Book Review: CULTURE AND HISTORY by Nick Joaquin

Culture and History by Nick Joaquín
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"A nation is not its politics or economics. A nation is people. And a nation changes only when the people change."

This book is not easy reading. Not just because of the meaty subject matter (perhaps THE ultimate subject: what IS the Filipino? And how did history make him?) but because the answers Nick Joaquin posed will not sit well with a lot of idealistic patriots with romanticized notions of a glorious aboriginal culture. He challenges the idea that the pre-Hispanic Filipino and Philippines was culturally rich, and points out weaknesses in the modern-day Filipino most bluntly, to the point of giving offense. One should not read this book expecting to be comforted by visions of past greatness.

CULTURE AND HISTORY is a collection of fifteen essays written in various decades, some from the 1960's but collected and first published in 1988. To be honest, the book is so rich in material that each essay deserves its own review! But for my future ailing memory's sake, I shall stick to my usual social-media-friendly soundbyte-style.

While some of the essays were critiques of artifact exhibits in Club Filipino and anthologies of essays on Philippine culture, most were miniature historical treatises which seem intended for publication in newspaper or magazine form.

The word "miniature" is one I will forever associate with this book.

One of several controversial themes is Nick Joaquin's observation on the Filipino, throughout history, as having "the habit... of thinking poor... and petty. Is that the explanation for our continuing failure to rise -- that we aim small and try small, that we think small and do small?"

"Why are we as a people so disinclined to face up to challenges?"

"We don't grow like a seed, we split like an amoeba... We make a confession of character whenever we split up a town or province to avoid having to cope with big problems and operations... we are capable only of the small."

Not everything is dark and dreary in the book. The central theme is the use of cultural artifacts to inform us of history... "Culture is itself history."

I was particularly fascinated with the author's essays on the beatas of Manila in the 1600's ("cryptomovements of protest") and the apocalyptic Christian-Socialist cult known as the Guardia de Honor of Pangasinan, with their Apo Laki and their New Jerusalem in Cabaruan and Santa Ana. Here were peasant revolts and feminist protest movements pre-dating the Philippine Revolution, with the latter continuing up until the movement was taken down by the Americans.

One essay, "Our Hearts in the Highlands?" tells of the time he and his friends went up to the Cordillera mountains in search of the noble natives uncorrupted by Western civilization... and were disappointed.

"The journey in search of identity had ended not in the highlands but back home... where the heart is."

This book, I think, was written with that goal: to provoke self-examination, for us to look inside and sift out the good (along with the evils) that our colonial past brought us, and learn from that good. For to deny any part of our history is to risk a fractured identity.

When an author (whose father fought alongside Emilio Aguinaldo) has lived through World War II and Martial Law writes thus, one would do well to listen and reflect. I take comfort in the ending phrase of the last essay (with the same title as the book): "... this nation-in-the-making called the Philippines, this identity-in-progress called the Filipino."

The revolution ... and our evolution ... are not yet finished.


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