Monthly Archives: September 2019

English

The Effects of Colonial Mentality on Filipino-American Mental Health

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By Kubo Guest Writers – 

By Joriene Mercado

In a survey of San Diego public high school students, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a striking 45.6% of Filipino-American female adolescents have thought about committing suicide, which was the highest rate among all ethnic groups in this study (Wolf, 1997). Data collected by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health showed that the depression rate was 13.6% among Filipino-American female adolescents, which is a higher rate than other Asian American adolescents (Kim & Chun, 2013). The literature lacks information on Filipino-American males. While it is clear that mental health issues disproportionately affect this population, there is an alarming dearth of information on why incidences of suicidal ideation and depression are so high.

Research suggests that this health disparity may be linked to the psychological phenomenon of colonial mentality. People who possess colonial mentality have a perception of ethnic or cultural inferiority that is a specific consequence of colonization. For Filipinos, this involves an automatic and uncritical rejection of anything Filipino and an automatic and uncritical preference for anything American or white. Studies show that Filipino-Americans who possess colonial mentality have poorer mental health.

I’ve been able to recognize my own colonial mentality growing up, particularly not being satisfied with my appearance and wishing I looked more white.

When I first learned about Philippine history during my sophomore year of college, I discovered that my negative self-perception was rooted out of colonialism in the Philippines.

And today I am still healing from the intergenerational trauma that affects Filipinos. We should collectively heal by learning about our history so we can better understand the source of mental health issues in our community.

Filipino-American psychologist E.J.R. David argues that it is critical for Filipinos to know and understand the catalysts of their colonized thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and behaviors. This entails learning about the tragic history of colonialism in the Philippines. Since colonial mentality and poor mental health are linked, Filipino-Americans can better understand their own mental health with knowledge of the history of colonialism in the Philippines.

My struggles with mental health and the impact of learning my people’s colonial history have inspired me to educate Filipino-American high school students about mental health and our collective history. Partnering with the Filipino Mental Health Initiative, a grassroots organization striving to improve the wellness of Filipinos in San Mateo County, we’ve developed workshops for our community that teach the history of colonization in the Philippines and how it relates to mental health and ethnic identity development. In addition to facilitating the workshops, we examined how participants’ perceptions of mental health and ethnic identity changed based on the use of a decolonization framework in the workshops.

Based on the findings from our workshop, students have an increased awareness about their heritage, ethnic identity, and mental health. Throughout the workshop, they reported feelings of inspiration and empowerment and found value in learning about their peers’ personal experiences and connection with the topic. Additionally, their attitudes towards colonization changed to being completely negative, and they drew connections between colonization and mental health and ethnic identity. These preliminary outcomes suggest that educators should consider the sociopolitical forces and structures that may influence the mental health of marginalized communities.

We must continue to learn and share our ethnic histories as a means of empowerment and healing.

I call upon community health initiatives to think critically about how our histories of oppression have influenced the wellness of our communities. How does teaching youth about their collective history impact their ethnic identity development and mental health? What will happen to our youth if they are not exposed to their collective history? I would have been much better off if I learned about my collective history when I was younger, and I believe all students deserve to learn about their collective histories.

Joriene Mercado is a recent graduate from Stanford University with an interest in education and mental health. As an aspiring educator, he aims to work towards developing an education system that’s reflective of the histories and legacies of marginalized groups.
English

What Is a Colonized Mind?

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Peter d’Errico Dec 12, 2011

England was once so proud of its colonial regime that it boasted, “The sun never sets on the British empire.”

Today, colonialism is a bad word. It is fashionable to say we live in a ‘post-colonial’ world.

The truth is the world continues to involve relations of domination and exploitation, under new names: “globalization,” for example.

None of this is news to observers of history and contemporary affairs. The “Occupy” movement, whatever else it may be, is evidence of widespread awareness that 1 percent of the population dominates 99 percent, an arrangement similar to colonialism except it happens within as well as between nations.

The interesting—and complicated—thing about colonialism is that it encompasses not just politics and economics, but consciousness. Critical theorists such as Frantz Fanon and Paulo Freire have pointed this out.

Fanon, a black man born in the French colony of Martinique, became a world-renowned psychoanalyst and philosopher, working in Algeria. He wrote, “For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity” [The Wretched of the Earth].

Fanon’s study of psychology and sociology led him to the further conclusion that colonized people perpetuate their condition by striving to emulate the culture and ideas of their oppressors. He wrote, “Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.”

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, is best known for his development of what might be called ‘liberation literacy,’ teaching literacy and political awareness together. Freire agreed with Fanon, “The oppressed want at any cost to resemble the oppressors.” He said, “the oppressed must be their own example.” Unlike Fanon, he argued that oppressors also could (and those who wanted to end colonialism must) change their own thinking: “those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly” [Pedagogy of the Oppressed].

How do we apply these thoughts to the situation of American Indians today? The problems start with the notion that the United States is not a colonial power, or that the colonial era of American history is over. These notions are sometimes stated openly, more often concealed as assumptions behind our rhetoric.

When an Indian speaks about “our country,” what country is being talked about? Is it an Indigenous Nation or the United States? When an Indian refers to “my President,” which president is being discussed, the president of an Indigenous Nation or the president of the U.S.? These kinds of statements need to be examined to determine whether the speaker is asserting something that supports or undermines consciousness of Indigenous sovereignty.

The 1924 Indian Citizenship Act declared, “all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States…are…citizens.” Reaction among Indians was diverse, some welcoming the chance to more closely assimilate and others wary of the loss of Indigenous sovereignty. Prior citizenship acts had been tied to allotment, for example. Non-Indians were also divided in their views, some saying citizenship would “redeem… the tribes,” and others saying citizenship would empower Indians.

It may be the case that an Indian values U.S. citizenship and seeks an active role in the political system that dominates Indian nations. This approach may have some utilitarian value in struggling for Indian self-determination; but it is an approach fraught with difficulty because it uses language that can trap the speaker and listeners in an illusion of self-determination and cause them to miss opportunities for the real thing.

Patrice Lumumba, the first indigenous leader of the Republic of the Congo, called for mental decolonization in his speech to the 1960 Pan-African Congress, saying we have to “rediscover our most intimate selves and rid ourselves of mental attitudes and complexes and habits that colonization … trapped us in for centuries.” Lumumba thought it possible to work together with the former Belgian oppressors; for their part, they saw him as an enemy and facilitated his assassination.

We might say that collaboration among Indian nations and the U.S. is the best of both worlds. Even here, however, we must be careful. To ‘collaborate,’ in its root meaning, is to ‘work together’; but there is also a different meaning: ‘traitorous cooperation with the enemy.’ Which of these we mean—and which we engage in—depends on whether our minds are decolonized. ‘Working together’ requires all participants to work on themselves, their thinking, assumptions, perspectives, beliefs, and habits of mind. Decolonization is personal and political.

Melanesian People

Indonesia is an “imagined community”, Melanesia is a REAL community!… BUT…

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A Melanesian Dilemma

It is a human tragedy today is that “the REAL Melanesian community think they are unreal, and then they believe and treat the “unreal Indonesian community” as a real one,

They think un-real Indonesia poses real threats and danger, that therefore it is a sensitive issue that should be treated cautiously. They are fearful that supporting and defending the Real Melanesia means offending the “unreal Indonesia”. What are human tragedy. And this tragedy is imposed by Melanesians ourselves, because we Melanesians do not have a clear self-image ourselves. That is why we cannot see the image of other humans as they are. We are believing on what they told us about who they are.

It is Benedict Anderson that branded Indonesia as an un-real community because “Indonesia” only exists as a country, not not as a people. There is no Indonesian island, Indonesian tribe, Indonesian village to this date, but there is Indonesian state called the Colonial Unitary Republic of Indonesia (CURI). In other words, Indonesia does not exist as a people, but only as a nation-state.

An imagined community is a concept developed by Benedict Anderson in his 1983 book Imagined Communities, to analyze nationalism. Anderson depicts a nation as a socially constructed community, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group.[1]:6–7 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagined_community>

The first Note:

  1. There is no single tribe called Indonesian tribe;
  2. There is no single village called Indonesian village;
  3. There is no single island called Indonesian island; and
  4. Therefore, in fact, there is no single person called Indonesian.

The second Note:

  1. There are Java tribe; Batal Tribe, Bugis Tribe, Bali Tribe, Lani Tribe, Yali Tribe, Mee Tribe, etc.
  2. There are villages like Genyem, Banyuwangi (Java), Sragen (Java), Bogor (Java), Bogia (PNG), Eratap (Vanuatu), GabaGaba (PNG).
  3. There are islands like New Guinea Java, Bali, Eromanggo, and Borneo.
  4. There are peoples like Javanese, Sumatran, Dayak, Bugis, Melanesian, Balinese

The third Note:

  1. Indonesia is not a real identity of human being, it is just an identity of a country, a colonial boundary created for the sake of their economic interests, disregarding and undermining human beings who live in islands included into Indonesia.
  2. Melanesia is a real identity, but we are divided up by colonised by different masters at different times, and finally we were given independence, but still following the maps of our colonial masters. Consequently, we are identifying ourselves according to colonial map, not according to the truth of our own identity.
  3. Indonesia has declared the country as “one people – one land” (sebangsa setanah air), either foolishly or cleverly ignoring the matter of fact that there are MANY nations and MANY islands included into Indonesia.
  4. Melanesia never declared herself as “One People – One Origin, One Destiny”,
    • that is really why we are thinking Melanesia is not real but West Papua is real,
    • therefore I am West Papuan, Melanesia is not real but PNG is real, therefore I am Papua New Guinean,
    • that is why I am ni-Vanuatu, not Melanesian.
    • therefore I am a Fijian, and West Papua issue is an internal Indonesian issue, I am as Fijian stay outside, West Papuans are Indonesians.
  5. In fact, it is not difficult for Melanesians to say to ourselves and to the world, “We are Melanesians”:, “Yes We are ONE, Melanesian People!” and
    1. WE ARE NOT West Papuans;
    2. WE ARE NOT Papuan New Guineans;
    3. WE ARE NOT Fijians;
    4. WE ARE NOT ni-Vanuatu;
    5. WE ARE NOT Solomon Islanders;
    6. WE ARE NOT NEW CALEDONIANS,

Therefore, Free West Papua is not to Free West Papuans, but Free West Papua is to Free Melanesians from colonial power. Occupying West Papua is occupying Melanesian ancestral land.

We should not be fooled by colonial-made governments of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and think that West Papua issue is an internal affair of Indonesian peoples.

We Melanesians a Facing Dilemma on our Own Self-Image

Our Melanesian our self-image is already over-painted by foreign powers. We are holding our image made-up by foreign colonialists. And today we are thinking according to what our colonial powers want.

They told us you are NOT Melanesians, and we are agreeing that we are not so. They told us West Papua is part of Indonesia and governments of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) are thinking the that way too.

Finally Indonesians themselves told us this

If you cannot figure out your own self-image, then let me tell you, “YOU ARE MONKEY!”

So right now, this struggle is not between West Papuan people and Indonesia anymore. This is a struggle between us all “monkeys” from Melanesia against those “imagined human community” of Indonesia.

Let us unite! Let us declare our image: Yes we are monkeys! Let monkeys stay in our own forests, and let imagined humans go back to their homes.

We are ONE: 1 Ancestor, 1 Land, 1 People, 1 Destiny.

We are not West Papuans, We are not Papua New Guineans, We are not Fijians, We are not Solomon Islanders, we are not Ni-Vanuatu, we are not New Caledonians, “WE ARE MELANESIANS!”

This is all about Melanesian nationalism! The nationalism of the “monkeys” against imagined society of Indonesia.