Philip Kintanar 10705902 GRTWKS A51 Synthesis Paper: What is Nationalism?

The term started for me having the wrong idea of what Nationalism is. For me, wearing Filipino inspired clothing and accessories (i.e. Three Stars and a Sun) and patronizing Filipino products is enough for one to be considered as nationalistic. Not until I was introduced to Constantino, Ileto and Gellner. The works of these three authors gave me a clear insight as to what Nationalism really is. Constantinos book Philippines: A past revisited tends to look at history from below, from the very unusual perspective. His main argument was that it is us Filipinos who create our own identity, yes we may have been molded by different cultures, American, Spanish, Japanese, but in the end , it is us Filipinos who make our own image, our own standards on who to consider as Filipinos. Gellner on he other hand gave us with a working definition on what Nationalism is,he said that nationalism is primarily a principle that holds that the political and national unit should be congruent' (Gellner p.1). He also gave us somewhat an image on as to how a nation is formed, from an agricultural to an industrial centered society running towards a cultural nation. Present was the evolution of a political entity all through out the course of time. In the latter part of the book, he the procedes to explain nationalism as somewhat the homogeneity of nature and society around it, he explains this somewhat the exclusion of other societies in order to protect their own small culture. To be complete these societies must adopt politically in order to be considered in the High Class societies. The last book that gave light to me was that of Ileto, His Pasyon and Revolution work looked at the Philippine revolution in rather a different and unusual perspective, he differentiated yet related the revolution of the masses from that of the illustrados, focusing more closely of course to the misinterpreted side of the masses or indios. He showed us in his book the different views of the masses and the illustrados then, which gives rise to the question, How can we really be considered as nationalistic? Different views and different methods, yet all fighting for the same cause, also Ileto Discussed in his book the birth of Inang Bayan and the separation from Madre Espaa, This brought about as even illiterate people such as farmers with pitchforks would rather fight for his Inag Bayan rather than to get adopted by a Madre Espaa. Nationalism, according to the three books, may be summarized as The course of history on how its people shape the country and nation in order for them to establish a sense of belongingness sharing their own culture, tradition, and has their own history. For me, nationalism may be defined thru many definitions. But when it all comes down to it, nationalism is that feeling in our hearts that somehow we feel accepted by the nation around us, wherein we can relate to them be it culture, traditions and most of all history. The riddance of exploitation from fellow Filipinos is enough proof to say that nationalism in our country hasnt fully bloomed to its fullest potential.