Abstract
This paper explores the conditions of cultural production that enabled the invention of the Philippine nation from afar among literary and artistic diasporan elites in the metropolitan centres of Europe in the late nineteenth century. I draw together Bourdieu's analysis of the creation of the autonomous field of cultural production and Anderson's analysis of the origins of nationalism to demonstrate how affective and aesthetic investments in art and the nation enabled historically one group of people – the ilustrado (elite Filipino nationalist) – to overcome and exchange the estrangement and humiliations of race for national belonging and recognition in colonial fields of power. Doing so critically extends Bourdieu, moving beyond his methodological nationalism to foreground the racial hierarchies embedded in the making of the classed habitus and situate the aesthetics of diaspora within a translocal field of distinction.
Highlights
In a recent call for a post-Bourdieuian cultural theory, Georgina Born draws on Deleuze to articulate anew the task of the social researcher concerned with aesthetics and cultural production; that is, ‘to find the conditions under which something new is produced’ (Deleuze and Parnet, 1987: vii–viii, cited in Born 2010: 198)
The history of Filipino nationalism and its relation to other forms of cultural production has been the subject of considerable scholarly investigation and analysis
I draw on the notion of the diasporic habitus as a way to situate and theorise the ambiguity of the ilustrado in colonial fields of power; that is, as people endowed with the embodied cultural capital of the bourgeoisie but denied symbolic legitimacy and belonging as citizens; denied, in other words, national cultural capital because of their ascribed inferior racial status in the Spanish colonial state
Summary
In a recent call for a post-Bourdieuian cultural theory, Georgina Born draws on Deleuze to articulate anew the task of the social researcher concerned with aesthetics and cultural production; that is, ‘to find the conditions under which something new is produced (creativeness)’ (Deleuze and Parnet, 1987: vii–viii, cited in Born 2010: 198).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
