Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Today, our community here in the Philippines is experiencing a cultural delirium. This is
the culmination of multiple simultaneous phenomena including social media, colonial mentality,
a disintegrating interest on our own traditions, and many more.
Through our PBL project, we hope to revitalize the cultural awareness of the common
citizen. Our objective is to expand the common notion of tourism in our country; not only is it
economically driven, but it is also for the purpose of refining our culture especially for the youth
in the context of true education.
It can be said that between Filipino culture and our modern society exists a schism.
Many factors allow it to perpetuate: (1) the intrinsic quality of education that distances the
learner from the subject, (2) the presence of technology in the present and the absence of
technology in the past, and (3) the imitation and adoption of foreign cultures for its own sake.
(1) Social studies is a subject that is taken within formal educational institutions; it
contains the written history, heritage, traditions, culture, etc. of our country. The concept of a
specified subject has the intrinsic property of distancing the learner and the subject of which it
represents due to its lack of qualia, to which it cannot be sufficed. Modern educational norms
add onto this since it is treated by the common student as separate from daily life. The general
consensus is that education is an occupational requirement rather than a privilege of being
human; not to mention the oversaturation of technicalities that further alienates the student to
natural curiosity. True education must acknowledge its limitations on qualia and serve as the
source of inspiration for the student to cultivate their curiosity on the world. Language that is
used within the “separate” contexts of daily life and education embodies the schism, technical
jargon is the language of education and it serves as an indicator that it is separate from daily
life.
(2) The presence of technology also serves as an indicator of intrinsic separation
between generations. With the advent of technology came a new set of terminologies, an
emergent language that one must adhere to in order for them to conform within contemporary
society. Since there is a clear distinction between the periods of “with technology” and “without
technology,” this inevitably becomes synonymous with the “now” and “then.” This now-then
mentality makes traditional culture prone to irrelevance since, by definition, tradition is
legitimized by what is “then.” Futurism is the ideological parallel to this phenomena. In its
extreme condition, futurism fetishizes non-tradition as it is the antithesis of the past. And with
that mindset, it brings the rejection of tradition into fruition in the present. This interconnected
web of concepts serves as the foundation of a sociological cycle that would rather be described
as a downward-spiral from culture.
(3) Globalization is an ongoing phenomenon that started with the development of
telecommunication technologies. It describes the conglomeration of cultures between peoples
that were once geographically separate. Even though globalization describes the union of
praxes and ideologies, it exemplifies the division between culture and modern society. This is
because of the loss of cultural identity, in other words, the homogeneity of cultures dissolves the
boundaries of distinction resulting in a formless collection of unrelated traditions. The
perpetuation of this phenomena can be considered as echoes of the economic interdependence
the Communist Manifesto described as, “It [cheap prices of commodities] forces the barbarians’
intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners to capitulate. It compels all nations, on pain of extinction,
to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation
into their midst . . . It creates a world after its own image.” One could draw parallels between the
“barbarian” civilizations’ motivation to economic adoption to the modern civilizations’ motivation
to cultural adoption, may it be from fear of irrelevance (as stated in 2) or from wonder of the
spectacle. Nevertheless, it is evident in society that one knows more about foreign cultures than
their own.
Bakit ninyo nabuo ang nasabing tema at pananaliksik ng inyong PBL guidebook?
During our research, we discovered that our assigned regions have rich cultures that are
relatively unknown compared to other economically popular regions. A possible indirect cause
of this would be the negative representations of these regions through mass media (negative
stereotypes/violent/MILF). The flipside of this would be the positive representations of other
regions through commercialization targeting foreign nationalities. Our country has degraded into
a collection of images glamourising landmarks that is preserved for the sole purpose of capitalist
gain and is ironically polluted by the people who visit there, this results in a toxic cycle of gain
and waste — the natural environment is reduced to become a means rather than an end.
Although tourism is founded in leisure and capitalist motivations, contemporary society must
reframe their approach to have a more holistic approach to cultural awareness.
This reinforces our objective to describe the regions in an accurate and respectable way,
showing the essence of the regions through its people rather than its physical landmarks.
(summary xdxd)
Communication is the backbone of humankind as a social species. Language is a
systemized means for communication. It is not limited to words and sentences, it may also be
expressed as images or other non-linguistic forms. Through language, we could communicate;
through communication, we could share ideas. And from this emerges society, and from society
emerges culture. Culture is a manifestation of ideologies and praxes that defines the
individuality of a society. Culture evolves with its proponents, its environment, and within itself.
Over time, it forms the identity of society: how families would nurture their next generation, the
principles they value, and the bases for their morality. Therefore, language and culture is
inseparable from a historical perspective.
As students here in the Philippines, we can not only observe, but also resolve the
societal issues we face. Everything can be discussed through discourse, anything could be
resolved through compromise. As students, the responsibility of alleviating social issues lies
upon our shoulders. We have the opportunity of research and the means for conversation. This
is what it means by being the “pagasa ng bayan.”