¡Hola America! American Colonialism in Filipino Literature in Spanish

Date of Award

12-1-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts major in History (Option I: Thesis)

First Advisor

Josefina D. Hofileña, PhD

Abstract

The early twentieth century saw a boom in literary works written by Filipinos in Spanish, and yet today, virtually all of them are unknown. They were written at a time when Filipinos lived under American colonial rule and were being introduced to the American way of life, and so reflected these changing conditions. This thesis analyzes how a subset of such works, American-era Filipino novels in Spanish, depicted Filipino responses to American colonialism. It does so by examining their portrayals and representations of two major issues at the time, Philippine independence and the ongoing Americanization of Filipino society. The latter was seen through the spread of the English language and the rise of the new Filipino woman. In the novels included in this study, independence was portrayed as universally supported by Filipinos even if it was not necessarily the case in real life. Even then, the discourse on it was diverse as it was treated from different perspectives, even showing disagreements among those who professed to support independence. As for the spread of English, the novels show how many Filipinos came to accept the new language as part of their lives. Lastly, while in real life, many women were graduating from universities and pursuing careers outside the home, in the novels, women were mostly portrayed as submissive, virginal, and domestic. This was not surprising as these were all written by men at a time when most Filipino men opposed any deviation from the Maria Clara archetype. Overall, the resulting discourse is broad and rich with a wide array of diverse responses and opinions and shows that the Filipino experience of American colonialism cannot be summed by a simple generalization.

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