Tag Archives: psychology

The Effects of Colonial Mentality on Filipino-American Mental Health

September 8, 2019 yumiwantok 1 Comment

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?

September 8, 2019 yumiwantok Leave a comment

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.

English

Filipinos, Colonial Mentality, and Mental Health

November 2, 2017 yumiwantok Leave a comment

A psychological approach to exploring the effects of colonialism among Filipinos

I was just in the Philippines recently, where I saw skin-whitening products and clinics everywhere! It is also where I saw the pervasive vestiges of western colonial influences, from the widespread use of English and the regard of it as the language of the educated or upper class, to the abundance of western restaurants and shops that make Manila seem more Americanized than many places in America itself. All of these, of course, are remnants of the Philippines’ long history of colonization under Spain and the United States. So colonialism, and its most insidious legacy, colonial mentality, has been on my mind.

And it seems like it has been on other Filipinos’ minds lately too. For instance, the viral AJ+ video featuring Kristian Kabuay shows that his quest to revive Baybayin is his attempt to restore and repair the immense cultural damages that colonialism brought onto Filipinos. Also, Asia Jackson’s viral AJ+ video on colorism and anti-dark skin attitudes among Filipinos touch on colonial mentality as well. And even further, I definitely made sure I brought up colonial mentality with major media executives and politicians while I was in the Philippines, so it was at least temporarily in their minds.

So yes, colonial mentality—particularly skin-whitening—has been on many Filipinos’ minds lately. But as Philippines Vice President Leny Robredo acknowledged when I asked her about it, it’s a centuries-old issue, and there’s been plenty of work on it, going as far back as Jose Rizal! Indeed, many folks have documented and shared their painful stories, struggles, confusions, and heartaches about colonial mentality throughout the years.

And over the past 15 years, there has been some efforts to quantify and “scientifically” capture colonial mentality among Filipinos. First, there’s the Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS), which is a typical questionnaire that directly asks people if they hold some signs of colonial mentality. The CMS asks people to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with statements such as, “There are situations where I feel inferior because of my ethnic background,” “There are situations where I feel ashamed of my ethnic background,” “I would like to have a skin tone that is lighter than the skin tone I have,” “I make fun of, tease, or bad mouth Filipinos who speak English with strong accents,” and “Filipinos should be thankful to Spain and the United States for transforming the Filipino ways of life into a White/European American way of life.” However, because people may easily lie, deny, or not know too much about their own attitudes and behaviors to accurately report it, I also developed the Colonial Mentality Implicit Association Test (CMIAT), which attempts to capture whether Filipinos have strongly and automatically associated Filipino culture with inferiority.

Although far from being complete and perfect, tools such as the CMS and CMIAT have allowed us to attach some “numbers” to the very real stories that people have been sharing for generations.

And so, what does the data tell us about colonial mentality among Filipinos?

Here’s an easily-accessible infographic summarizing some findings, and below it are a few more details:

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/unseen-and-unheard/201711/filipinos-colonial-mentality-and-mental-health

Modernization

The Slave Mentality

June 15, 2010 yumiwantok Leave a comment

June 15, 2010, By Kevin Jackson

When slavery is implemented by force, it is certainly a despicable institution. But is it any less despicable when the slaves are there by choice?
The interesting point about slavery is that whether it’s forced or voluntary, the master is responsible for the slaves. The master feeds, clothes, and cares for his slaves, some masters better than others. But masters also manipulate their slaves. Eventually, all slaves start to notice the dichotomy between their lives and the lives of their masters.

There is an urban legend of a slave owner named Willie Lynch who recognized that slaves needed to be controlled. In a purported speech he gave to slave owners in 1712, he laid out a strategy that he said would keep slaves (blacks) in check for three hundred years. This strategy of control replaced hanging rebellious slaves with using fear, distrust, and envy. Lynch supposedly said, “[D]istrust is stronger than trust and envy is stronger than adulation, respect, or admiration.”

Another thing the likely fictional Lynch went on to say in his speech was,
Don’t forget you must pitch the young Black male against the old Black male … You must use the dark skin slaves versus the light skin slaves … You must use the female versus the male … You must also have your white servants and overseers distrust all Blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect, and trust only us.

Whether Lynch existed or not is unimportant. Whoever it was, the true author of this strategy was right in his approach for the continuing servitude of blacks and in establishing a slave mentality in our race. All that was subject to change is exactly who the master is at any given time.

Regardless of the time, however, one thing we do know is that the master was a man of means, and it doesn’t matter how he came to financial prominence. The one obvious truism is that the master lived comparatively lavishly, and even more so because of his slaves.

Think of all you could do if you had the free availability of somebody doing your cooking, cleaning, running errands, sewing, watching your children, performing chores, and so on.

Then when the lean times came, you could occasionally loan out your slaves for barter or even to create extra income for your home. What an amazing life that would be! Your complete focus could be on personal or creative endeavors.

Are things much different today? Not really. I contend that the government is the 21^st-century master — new and improved. And the new Master has a monopoly on slavery. That monopoly on slavery has allowed for enough creativity in the government that all the government seems to occupy its time with is considering, “How can I get more productivity out of my slaves?“
During lean times in the old days, the master would work slaves incrementally harder and harder, providing them incrementally less and less. Longer work hours, cramped quarters, and leftover food, all for the slaves to live their lives of quiet desperation until the next day, and the next.

Slaves would finally become desperate with hunger. When the master ordered a pig slaughtered, the entrails, feet, hide, and head were all that didn’t go to the master. Yet nothing went to waste, with slaves eating everything on a pig, “from the rooter to the tooter!”

Slaves ate pig’s feet, skin (pork rinds), or “chitterlings” (pig intestine), while the master ate pork chops, pork steaks, and pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon.

For slaves, minutes dragged into hours that limped lazily into days, weeks, and months, as they slowly developed the “slave mentality.”
In my book, I described the worst kind of prison: the prison of the mind. Slaves then and now are more captive than prisoners in SuperMax facilities — because the prison of the mind has no need for walls or guards. Escape is as simple as walking away, yet few people leave.

There is little argument that blacks are the biggest sufferers of the slave mentality today. Most blacks believe the government will take care of us from the cradle to the grave. What they don’t know is that the government carefully guards that ratio of black votes versus black sycophants, employing stealth weapons like placing abortion clinics mainly in black neighborhoods, ignoring crime in black neighborhoods, and essentially ushering blacks to prison.

The government has not forgotten the lesson of the Willie Lynch, pitting black liberals against black conservatives. Use fear, distrust, and envy.
Many think that the “slave mentality” is for only blacks or the poor, but they are wrong. How many things are all Americans conditioned to accept without question or protestation? Once you buy your home, the government demands a property tax, and you have been conditioned to pay it. Is there a time when enough taxes have been paid, and you can own your home outright?

Perhaps we have willfully accepted illegal immigration, only now getting to point of making it an issue thanks to Arizona. Perhaps all but Arizona have bought into the new terminology of “undocumented worker.” Do all illegal immigrants work? Are some of them undocumented criminals or even undocumented terrorists?

One could educate oneself out of the slave mentality if it weren’t for the fact that we begin acquiring the slave mentality in government schools.
It is mandatory that children attend school in America, with only a small percentage of kids who opt out of government schools in search of alternatives. Still, our master takes tax money from all and gives it to the 70% of the students who attend government schools. The schools get paid by the master for attendance, not results. So attendance is enforced, but results are dismissed as arbitrary.Everybody passes; just show up.

In our slave mentality, we have become comfortable with the idea that the fox is guarding the henhouse. Teachers control the schools through their unions. Our tax dollars pay the salaries of teachers, who pay money to their unions, who lobby for the rules. Circular dysfunction.
The 30% of the kids who are not educated in government schools get none of the funding, yet ironically produce the best results! Yet, our master laments, if only he had more of our money.

Americans have all been enslaved little by little for many years. There can be no doubt that the federal government is the new slave master, something the Founding Fathers warned us against.

We have all made the unconscious choice to be slaves. Now the question is, can we make the conscious choice to leave the plantation and truly become our own masters?

If we can, then 2010 will truly be Emancipation II — the year everybody gets freed!
Kevin Jackson is a best-selling author of The BIG Black Lie. Follow Kevin at www.theblacksphere.net.

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