A Theory of Development of Filipino Colonized Consciousness.

Abstract

This social critical study attempted to discover the roots of Filipino colonized consciousness in the thematic configuration that emerged from the patterns of interaction and contradictions in Philippine society during the Spanish colonial period 1565 to 1899. Paul Freire's thought was taken as main theoretical guide, Gadamer's hermeneutical theory of underst and ing illumined the interpretative process and Sartre's regressive-progressive procedure served as methodological approach. Domination emerged as the meta-theme founded on the axial colonial definition of the superiority of the colonizers and the inferiority of the colonized natives. The first two hundred years consolidated Spanish conquest by the imposition of institutions and structures that set the pattern of administrative governance, productive relations and social relations which in interaction with socio-cultural transformation through religious conversion and cultural invasion shaped the dual consciousness of the natives. The resultant loss of the natives' right to define their world was reflected in their view of the world, a diminished valuation of themselves and their capabilities and a narrowed range of their aspirations. At the latter part of the colonial period economic changes produced clearer class divisions and generated an upper class consciousness of the l and ed, educated and hispanized elite over the l and less and uneducated lower class, their relationship calibrated by symbiotic dependency. Class position determined responses to hierarchic racism, increasing repression and social control and deprivation. Assimilation and participation signifying parity with the colonizers shaped the concerns of the l and ed, educated elite. Emancipation and freedom motivated the l and less, uneducated lower class. Momentarily united in quest of an independent Philippine republic, the two classes fell apart with the entry of the United States on the scene. Thus the bifurcation of Philippine society as product and consequence of Spanish colonial domination was reflected in divergent aspirations and concerns which in turn manifested the colonized westernized consciousness of the upper class and the de-colonizing indigenous consciousness of the lower class Filipinos.