Ilonggos, Igorrottes, Merchants, and Jews: Shakespeare and American Colonial Education in the Philippines

Abstract

Excerpt

I begin with a story of bewilderment. Shortly after my return to the Philippines from graduate school in 1994, I found myself an accidental speaker on things Shakespearean at a small, very exclusive Opus Dei-run high school in a converted Lopez mansion in the outskirts of Iloilo. The speaking engagement was unplanned and rather spontaneous. The school authorities, though, did a splendid job of putting a program together for the occasion. Aside from my talk, the impromptu program also featured performances by two of the winners of a recently concluded declamation contest. Quite fortuitously (or would that be unsurprisingly?), the winning declaimers both did pieces from Shakespeare.