Reactions On A Talk

A few days ago, we attended a talk on the need for the vernacular to be used as the primary mode of instruction for young children. There were two things that struck me about the talk.

First was the 10 minute powerpoint invocation. Really?

Second of course was the lecture itself, but my interest is not so much in the pedagogical aspects as its postcolonial/neocolonial implications. The talk was given by a Caucasian lady who grew up in Ifugao and is versed in its traditions, culture and language. She has spent the larger part of her career as an MLE advocate in a country where the two national languages are Pilipino and English. So basically, here's a white lady (not the ghost species) addressing a Filipino audience about an educational system which insists on ramming Pilipino and English down students' throats at the expense of their own mother tounge. Is there something wrong with this picture?

In my research for our regional literature presentation, one of the main concerns is the "genocide" of regional literature and the vernacular by the "Tagalog-ization" perpetuated by Manila, or the center. The oppressed has become the oppressor. And the former oppressor now speaks for the other oppressed. Would that be right?

When I was reading Ashcroft, I realised that it was difficult to see American literature as postcolonial in response to British rule. Especially as a Filipino who knows them as a former coloniser. Perhaps it is difficult for us to see ourselves as oppressors as well. Which I think opens a lot of questions regarding that character that has been hit, and now hits elsewhere...

I still have to think about this.