11
Discipline and Ideas in Social
Sciences
MODULE 7
Week 11
Name: ____________________________ Grade Level: __________
Section: ___________________________ Date: ________________
LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET
BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR LEARNERS
Indigenizing the Social Sciences: Is there a “native” intellectual foundation
for social thought?
MELC: Evaluate the roles and significance of Filipinos’ indigenous social ideas to national development.
Pambansang Photobomber is what they call the building which serves as an unwanted backdrop to the
iconic monument of the national hero, Jose Rizal. It is located in Luneta Park, Manila where the condominium
building seems to distract viewers and distorts the immaculate and postcard-worthy scenery of the Rizal Shrine.
Is it really just a matter of perspective” or do we recognize the fact that the issue of national dignity,
tradition, and heritage is a reality that must be given due consideration and respect? It is ironic to note that the
monument of Jose Rizal, who epitomizes the Filipino struggle for dignity and honor, is now the subject of
controversy due to an allegedly blatant disregard for not only the national hero but also for our national history
and memory.
Philippine Social Science or “indigenized social science”
Indigenization is a process in which there is a purposive and conscious effort to translate and interpret
foreign academic concepts, canons and methods. The point is that ideas – academic tenets and intellectual
trends – can never be imported at face value. It can never be made useful without refashioning it into the rhythm
and tempo of a particular group of people. Hence, the word “indigenization” refers to a process, in fact, a
tedious and long process, of acceptance and understanding, in which those foreign concepts and idea are made
relevant to a specific group of people whose culture and history differ very much from the originators of the
said “imported” ideas.
Nevertheless, importing of ideas is not at all bad; what is important is that these are “translated” into
one’s cultural, social and psychological milieu. By translations, we mean, we do not only look for a direct
semantic equivalent of it, but also look for its parallel in our culture. Hence, we adopt yet we discriminate too.
With ideas, we refashion, reconfigure, reconstruct, and reinterpret, in accordance with our needs as a thinking,
sensible, rational, and discriminating group of people. In this case, we require imported Social Science ideas to
respond to the needs of the Filipino and to make those ideas work for the Filipino. We require that within our
own cultures and history, we offer concepts that will serve as our contributions to global social ideas.
Three Strands of Agham Panlipunang Pilipino (Filipino Social Science)
In contemporary times, three strands of Filipino Social Sciences have trailblazed the Philippine academe
and are already enshrined in Philippine intellectual history. The indigenized form and structure of the said
discipline is not only as a separate track of academic social science but also as a Filipino contribution to the
discipline of social science in general. This is the Filipino contribution to the global field of social inquiry.
Pantayong Pananaw/Bagong Kasaysayan, Pilipinolohiya, and Sikolohiyang Pilipino were spearheaded
by Zeus Salazar, Prospero Covar, and Virgilio Enriquez. Incidentally, all of them are from the University of the
Philippines, of the same generation, and were part of the intellectual ferment for the Philippine academe during
1970s. Salazar is a historian-ethnologist, Covar is an anthropologist, and Enriquez is a psychologist. All of them
attempted to come up with a Filipino academic discipline based on the idea that Filipino culture, society, and
language should provide the necessary tools, concepts, and discourse consciousness, social relations, and social
organizations. Only a contextualized and culturally sensitive theorizing and methodology could sufficiently
explain who we are as people. Eventually, these attempts gained momentum, attracted like-minded intellectuals
in search for meaning and purpose of study, and converted nonbelievers by showing them how futile it is to
depend on Western concepts and models in explaining the Filipino. In every culture, every group of people
must have a model in social reality and phenomenon that can be explained and interpreted. These three strands
of Agham Panlipunang Pilipino are now full-blown schools of thoughts that are being taught not only in the
University of the Philippines but also in many universities and colleges in the Philippines. They were also made
part of the intellectual discussions in international academic circles.
Pantayong Pananaw posits that history is not only about recording of events, much like the tradition of
historia/histoire/history of the West but also about finding meaning in past events. That is why we are very
lucky that we have a rich discourse on this matter based on the indigenous concept, kasaysayan, which is about
the past based on the idea of saysay or meaning. Salazar went on to propose a new timeline or periodization of
Philippine history, which he calls Bagong Kasaysayan (or new history) based on the internal logic of historical
events and not on the traditional and colonial parameters of periodization such as the coming of the colonizers
in successive periods.
Pilipinolohiya (or Philippine Studies) also states that the Philippines and the Filipinos must be studied
and investigated using methodologies and conceptual tools drawn from Filipino culture, society, and
experience. Just like in Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong Kasaysayan, language is of ultimate importance
because it is only through the local language that a talastasan and dalumat as intellectual discourses could be
created among the Filipino scholars and Filipino scholars and Filipino public in general. Ideologically,
Pilipinolohiya is a response to the seeming academic imperialism of which and powerful Western nations.
Almost all of them have established cooperation agencies and specialized study centers in developing countries
in order to maintain their influence and control under the guise of economic cooperation and pursuit of
intellectual interests. Hence, Philippine Studies as an intellectual project has been established in the US, Europe,
Japan, and recently, China and Korea, not for the benefit of the Filipinos themselves but for the benefit of the
sponsoring nations who wish to understand the Philippines and its people. Pilipinolohiya maintains that we
should have our own purpose, set our own intellectual course, and steer our own ideology in the service of the
Filipino and for the betterment of our society.
The aims and intellectual premises of the Sikolohiyang Pilipino (or Filipino Psychology) do not stray
away from those of Pantayong Pananaw and Pilipinohiya. Like the first two, Sikolohiyang Pilipino, which was
conceptualized and developed during the same intellectual ferment of the 1970s, debated upon the usefulness
and appropriateness of Western models of psychology in defining the Filipino psyche. What Enriquez argued
was that those psychological explanatory models as well as research techniques on human personality may not
be enough to enable the psychologist to dig deeply into the Filipino consciousness. Rather, a more culturally
sensitive approach beginning with pakapakapa, pakikipagpalagayang-loob, and onwards to pakikisangkot and
pakikiisa (they do not have direct equivalents in the English language) should be the starting point of every
social research. Such research takes into consideration the people and their social world whether they are being
investigated by an outsider or of fellow Filipinos. Thus, it is not the surface meanings that should matter like
establishing smooth interpersonal relationships among community members but a deeper concept of loob and
kapwa, which underscore the pakikipagkapwa as the Filipino way of dealing with the “other”. Ultimately, the
other is a kapwa, which is also an extension of oneself.
Activity 1.
Activity 2
Give at least 10 foreign intellectual concepts and Philippine Social Science concept
look for its closest Filipino equivalents (can be in
local dialect). Make a table in your Notebook. See
sample below: Foreign Social Science concept
Soul Kaluluwa
Power Gahum
Family Mag-anak
Civilization kabihasnan
Answer key:
Activity 1. Answer may vary
Activity 2. Answer may vary
Prepared by:
CLARISSA C. CABILI
Subject Teacher
Noted by:
JUAN C. PANGANDOYON
SHS Dept. Head, MT-I
Approved:
MA. ELENA JARITO, DALL
OIC-Principal I
