales. Ciudades mestizas: Interacambios y continuidades en la expansin occidental Siglos XVI a XIX, Mexico DF, Centro de Estudios de Historia de Mxico, 2001. 10 Luis Merino OSA, Arquitectura y urbanismo en el siglo XIX: introduccin general y monografa, estudios sobre el municipio de Manila, vol. 2, Manila, Centro Cultural de Espaa and the Intramuros Administration, 1987, p. 12. 11 Sir John Bowring, A visit to the islands, London, Smith, Elder and Company, 1859, p. 16.
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The mixing of White and non-White in Filipino society plays an ambivalent role in Filipino consciousness today. True, to have a White or a Half-White origin is a source of pride. Popular standards of beauty favor the fair skin and the aquiline nose. (Of course, lately Chinese standards of beauty have become popular among our college students). On the other hand when educated Filipinos reflect on their racial origins, they seem to get embarrassed. They assume all too readily that children of Whites and non-Whites must be the product of illicit unions. For instance, of Spanish friars and native women! Worse still, they also assume that there is something wrong with having a culture with mixed origins. Hence I have heard Filipino colleagues and friends remark that Filipino culture, which is their culture, is bastardized. Some even think this of Latin American culture. A Mexican colleague, who lived in the Philippines for several years, was asked two years ago by a Filipino if Mexican Spanish is itself bastardized. Educated Filipinos are not aware that they unconsciously draw on the prejudices of other Asians and of Anglo-Americans towards mixed unions in both the racial and cultural fields. In fact there has been a greater degree of tolerance in Latin American society towards such unions. We should view our own tolerance towards mixed unions within that context. The following points should be made. First, the discourse of both the Spanish empire and the Catholic Church from the 16th century onwards legitimized such unions. As early as 1503, the Spanish crown recognized unions between Spaniards and Amerindians as legitimate.12 As for the Catholic Church, it stated clearly in the encyclical Sublimis Deus of 1537 that the Amerindians were true human beings. They should not be enslaved or deprived of their property and should be baptized therefore.13 Unions between Europeans and Non-Europeans thus had a legal and moral legitimacy within the Spanish empire. This was not the case in Anglo-American colonies, according to the British historian Arnold Toynbee, where there was little interest in converting the natives initially. Instead there was a policy of exclusion towards them. Catholics were ahead of the Protestants in preaching to NonWhites. He says that Protestants only began doing so towards the end of the 18th century.14 Anthony J. Paredes gives an earlier date for Protestant evangelization among the Amerindians of New England: 1640. But he says that French Jesuits were more successful in converting the natives.15 However, after Non-Whites converted, legal restrictions were imposed on marriages between Non-Whites and Whites in the U.S. Down to the middle of the 20th century there were laws in particular U.S. states that forbade, under penalty of imprisonment, intermarriage between Whites and Blacks, or between Whites and Orientals, like Filipinos.16 Such laws were not passed in Mexico and definitely not in the Philippines.

Agustn Basave Benitez, Mxico mestizo: anlisis del nacionalismo mexicano en torno a la mestizofilia de Andrs Molina Enriquez, Mxico D.F., Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1992, p. 17. 13 Papal encyclicals online, Sublimus Dei, http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul03/p3subli.htm, Retrieved November 30, 2008. 14 Arnold Toynbee, A study of history, London, Oxford University Press, 1948-1961, vol.1, p. 211 ff. 15 Anthony J. Paredes, Indios de los Estados Unidos anglosajones, Madrid, Mapfre, 1992, p. 215. 16 W.A. Plecker, Shall America remain White?, Virginia Health Bulletin, November, 1925, vol. 17, extra no. 12, http://198.66.252.234/powell5.html, Retrieved November 23, 2008. Leti Volpp, Constructing Latcrit theory: diversity,comonality, and identity: American Mestizo: Filipinos and Antimiscegenation Laws in California, The Regents of the University of California, U.C. Davis Law Review, 2000, http://biblioteca.uprrp.edu/LatCritCD/Publications/PublishedSymposium/LCIVUCDavis(2000)/4LCIVLetiVo lpp.pd, Retrieved November 23, 2008.

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Second, unlike the pejorative English terms, half-breed, half-caste, the Spanish term mestizo is now neutral. Because of anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S., the phenomenon of what anthropologists call hypodescent was born. In the U.S., it became important to show that an individual did not have a trace of Non-White blood, otherwise her or she would be classified as Non-White or, in the case of someone with a distant Black ancestor as Black. This despite a physical appearance that was almost wholly that of a White. According to the rule of hypodescent, a persons racial and even ethnic category is ultimately determined by the fact that an ancestor, no matter how distant, belonged to a subordinate racial and ethnic category.17 Hence hypo-, meaning lower. It is odd that President Barack Obama should be classified as Black. His mother was White and he was raised by middle-class White grandparents. Also odd is that Colin Powell, former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush should be referred to as Black when he is only one fourth-Black. He is three fourths White, being Scottish and Irish too. In Spanish America, the term would be mestizo for an individual of mixed race, mestizaje refers to the mixing of races, ethnicities and cultures. Mestizo comes from the Latin word mixtus, meaning mixture. It suggests fusion, whereas the English terms half-breed and half-caste suggest incompleteness and artificiality. Even the now popular English term hybrid still rings as somewhat negative. When educated Filipinos use the term bastardized to refer to their culture, they unconsciously use the categories of the English language. Mestizo is a better term for characterizing the Filipino physically and culturally. Unfortunately, in the Philippines today, mestizo has come to mean anyone who is fair-skinned or even White. We may have to develop a new Tagalog term for some one of mixed parentage. Third, realistically speaking, we have to acknowledge that relations between races and ethnicities in Latin America have been and continue to be conflict-ridden. The social order that existed in Spanish America was highly stratified. It was stratified according to wealth and profession. It was also stratified according to race and ethnicity. At the top were the peninsulars, below were the creoles, then the mestizos, and below the indios. There was also separation between the espaoles and the indios. Each group was governed by its own laws and leaders. The status of the mestizo was high in the 16th century, the century of Conquest. Indeed they helped the peninsulars in expanding and consolidating the empire. But their status sank in the 17th century when more Spanish women migrated to the Americas. Spanish men preferred them as marriage partners to Indian women. Since mestizos began to be born out of wedlock, mestizo came to denote bastardy. They were barred from both Amerindian and purely Spanish communities.18 The fortunes of both Indio and mestizo changed with independence in the 19th century. While Padre Miguel Hidalgo, who led the movement for independence was a Creole,19 Padre Jose Morelos was a mestizo. Benito Juarez led the armies that freed Mexico from the French-imposed Emperor Maximilian, As president, he institutionalized democracy in Mexico by

Conrad Philip Kottak, Anthropology: the exploration of human diversity, Boston, McGraw-Hill, 2000, pp. 146-7; Charles Wagley, The Latin American tradition: essays on the unity and diversity of Latin American culture, New York, Columbia University Press, 1968, pp. 165-6. 18 Mara Cristina Garca Bernal, La poblacin de la Amrica Hispana en el siglo XVI, Historia de las Amricas, vol. 2, coordinated by Lus Navarro Garca, Madrid, Alhambra Longman, Universidad de Sevilla, Secretariado de Publicaciones. Sociedad Estatal para el Quinto Centenario, ,1990, p. 180; Jos Muoz Perez, La consolidacin de la sociedad indiana: la poblacin de la Amrica Hispana en el siglo XVI, Historia de las Amricas, vol. 2, 1988, p. 658. Pilar Gonzalbo Aizpuru, Historia de la educacin de los criollos y la vida urbana, Mxico, D.F., el Colegio de Mxico, 1990, p. 112. 19 Lus Villoro, La revolucin de independencia, Historia general de Mxico, vol. 2, Mxico D>F?, SEP/ El Colegio de Mxico

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permitting freedom of speech, instituting land reform and separating the State from the Church. Juarez was an indio.20 We also have to acknowledge that many Amerindian groups through Spanish America, especially if they were nomadic hunters-and-gatherers, resisted incorporation into the nationstates, such as Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, that emerged after the Spaniards were driven out in the 1820s. In these bitter wars, some Amerindian groups became extinct. There are books today that focus on the condition of Amerindian peoples in selected Spanish American nation-states, and on their legacy.21 The class system in Latin America today is highly stratified. But it is not a caste system, like that of traditional India, where laws and customs forbade mixing and intermarriage. Most Mexicans, and for that matter most Central Americans, Cubans, Venezuelans and Brazilians, will most likely define themselves as mestizo or mestio. The Latin American class system is an openclass system where positions are based on personal achievement. This remains an ideal, however. The reality is that the chances that either an Amerindian or a Black will be born poor and will hold a minor position in an office are higher than if he were born a creole. This correlation between race, ethnicity and social class is also operative in the Philippines. How to break free from it is a problem here as in Latin America. But a difference is that in the Philippines, unlike in Latin America, many members of the elite have Chinese ancestry. Fourth, a discourse on the advantages of cultural and racial mestizaje developed in 20th century Latin America. In Mexico, for instance, intellectuals have reflected on the implications of mestizaje for nation-building. In the middle of the 19th century, Jos Maria Vigil argued that Nahuatl should be as important in the Mexicans education as Latin and Greek. He also argued for accepting the Spanish contribution to the making of modern Mexico. He believed that Mexicans could overcome their sense of inferiority and thus be truly creative if they truly valued their complex history as a nation.22 In the 1920s, Jos Vasconcelos argued that the mixing of races and cultures in Mexico was a welcome development in universal history. It resulted in a new type of people, one that was truly universal, a raza csmica to use his term. Octavio Paz23 and Carlos Fuentes 24 wrote their reflections on mestizaje after World War II. Both of them acknowledge the conflicts in Mexico between European, Amerindian and African; both emphasize, however, that this mixture has produced a culture that is richly sensuous and varied. Writing on the relations between Amerindians, Whites and Blacks in the cooking pot that is Latin America, the Cuban author, Gastn Baquero highlights the contradictions that exist. However, he says that if Cubans want to create a Motherland that is free, just and happy, We have to reconfigure within each of us the psychological, ethnic, historical and cultural wholeness given
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Patricia Galeana de Valads, Benito Juarez: el indio zapoteca que reform Mxico, Barcelona, Anaya, 1988. 21 Juan M. Ossio, Los indios del Per, Madrid, Mapfre S.A., 1992; Roberto Cass, Los indios de las Antillas; Isabel Hernndez, Los indios de Argentina, Madrid, Mapfre S.A., 1992; Renzo Pi Hugante, Los indios de Uruguay , Madrid, Mapfre S.A., 1993; Flavio Rojas Lima, Los indios de Guatemala, Madrid, Mapfre S.A., 1992 22 Juan A. Ortega y Medina, Indigenismo e hispanismo en la conciencia historiogrfica mexicana, en Cultura e identidad nacional, compiled by Roberto Blancarte, Mxico D.F., Fondo de Cultura Econmica y Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, p. 104,107. 23 Octavio Paz, Posiciones y contraposiciones: Mxico y Estados Unidos, en Octavio Paz, editor, El peregrino en su patria: Historia y poltica de Mxico, , Mxico D.F., Crculo de Lectores/ Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1994, pp. 43753. 24 Carlos Fuentes, El espejo encerrado: reflexiones sobre Espaa y el Nuevo Mundo, Libro con cinco audiovisuales, Mxico D.F, Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1992.

by the races that have sunk roots in the island of Cuba.25 In Brazil, Gilberto Freyre wrote about mestiagem and claimed that the easy mixing between Amerindian, Black and White had resulted in a racial democracy. He has been severely criticized for this, for many social scientists today agree that racism does exist in Brazil. The question is to what degree. Recently Freyres ideas have been rehabilitated. What endures is his detailed inquiry into the contribution of each race into the making of Brazil.26 In the Philippines we need to develop a discourse that examines carefully, without romanticism, the contributions of the different ethnic groups to the national tapestry that is being woven. A complicating feature in the Philippines, which differentiates it from Latin America but aligns it with Spain, is the Moslem factor. Although the national culture of the Philippines has been created largely by Lowland Christians, for it to become truly national, it has to incorporate the contributions of the Moslems. Conclusion To sum up: National interest compels us to get to know the various countries and various regional blocs of the world so that we can develop an independent foreign policy. The truth is that some of our Asian neighbors have been ahead of us in studying Latin America. And they have benefited from this. Ironically there has always been a fund of goodwill towards the Philippines among Spanish American countries because of a similar cultural heritage. But this fund of goodwill may peter out unless we seek to activate our links with them. One important link is precisely by getting to know them better. Then there are themes in Filipino culture that cannot be understood with Asian or Anglo-American lenses. We should try using Latin American lenses from time to time. Although we have to craft our own lenses, if we use Latin American lenses, we will view the inter-mixing of races and cultures more positively. Though conflict ridden, inter-racial unions were recognized as legitimate by Spanish tradition when actualized within the Church and before the Law. Moreover, an entire philosophy justifying inter-racial and inter-cultural mixing has been developed by Latin American authors. We should dialogue with this.

Gastn Baquero, Indios, blancos y negros en el caldero de Amrica, Madrid, Edicin de Cultura Hispnica, 1991, p. 116. 26 David Cleary, Race, nationalism and social theory in Brazil: rethinking Gilberto Freyre, Cambridge, Massachuseetts, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working%20papers/cleary.pdf. Retrieved November 29, 2008.

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