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The early years of Philippine Studies, 1953 to 1966

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2019

Abstract

The academic journal has been a key element of the scholarly world for some time and as a key component of this world it deserves historical examination. But this has not often been forthcoming, especially for regions of the world outside the Anglo-American core. In this article I examine the content of the early years of Philippine Studies. Founded in 1953, it has survived and prospered up to the present day as a vehicle for scholarly studies of the Philippines. The content of the early years of Philippine Studies (1953–66) reflected a desire on the part of its editors and many of its authors and supporters to create a Philippine society based on the teachings of the Catholic Church, one that would be strong enough to create a middle path between communism and liberalism. Articles published during this period advocated social reform based on the teachings of the Catholic Church; these articles also aired warnings about the communist threat to the Philippines and the world. But alongside these materials were literary and historical studies that also, but in a more indirect fashion, supported the project of Catholic-inspired social reform.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2019 

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Footnotes

The author would like to thank Carina C. Samaniego, Director, University Archives, Ateneo de Manila University.

References

1 This journal experienced several changes of name during the course of its history. From the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society it became the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1922, and the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1964.

2 McCoy, Alfred, Policing America's empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the rise of the surveillance state (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2011), pp. 42–3Google Scholar.

3 Pacheco, Ester, ‘Academic publishing in the Philippines’, in Academic publishing in ASEAN: Problems and prospects, ed. Gopinathan, S. (Singapore: Singapore Festival of Books, 1986), p. 41Google Scholar.

4 Anderson, Benedict, The spectre of comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the world (London: Verso, 1998), pp. 68Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., p. 3.

6 Willem van Schendel, ‘Jumping scale in Southeast Asia’, in Locating Southeast Asia: Geographies of knowledge and politics of space, ed. Paul Kratoska, Remco Raben and Henk Schulte Nordholdt (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2005), p. 279.

7 Syed Farid Alatas, ‘Alternative discourses in Southeast Asia’, Sari 19 (2001): 50.

8 Also founded in the same year as Philippine Studies was the Philippine Sociological Review, the first of many specialised social science journals to appear in the country. Bautista notes that the 1950s saw the return to the Philippines of numbers of US-trained Filipino social scientists who went on to develop strong social science communities practising within the Philippines. Ma Cynthia Bautista, ‘Sociology and the social sciences in the Philippines’, Philippine Sociological Review 46, 1–2 (1998): 66–75.

9 1966 is a convenient cut-off date for this work as in the middle of the year the Ateneo de Manila University assumed complete financial responsibility for the journal. Initially, my aim was to cover the entire run of the journal, but the impracticality of that goal soon became apparent. Even within this limited period, a reading of the journal provides a number of potentially interesting avenues of exploration.

10 Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet, The Huk Rebellion: A study of peasant revolt in the Philippines (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2014).

11 Nick Cullather, Illusions of influence: The political economy of United States–Philippines relations, 1942–1960 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994), p. 72; Stephen Shalom, ‘Counter-insurgency in the Philippines’, in The Philippines Reader: A history of colonialism, neo-colonialism, dictatorship, and resistance, ed. Daniel B. Schirmer and Stephen R. Shalom (Boston: South End, 1987), pp. 111–23.

12 Patrick McNamara, A Catholic Cold War: Edmund A. Walsh S.J. and the politics of American anti-communism (New York: Fordham University, 2005), pp. 135, 152.

13 Wilfredo Fabros, The Church and its social involvement in the Philippines, 19301962 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988), pp. 31–2.

14 Ibid., p. 33.

15 The Ateneo de Manila University had its origins in earlier Jesuit institutions designed to educate the children of the colony's elite at an elementary and later secondary school level. For well into the American period the Ateneo remained a bastion of Spanish and Catholic culture and sentiment; only in the 1920s did it move to an English-language curriculum. Tertiary-level education began with the opening of the Ateneo College of Commerce in 1936, followed by Colleges of Law and Industrial Chemistry. The war put an end to further developments till the late 1940s when the Ateneo was authorised to grant full degrees. José S. Arcilla, ‘Ateneo de Manila: Problems and policies, 1859–1939’, Philippine Studies 32, 4 (1984): 377–98.

16 Steven J. Harris, ‘Confession-building, long-distance networks, and the organization of Jesuit science’, Early Science and Medicine 1, 3 (1996): 287–318.

17 Miguel Bernad, ‘Philippine Studies policy’, n.d., Philippine Studies papers, Box 263, Ateneo de Manila University Archives (henceforth Philippine Studies papers).

18 Ibid.

19 Letter to Miguel Bernad from Francis Clark, 22 Aug. 1958, Philippine Studies papers.

20 Bernad, ‘Philippine Studies policy’.

21 Ibid.

22 Anonymous letter to Miguel Bernad, 27 Mar. 1957, Philippine Studies papers.

23 Robert Fox, ‘The Calatagan excavations: Two 15th century burial sites in Batangas, Philippines’, Philippine Studies 7, 3 (1959): 321–89; Letter from Tom Harrisson to Miguel Bernad, 11 Sept. 1959, Philippine Studies papers.

24 Letter from J.J. Hennessey to Miguel Bernad, 31 Aug. 1959, Philippine Studies papers.

25 Further bibliometric work along these lines could be done profitably, but since it is not the aim here to explore the reception of the journal in any great depth it was thought best to reserve such a study for future work.

26 Miguel Bernad, ‘Five years of Philippine Studies’, Philippine Studies 5, 4 (1957): 363–9.

27 Jonathan Luxmoore and Jolanta Babiuch, ‘The Catholic Church and Communism, 1789–1989’, Religion, State & Society 27, 3–4 (1999): 301–13.

28 Charles McCarthy, ‘The industrialization of Red China and its cost’, Philippine Studies 7, 3 (1959): 282.

29 Charles McCarthy, ‘The high cost of Communism’, Philippine Studies 8, 3 (1960): 639.

30 Charles McCarthy, ‘Brainwarping’, Philippine Studies 9, 1 (1961): 153–65.

31 Letter to the editor and associate editors from Francis Clark, 25 Aug. 1958, Philippine Studies papers.

32 Michael McPhelin, ‘Political Transmission 15: I. Economics of the Transmission’, Philippine Studies 8, 1 (1960): 5.

33 Horacio de la Costa, ‘The Transmission on national politics’, Philippine Studies 8, 1 (1960): 38–44.

34 H.B. Furay, ‘The Transmission as propaganda’, Philippine Studies 8, 1 (1960): 46.

35 Ibid., p. 44.

36 McPhelin, ‘Political Transmission 15’, p. 5.

37 Furay, ‘The Transmission as propaganda’, pp. 46–7.

38 Enrique Victoriano, ‘Philippine Communism: Strategy and tactics’, Philippine Studies 8, 1 (1960): 47.

39 Enrique Victoriano, ‘Behind the nationalist façade’, Philippine Studies 7, 4 (1959): 487.

40 Melchor Aquino, ‘Missiles and national survival’, Philippine Studies 8, 3 (1960): 615–16.

41 Gerald Healy, ‘The modern voter and morality’, Philippine Studies 1, 2 (1953): 140.

42 Ibid., p. 134.

43 Rodolfo Tupas, ‘Comments on the Magna Carta of Labor’, Philippine Studies 2, 1 (1954): 20–29; Michael McPhelin, ‘Wages and justice’, Philippine Studies 14, 1 (1966): 38–51; Gerald Healy, ‘Usury in the Philippines today’, Philippine Studies 3, 2 (1955): 136–56; Jeremais Montemayor, ‘The Federation of Free Farmers’, Philippine Studies 3, 4 (1955): 373–88; John Doherty, ‘Population growth and fertility control’, Philippine Studies 12, 2 (1964): 348–51; Vitaliano Gorospe, ‘Advertising in the Philippines’, Philippine Studies 12, 4 (1964): 605–22.

44 Montemayor, ‘The Federation of Free Farmers’, p. 373.

45 John Carroll, ‘The twin revolutions’, Philippine Studies 11, 4 (1963): 578.

46 Healy, ‘Usury in the Philippines today’.

47 Tupas, ‘Comments on the Magna Carta of Labor’, p. 20.

48 Gorospe, ‘Advertising’; Doherty, ‘Population growth’.

49 Vitaliano Gorospe, ‘Responsible parenthood in the Philippines today’, Philippine Studies 14, 3 (1966): 471.

50 Leo Cullum, ‘Federation of Free Farmers’, Philippine Studies 2, 2 (1954): 171.

51 Ibid., pp. 171, 172.

52 Gerald Healy, ‘Judging a strike in the Philippines today’, Philippine Studies 2, 3 (1954): 235; Samuel Wiley, ‘State of the nation: A challenge to Christian statesmanship’, Philippine Studies 14, 1 (1966): 28.

53 Tupas, ‘Comments on the Magna Carta of Labor’, pp. 20, 22, 23, 24.

54 Healy, ‘The modern voter’, p. 135.

55 Gaston Duchesneau, ‘Institute of Social Order’, Philippine Studies 3, 3 (1955): 312–13; Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno, http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310505_quadragesimo-anno.html (last accessed 13 Sept. 2017).

56 Gregorio Hernandez, ‘The problem of human erosion’, Philippine Studies 5, 2 (1957): 125–34.

57 Michael McPhelin, ‘Economic freedom: Adam Smith vs. the papacy’, Philippine Studies 7, 4 (1959): 393–408.

58 Luxmoore and Babiuch, ‘The Catholic Church’, p. 302.

59 Ibid., p. 302.

60 Ibid., p. 305.

61 This is not to say that advocates of a ‘middle path’ in the Philippines only derived their support from the ideological work of external actors such as the Papacy. The example of Claro Recto and his efforts to develop economic and political policy based on the notion of Filipino nationalism comes to mind. See Renato Constantino, The making of a Filipino: A story of Philippine colonial politics (Quezon City: Malaya Books, 2000[1969]).

62 Glenn Anthony May, ‘Father Frank Lynch and the shaping of Philippine social science’, Itinerario 22, 3 (1998): 99–121.

63 Ibid.

64 Vitaliano Gorospe, ‘Christian renewal of Filipino values’, Philippine Studies 14, 2 (1966): 191, 203, 226.

65 Miguel Bernad, ‘Philippine short stories 1952’, Philippine Studies 1, 1 (1953): 15.

66 Joseph Galdon, ‘From Hamlet to Bayanihan’, Philippine Studies 8, 2 (1960): 394–5.

67 Lourdes Busuego Pablo, ‘The Spanish tradition in Nick Joaquin’, Philippine Studies 3, 2 (1955): 206.

68 Letter from Leo Cullum to Miguel Bernad, 27 Feb. 1953, Philippine Studies papers.

69 Bernad, ‘Philippine short stories’, p. 14.

70 Leo Cullum, ‘The Diliman Review’, Philippine Studies 1, 2 (1953): 163–9.

71 Ibid., p. 164.

72 Joseph Galton, ‘Some notes on a Philippine novel’, Philippine Studies 9, 1 (1961): 182.

73 H.B. Furay, ‘The stories of Nick Joaquin’, Philippine Studies 1, 2 (1953): 153.

74 Miguel Bernad, ‘The stories of Bienvenido Santos’, Philippine Studies 4, 4 (1956): 520.

75 Miguel Bernad, ‘Tarlac and Andromeda: The stories of Gregorio Brillantes’, Philippine Studies 9, 1 (1961): 172.

76 Miguel Bernad, ‘Poetry by allusion’, Philippine Studies 1, 3 (1953): 223–35; Miguel Bernad, ‘The paradox of Shakespeare's golden world’, Philippine Studies 4, 3 (1956): 441–58; James Donelan, ‘Some slighted poets I: John Skelton, 1464–1529’, Philippine Studies 8, 2 (1960): 237–58; Antonio Manuud, ‘An underdog dramatist: Christopher Marlowe’, Philippine Studies 12, 4 (1964): 623–38.

77 H.B. Furay, ‘Sturge Moore as a mystic’, Philippine Studies 8, 4 (1960): 769.

78 Miguel Bernad, ‘The old man, the sea and Hemingway’, Philippine Studies 7, 3 (1959): 304.

79 Miguel Bernad, ‘T.S. Eliot's Nightingales: A rereading’, Philippine Studies 6, 4 (1958): 399.

80 Cecil Cody, ‘The Japanese way of life in prewar Davao’, Philippine Studies 7, 2 (1959): 172–86; Theodore Friend, ‘American interests and Philippine independence 1929–1933’, Philippine Studies 11, 4 (1963): 505–23.

81 Gloria Cano, ‘Evidence for the deliberate distortion of the Spanish Philippine colonial historical record in the Philippine Islands’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 39, 1 (2008): 1–30.

82 Horacio de la Costa, ‘The legal basis of Spanish imperial sovereignty’, Philippine Studies 1, 2 (1953): 156.

83 Frederick Fox and Juan Mercader, ‘Some notes on public elementary school education in Iloilo province, 1885–1899’, Philippine Studies 2, 1 (1954): 6.

84 Frederick Fox and Juan Mercader, ‘Some notes on education in Cebu province, 1820–1898’, Philippine Studies 9, 1 (1961): 46.

85 Horacio de la Costa, ‘Jesuit education in the Philippines to 1768’, Philippine Studies 4, 2 (1956): 152.

86 Nicolas Zafra, ‘On the writing of Philippine history’, Philippine Studies 6, 4 (1958): 457; John Schumacher, ‘One hundred years of Jesuit scientists: The Manila Observatory 1865–1965’, Philippine Studies 13, 2 (1965): 260.

87 Angelita Martinez, ‘The fourth cathedral: 1872–1945’, Philippine Studies 7, 1 (1959): 110.

88 Nicholas Cushner, ‘Legazpi 1564–1572’, Philippine Studies 13, 2 (1965): 206.

89 Horacio de la Costa, ‘History and Philippine culture’, Philippine Studies 9, 2 (1961): 350.

90 Ibid.

91 Leo Cullum, ‘Literary survey’, Philippine Studies 2, 1 (1954): 50–58; Leo Cullum, ‘Philippine periodical trends’, Philippine Studies 3, 4 (1955): 424–7; Leo Cullum, ‘Philippine copyrighted material 1959–1960’, Philippine Studies 9, 1 (1961): 128–39; Miguel Bernad, ‘Philippine bibliographical survey: 1956’, Philippine Studies 5, 1 (1957): 71–84.

92 Leo Cullum, ‘Philippine periodical literature’, Philippine Studies 2, 4 (1954): 368–75; Berchmans Copin, ‘Philippine periodical literature 1956’, Philippine Studies 4, 4 (1956): 565–9.

93 Cullum, ‘Philippine periodical literature’.

94 Ibid., p. 369.

95 Frank Lynch, ‘The Jesuit letters of Mindanao as a source of anthropological data’, Philippine Studies 4, 2 (1956): 247–72.

96 John Schumacher, ‘Recent historical writing on the Philippines abroad’, Philippine Studies 9, 1 (1961): 97.

97 Boxer, Charles, ‘Three unpublished Jesuit letters on the Philippine and Mariana Missions, 1681–1689’, Philippine Studies 10, 3 (1962): 434–42Google Scholar; de la Costa, Horacio, ‘The siege and capture of Manila by the British, September–October 1762’, Philippine Studies 10, 4 (1962): 607–54Google Scholar.

98 Schumacher, John, ‘Some notes on Rizal at Dapitan’, Philippine Studies 11, 2 (1963): 362Google Scholar; Cushner, Nicholas P., ‘The abandonment of Tamontaka Reduction (1898–1899)’, Philippine Studies 12, 2 (1964): 288–95Google Scholar.