Last week in English class, the "barkadas" (groups) were assigned a chapter in Kevin Nadal's book Filipino American Psychology and we have to teach it to the class. My barkada choose "Colonial Mentality of Filipino Americans". One of the things that really stuck to me was the effect of colonialism on how Filipinos saw and still see beauty as.
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| Filipina actress, Angel Locsin |
One thing that Filipino and Filipino American communities highly value is being mestiza or mestizo. Nadal says word translates to someone who is part spanish or multiracial Filipino and White. However, now the word mestiza/o is used to describe anyone who is light-skinned. Then he goes on to say that because being mestiza is highly valued, Filipino and Filipino Americans try to get the look of being light-skinned. To do this, they invest in skin bleaching creams and products.
This caught my attention because people in my own family are part of the community of people that want to get that mestiza look. When I think of Filipinos, I think of dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. That's changed. I like to think of it as the "new" generation of Filipinos, but now the typical look of Filipinos and even Filipino Americans is dark hair, dark eyes and light skin. As seen through Filipino television, stations like TFC and GMA .. and for me, through my family members.
To me, its not that Filipinos aren't proud of being Filipino, and by that I mean their roots, the indigenous Filipino people .. the ones with the brown/dark skin, but that the "new" generation doesn't identify themselves with those Filipinos. That's the biggest influence of colonialism in my eyes when it comes to appearances of Filipinos. Or what comes to mind when you think about what most Filipinos now look like. I'm not saying that wanting to be mestiza or mestizo is a bad thing, it's just effect of colonialism. And it has become a part of colonial mentalities. There are many other colonial influences that effects Filipinos' and Filipino Americans' mentality .. but I think I'll save those for another post haha!
Til next time .. Happy readings (:
I was watching a medicine based talkshow last week and the topic was about changing one's physical appearance through surgery to resemble caucasian characteristics. The woman siding elective surgery was...(wait for it) a filipina.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering, Maria, how colonial mentality complicates Filipino American Identity development, no? Indeed, how does colonial mentality complicate "acculturative stress"? In other words, in what ways does colonial mentality add to the stress of acculturating? What part does colonial mentality fit into the identity development model? You've given me something to think about . . .
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