Western imperialism has a long history in the Philippines. Hundreds of years of Spanish colonisation, beginning in the 1500s, culminated in the Spanish-American War in 1897. The first attempt to declare the Philippine Republic in 1899 was followed by the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), then American control, Japanese occupation during World War II, and eventual independence in 1946.

This history of subjugation, and the subversion and trauma it elicits, is so complex that any linear narrative sanitises and abstracts it to the point that it becomes meaningless.

My opening paragraph fails to describe the brutality of this history and the countless incidents that propelled it. Detailed as a simple timeline, it is as if I’m outlining geological epochs. Missing is the human toll, the centuries of cultural mutilation, the violence and political interference, and the dysfunctional, corrupt politics this long history leaves in its wake.

Review: Yñiga – Glenn Diaz (Pink Shorts Press)

Glenn Diaz is keenly aware of the sanitising nature of linear histories. His award-winning novel Yñiga resists that approach. It is composed as a series of disjointed scenes, jumping around in time within chapters, and sometimes within paragraphs, to capture the essence of memory and trauma.

The novel tells the fragmented story of Yñiga Calinauan, who returns to her home town, where she is forced to reengage with her family history. But it begins with the arrest of a retired general, who has been hiding out in Yñiga’s neighbourhood in Manila.

After........

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