Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
9-2025
Abstract
I would like to explore the possibility that Filipinization, a movement aligned with decolonization, might have more streams and cannot simply be appropriated by a particular political orientation. I will begin my exploration by looking at a textbook titled Invention. Put together by Philippines-based American Jesuit priest, Joseph A. Galdon, Invention was based on the experimental work of fellow American Jesuit Joseph A. Landy, and distinctively featured work by Filipino students. This fact is interesting because of its context: the experimental work which was the basis of Invention was burned during the heated days of the Filipinization of the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila. Said Filipinization might be said to have clear national democratic roots, as seen in various liberation efforts in Southeast Asia after the Pacific War. Invention, though likely not intended to influence nation-building, might connect with forwarding Filipino nationhood. The works in the textbook were clearly about the experiences of young Filipinos; in this regard, the textbook might be said to be Jesuit in orientation in the sense that Filipino students were met where they were in terms of experience. Recognizing one’s Filipino experience was something that Jesuits in the Philippines focused on, as seen in the Filipino philosophy of Roque Ferriols and the social development projects of Francisco Araneta. The latter’s efforts to build a better Filipino society predated the social democratic movements that flowered in the school during the heat of Filipinization, ultimately providing an alternative to national democratic responses.
Recommended Citation
Vitug, N. A. R. (2026). “Invention” as mark of different Philippine decolonial stream [Faculty work / Unpublished manuscript]. Archīum Ateneo, Ateneo de Manila University.
