Early “Asianism” in the Philippines

Abstract

This paper revisits the origins of in the Philippines from the conception of identity by the nineteenth century Filipino intellectuals to Mariano Ponce's romantic ideals of pan-Orientalism. The paper recognizes the deep-seated link between politics and Asianism. The iterations of Asianism in the Philippines-the Propaganda Movement's and the Revolution's conception and association of the Filipinos as part of the Malay race-were political tools to foster greater status and independence for the Filipinos against the country's colonizers, i.e., the West. However, it was the first Filipino Asianist Mariano Ponce and his colleague Jose Alejandrino who would use their experience of travelling across Asia to present an Asianism without the conflicted binaries of East versus West. Their observations of early twentieth century Japanese are still relevant today, as this paper suggests, as the model through which a more plural, multicentric approach to Asianism, one that attends to the imperatives of our own time, can be achieved. Keywords : Asianism, Mariano Ponce, Jose Alejandrino, Nick Joaquin, Malayness, Jose Rizal, Japanese Pan Asianism, early twentieth century Filipino-Japanese relations, pan-Orientalism, Pan-Malayan Movement, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sun Yat-sen, Phan Boi Chau