Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society Under Early Spanish Rule

by Vicente L. Rafael

This book studies the role of language in religious conversion of the Tagalogs to Catholicism and their subsequent colonization in the early period of Spanish rule (1580–1705).

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Academic, Religion

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[rory (jess' version)]

the more i read about academic papers like this, the more i know about how the Spaniards fuck the Philippines up

[Karlo Mikhail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book better than his more recent works, commentaries, and facebook statuses . . .

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the idea of “contracting” colonialism, because it make it sounds like a disease, and to some point I would agree that it is. Rafael made the point that this was almost titled “Contracting Christianity” and you can just hear the bishops and the devout Catholics in the Philippines going crazy about that.

At some point this book became difficult to read (hence the really long time it took me to finish this), and I can understand why Rafael’s academic peers criticized this work after it was published. But I think what Rafael is able to raise up in this book is salient and relevant, and I disagree that he got “Tagalog wrong”, as William Henry Scott said.

Tagalog - and Filipino - is a complex language filled with social and cultural intricacies that depict our pre-colonial customs that survived until this day (albeit taking new forms and interpretations). I enjoyed his part on loob most, because it’s the closest we get to pre-colonial Filipino metaphysics.

I enjoyed this book. Definitely a heavy read.

[Mary Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

for comms pt.2

I never knew I will enjoy reading this t__t Baka nadala lang ako ng caffeine pero I don't care na! Ang daming gasps at panlalaki ng mata ang galing nag point out ng mga sinasabi dito !!

Direct quotation from me, "During pre-historic American colonialism, the essay battled about the utilization of English, a foreign language, and Filipino, as the vernacular language. It was because of Filipinos' submissiveness to their colonial masters thus, Americans acted upon in their convenience and shifted all of the language-translation to the Filipinos as result of a misunderstanding of language," I just loved how it both blamed the colonizations of Americans and also Filipino nature of being submissiveness kaya ayon, tinake advantage ng mga colonizers !!

Since super diverse ng language noon after Spanish rule, ininsist ng Americans na gawing common language ang English to ALL FILIPINOS. llang beses ko silang minura sa essay kasi halatang for their convenient lang yung nagiging decision nila sa language used ugh.

Favorite part ko sa essay ay when it discusses how children grew up hearing words in their native tongue and then COMPLETELY shift to a different one when they entered school, which is english nga. Kaya may mga words na mahirap i-translate kasi yung iba gawa gawa due to mixed up of languages and minsan yung phonetic language din (associating sound to the actual meaning of words). Related din ito sa educational system noon na since english is established to be the language used na, maraming American teachers pa noon that can teach english since expertise nila. But then, nag deteriorate rin yung numbers nila and napalitan to Filipino teachers who lacked training talaga, ayon na rin sa survey : ( Kaya ayon, lalo na gumulo yung language spoken by many.

Ang cool ng mga nabasa ko dito and I was able to learn a lot rin ^^ Though nahirapan ako kasi ang daming english terms na hindi ko alam kaya I need to search pa :<

Feeling ko ang gulo ko mag-explain HAHAHAHA

[Lew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will agree with Scott here in saying that I don't agree with some of the ways Rafael has conceptualized Tagalog responses to conversion, in particular his notions of utang na loob and hiya, and most confounding of all his chapter on Pinpin and his very strained attempts to read into his work. I think there's been a "mistranslation" (his term) of things that I already have my own conceptions about, and which provoked a feeling short of an uprising on my part. On the whole however I find it a pretty accomplished work.

[Mike Mena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely difficult read but well worth the time investment.

[Catherine]

The only thing I’ve ever read that makes me feel like learning semiotic lingo wasn’t a total waste of time. This is a really brilliant work of scholarship and its project of “provincializing Europe,” studying the Spanish missionary as other, is not just politically astute but SO REWARDING. I’ll be chewing on this for a long time!

[Carlos Acosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new take on the Spanish conquest and rule of the Philippines.