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kulay-ng-banaag · 11 months ago

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In the spirit of releasing all emotional debts on New Year's Eve, I’m going to open up about my frustrations regarding Desa aka dinosaurusgede aka the creator of Maaf.

For context, she made a Twitter account around the time that Himaruya properly introduced the newly canonized cast of SEA nations (Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia). Like many other fans, she rode the nostalgia wave in creating content of them. By this point in time, Maaf was more or less a “finished” story to her — whatever Hetalia/SEAtalia content she published from that point onward was not as a continuation of, nor even as a reboot, of Maaf (although she did mention entertaining that idea). For the most part, the newer works she uploaded on Twitter were independent stories and were not necessarily linked to one other either.

Regrettably, I cannot present the problematic page/s for a more thorough and guided scrutiny because she deleted her Twitter account. Unless someone out there saved them, and frankly I wouldn't know who did nor would care to find out, everything was lost to the void. I’m literally working on what was imprinted in my memory by spite, so I apologize if I misremember details.

This will include discussion of anti-indigenous racism and other issues pertaining to colonialism.

She had an IndoPhil story titled Trust Me? and it was inspired by a fanmade BruPhil AMV wherein Indonesia was manipulating Philippines into believing that he was married to Indonesia and not Brunei. Trust Me? kept that concept of a manipulative Indonesia; the key difference being that Indonesia’s motivation for it (in Desa’s story) was the mix of hurt over Philippines “losing his precolonial memories” — based on popularized misconceptions of early Philippine history — of and how that was “aggravated” by his Westernization™, made worse under the United States (350+ years in the convent getting ratio'd by 50 years in Hollywood is hilarious ngl).

That was a lot to unpack, but before we even get there:

Indonesia and Philippines were having a tender moment when HWS America (as in the Hetalia personification that is Alfred F. Jones) walks in calling out "MY LITTLE BROWN BROTHER!"

Indonesia entered his Joker arc because he recalled how HWS America dumped the Philippines in a human zoo at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. There was an explicit panel of Philippines in Igorot* dress and a painfully forlorn bearing.

What "triggered" Indonesia was when, after the flashback, Piri goes up to Indonesia and asks him if he's a Bolshevist 🥺 (the idea was PH being brainwashed by Red Scare propaganda). Cue kabedon moment from Indonesia, and basically a yandere walk down "memory lane."

I did not have it in me to finish reading that comic...

*Igorot is an outdated umbrella term for the upland indigenous peoples of Northern Luzon

Aside from the clearly intended shock value of that depiction, I was taken aback by the painful lack of objectivity on her part when it came to the reading of history. To be fair on Desa, she never specialized in history studies, so it was only courteous that we could not expect her to have as developed of a critical reading as trained academics of history. Unfortunately, that was precisely why I disagreed with the popular notion of Desa as both a great researcher and a great storyteller of her research — all the more when Maaf was just the mangafication of certain Wikipedia articles.

To be fair as well on Wikipedia, it was, at best, a satisfactory jumpstart into more in-depth reading, and we could give it the benefit of the doubt that revisions had since been made to at least some of the articles that Desa relied on while making Maaf (more than 10 years is more than enough time for change). Nevertheless, the articles themselves did not teach users how to scrutinize the sources — most especially the biases of the sources’ author/s — utilized in building up the information.

That mattered because much of the retrospect narratives about the St. Louis Fair had a tendency of raising awareness through the newspaper articles that covered the exhibition at the time. These chronicled the impressions of the visiting authors, who likely (and I say likely because we would have to more exhaustively discern their personal politics one by one) were biased in favor of the “benevolent assimilation” of the Philippines — and the sights that they beheld only validated it further. They did not, however, explain why these Philippine indigenous peoples were brought in in the first place — information that could have further cemented Desa's reputation had she truly spent the efforts, even while understandably juggling other commitments as we all do. Instead, she only perpetuated the habit of sacrificing the veracity of equally important, finer details to the bigger picture in order to sensationalize righteous fury against colonialism.

The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair was also formally known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, giving away its purpose as a commemoration. More appropriately, it was the centennial anniversary (technically delayed by a year though) of the acquisition of French Louisiana, expanding the territorial bounds of the United States. Additionally, the point of a world’s fair was to showcase the achievements of a nation, and one could also think of it as the sale of a fever dream — what more for a fast-growing, fledgling power the likes of the United States, itself a former colony? On another note, the St. Louis World’s Fair was not the only one of its kind so no, the US is not that original lmao.

One could thus see how the inclusion of a dedicated exhibit to the newly acquired colony that was the Philippines neatly fit into the themes of a world's fair centralized on the US. It was all the more a paramount topic of debate, with prominent Americans the likes of Mark Twain (here are selected excerpts, but I highly recommend reading the entirety of his To the Person Sitting in the Darkness) publishing anti-US imperialism opinions, even after the endgame of the Philippine-American War essentially favored the pro-imperialists. While dissent from the American side at the time remains poorly studied AND THAT'S ON OVERRULE BY BIAS, we at least have a glimpse, if mostly obscure still, of its existence.

If we can assume that it must have indeed been a prominent discourse in America, loud enough to get the White House furrowing its brows, then it's plausible to understand how it was of utmost importance that the the Philippine exhibit was to be carefully — because, in a way, America had to sell itself as the "lesser evil" vs notable "rivals" — curated while still ultimately corroborating assimilation of the Philippines. Thus, enter Truman Hunt, the man who oversaw "the Igorot Village" of the St. Louis Fair, having won the hearts of the native Igorots for a powerful reason:

Section from Claire Prentice, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century, New York, NY: Amazon Publishing, 2014.

While the cholera epidemic that occurred at the onset of the American Colonial Period was arguably the worst in the history of cholera epidemic management in the Philippines, I want to make it very, very clear that it was not the first and only wave that hit the archipelago. There had been a handful in the prior century alone — all of such magnitudes that it embedded a deep collective trauma; farmers refused to harvest their crops for fear of infection, tragically enabling famines and contributing starvation & nutrition deficiencies on top of a viral & swift killer (the experience of severe, rapid dehydration is such that one can fall dead within hours of infection).

Given such an imaginably harrowing experience (and it was an awfully painful topic to study as someone who got infected with and survived COVID-19 and has family working as frontliners), how could the natives turn away a stranger with such miraculous powers? Who knows how they comprehended it (e.g. a benevolent sign from heaven they must accept) because, unfortunately, we have yet to discuss preserved accounts on that matter, if any at all.

What is known, however, is that there were Igorots who were not just enamored by the "opportunity of a lifetime," but the selected lucky candidates clearly expressed their consent to participate:

More sections from Prentice, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island.

I will quickly add that, unfortunately, a few members of the Igorot delegation died from illness in making the trip, and Hunt aged like milk over the years (fell into the trap of capitalism in pushing for more subsequent exhibit trips, to the point that less care was extended to the Igorots and he was ultimately arrested for embezzlement). Given that our scope remains to be the 1904 St. Louis Fair, any signs of abuse inflicted upon the Igorots during their stay based on preserved photographs is simply not clear. To assume that they were in a pitiable state would be to enforce a presentist reading that might betray not just their memories & experiences but also their right to self-determination.

EDIT (01/02/24): A good example to demonstrate what I mean in analyzing photographs, here's an article on the author's personal, genealogical research into the Igorots — specifically, the Suyoc — who were at the St. Louis Fair.

It truly is ironic that a Filipino is making these points as if to defend the United States as a whole (no I am not, and if you think I do, lumayas ka). I agree that white people gawking over the peoples of the Philippines with such fascination that borders fetishism warrants all the eye-rolls. At the same time — and it is even more ironic that I am pointing this out as a lowland, Christianized Tagalog based in the metro (not just any urbanized part of the country) — there is a character of patronizing these indigenous communities in the unspoken assumption that their participation is the fault of their ignorance. Pay attention, once more, to the demographics that constituted the Philippine exhibit in the 1904 St. Louis Fair — what kind of "Filipinos" were included and who were left out? There were also Negritos*, Visayans, and Muslims from Mindanao (historically referred to as Moros) in the same event, yet we hardly hear about their experiences. Perhaps it might have to do with how they were considered "more civilized" than these upland groups.

*OUTDATED term (and please blame the Spanish for it); these are the Aeta.

I understand Desa's reservations against US imperialism and sympathies for communities marginalized by Western colonization. I just hope that I was able to clarify as best as I could why I was so taken aback in how she depicted the Hetalia personification of my country the way she did. I agree that, as far as I ever got to interact with her, she is generally very polite and kind. That's why I gave her the benefit of the doubt when she approached me in DM to apologize for how her narrative choice was offensive. As someone who despised red tape in academia, I tried to talk to her about how there were valid reasons as to why the American Colonial Period was considered a mixed blessing, even by PH historians.

Instead, she pulled a complete 180.

She said that — to a Filipino who condemned imperialism (no matter who started it), who also happened to study history as a profession, and was also a Hetalia fan who wants to explore Hetalia narratives differently from what was popularized. Half of the reason was because some fandom takes left a bad taste, like eating a dish with ingredients that even Gordon Ramsay would tell you shouldn’t go together; the other half was because I saw things differently and wanted to express it because why not?

I want to say it's not necessary to bring up something from a private conversation, but I will anyway to reiterate that my issue is not that she isn't nice. Bluntly, however, the way she said those words so formally did creep me out, but ultimately, my issue lies in how her biases have led her into making off-putting takes from time to time. I will not say more, but Trust Me? was not the only Twitter comic by Desa that got bombastic side-eyes.

And if only because Sukarno got dragged in, I felt compelled to briefly debunk that as well: even he initially viewed the United States in a very positive light: “The United States occupies a very distinguished part, a very distinguished place, in the hearts of the Indonesian people.” That was uttered in 1961, and it took a very specific historical context to instigate a complete shift by 1964:

Sections from Vincent Bevins, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World, New York: PublicAffairs, 2021, 121-123.

EDIT (01/02/24): Note that Desa was citing Sukarno's later sentiments in the late 1960s as her reason for characterizing Indonesia as such in her comic. However, the setting of the story was the late 1920s (Indonesia's visit was based on Tan Malaka's abscondence to the Philippines). I'd dare say the anachronism was not due to oversight but a deliberate choice in using a certain fictional character — namely HWS Indonesia — as propaganda for Desa's anti-Americanism.

It's definitely depressing to think about all the "lost" history & culture that thrived before the arrival of white colonizers. It's why I'm surprised that, for a fiction work, she didn't project all that anger onto Spain instead — it had to specifically be the United States. Was it because they basically cockblocked Philippine independence, even though Spain practically sold the Philippines to the US? The implication that Spain should be permitted to wash its hands clean of all accountability was an awkward message to convey.

I understand that nothing could be 100% accurate (I'm actually quoting Desa defending herself on that matter) in fiction, but the level of projection coming from a certain non-Filipino reading Philippine history was so silly. And again, how did it all justify the explicit depiction of HWS Philippines as an indigenous man in a human zoo? (END OF EDIT)

As my professors will also never tire of saying: you can disagree with a historian’s interpretations but you can never disagree with the evidence in themselves. You don’t have to morally agree either, and I can guarantee you that many Filipinos do not. I, myself, resented the endgame of the particular war that brought that period about in the first place. How dare, then, she said it was “not her place” to defend US imperialism, while granting herself the freedom to express her country’s feelings on the matter?

Oh, it’s all just fiction? I do not condone the subsequent treatment she received, but why then couldn’t she stop trying to “educate” NLID shippers? I do not know how both sides talked to one another, only that what caught me eye was: Why does everyone else have to respect her fiction while she gets to disrespect others’ fictions for not aligning with hers?

EDIT (01/20/24): Just to clarify further on that point — over a decade ago, she went ham in the comment section of someone's (APH) America x (fem!OC) Indonesia. That ship is not in my lore either simply because I follow a totally different route. To cut to the chase, she took that fanart very personally and infodumped on US war crimes that involved Indonesia.

I know Tan Malaka started the whole North Indonesia agenda, but come on, neither was it Desa's place to just treat HWS Philippines the way she did. An Indonesian schooling other Indonesians on ID history is not surprising, but an Indonesian schooling a Filipino on PH history? I'd be humbled if they had the credentials. She didn't and, unless she enrolled herself in a graduate program, she still doesn't.

By all technicalities, she can’t ship IDPH because the Philippine government was (unfortunately and grossly) complicit in the chain of events that led to the 1965-66 genocides in Indonesia. Yet, she does despite of that fact. We thus circle back to Trust Me? and how that was a manifestation of her stubborn refusal to acknowledge any nuances by projecting HWS Indonesia as a self-proclaimed savior of HWS Philippines from the beguile of US neocolonialism.

I empathize with her anger. I'm sorry that the US government by extent enabled what her family went through. I agree that it's not her place to defend them; in fact, she shouldn't. But when even the so-called "highest of Malay nations*" is worth her neutrality, how can she expect me to forgive her?

*That is literally what the Philippines is to her; I know this because she explicitly said so to me in DM. DO NOT ASK FOR RECEIPTS, I am not comfortable revealing that particular conversation.

I cannot — in fact, NO ONE SHOULD — afford to be neutral about Duterte or Marcos, etc., and for her to be so flippant about her privilege (by way of ethnicity/citizenship/cultural upbringing) to be neutral** about Philippine politics, while simultaneously NAGGING ON EVERYBODY TO RESPECT INDONESIAN POLITICS, is annoying at best and plain selfish at worst.

**Also explicitly said to me in DM. Again, DO NOT ASK FOR RECEIPTS.

(END OF EDIT)

I’m not Indonesian but I do not have it in me to politely accuse a native Indonesian of allowing their personal biases to misread their own history. As a Filipino, however, while I'm not surprised by the reductionist chronicling of the histories & cultures of the Philippines, I am at a loss for words over the continuing idolization for Desa & Maaf, when she was not the best and most reliable narrator, especially given her negligence in representing indigenous peoples through her comics.

I mean, guys, I'm not saying this as if the Trust Me? comic was the first and only instance when this was literally Maaf canon that sat comfortably in the internet for over a decade, and continues to be appraised as THE BIBLE OF HISTORICAL HETALIA.

EDIT (01/20/24 — originally added via a reblog): I cannot believe this needs to be said because this is the consequence of when Hetalia fans take their fiction too literally because creators have made careless takes.

There were SEAtalians joking about how the Yolngu are a dead people.

I repeat.

THERE WERE SEATALIANS JOKING ABOUT HOW THE YOLNGU ARE A DEAD PEOPLE.

(END OF EDIT)

So as 2023 comes to a close we enter 2024, I'd like to conclude this post with the following points:

At best, Wikipedia is a satisfactory jumping point, but please believe me when I say no historian will respect you for (over-)relying on Wikipedia. And given that anyone with a decent device & internet signal can access Wikipedia, Desa is just not a GOAT in historical research.

At worst, idolizing Maaf patronizes the work of historians. It doesn't help that PH historians have been targets of harassment because of dis-/misinformation campaigns. I bring this up because it's already bad enough to have to confront that reality outside of fandom spaces on a regular basis in standing our ground for more just historical truths. I hope that folks understand why that's a particularly sensitive struggle for me, and why receiving such comments like the one I shared above deeply hurt. She was not apologetic about that — and every time she would post about apologizing for the moments she has offended others, or when others compliment her for being so open-minded, I cannot help but feel bitter.

Other BIPOC — yes, not just other SEAsians and that's on literally drawing nations other than SEA — have spoken up on the matter. If you can talk about how you learned so much from Desa, you can also learn as much from other perspectives. I hope that in raising all of this, more SEAtalians understand that we risk othering non-SEA BIPOC.

The idolization of Maaf (and the creator in question) is personally far more off-putting than the problematic points of Maaf or any comic she has ever made, because I think she caved to peer pressure instead of learning to wield her fiction more sensitively without being too reliant of the opinions of those she has pleased. Not even Hidekaz Himaruya writes his nationverse characters like that — the one time I’ll admit that canon trumps fanon.

I’m not stopping people from liking Maaf or Desa anyway. I just cannot help but take issue with how the SEAtalia fandom feels less of a safe & inclusive community than it is a cult centered on one person — almost as if her fiction is unquestionable canon and anyone who disagrees gets the boot. Once again, I do not condone the subsequent treatment she received in retaliation, but frankly that's just not what I'm addressing here.

I'm also not saying it's wrong to give words of reassurance and validation to people you admire, only that some of you need to understand you're forcing a parasocial relationship with your idols. It may feel good to you, but please be mindful of the unwarranted pressure it imposes.

I apologize for dumping all of this at literally the end of the year. I want to let it all go in a manner that is clear, concise, and not overwhelming to digest. I do hope that my candid thoughts will push the fandom one step forward in critically consuming media without having to resort to crab-mentality tendencies — because it's been especially hard seeing the demeaning takes made about the Philippines in this fandom.

#hetalia #historical hetalia #hetalia critical #racism cw #hws philippines #aph philippines #hws indonesia #aph indonesia #hws america #aph america #mentions of death cw #sibuyas

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maya-chirps · 1 year ago

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Painting a picture of the history of Filipino Tattoos

A photo of tattooed Filipino men posted on BBC and accredited to Joe Ash

Tattoos are often seen as integral cultural symbols in my different societies whether it be seen as something honorable or dishonorable. Even in the most straight-laced cultures, a tattoo acts as a mark of some form of the person's history and their standing in their communities as well as how people perceive them.

In a lot of modern cultures, the tattoo often have negative connotations, often associated with delinquency or criminal activity. Historically, however, they may have grander and more honorable significance in different societies. The communities that had existed in the Philippines prior to contact with Spain fits this similar pattern.

Before I start

As usual, the Philippines is a diverse country that has different traditions and histories that come from different ethnic groups and states, only being first unified under a government by colonization. Because of this, this post will only be able to cover parts of this culture and may not be able to fully encompass all Filipino traditions, practices, and beliefs about tattoos.

This is also given the fact that more specific information may be harder to come across or may not exist at all in a space I could easily access.

That being said, the general term for Filipino traditional (both precolonial and current) tattoo practices is batok, batik, patik, or patek depending on language or culture. It is also known as buri or burik in several other groups and languages. This word, however, isn't often used for typical tattooing in most modern communities.

The History

From a general understanding of a lot of precolonial Southeast Asian cultures, it can be assumed that precolonial Filipino societies heavily valued tattoos as their neighboring maritime SEAsian countries also had prior to the introduction of Abrahamic religions to the region which often discouraged or even forbade tattooing the skin.

Although this can be assumed, there were no known precolonial description nor record of these tattoos during the actual time period before Spanish contact. There is evidence found in some burial sites however, as discussed by social anthropologist Salvador-Amores in her paper The Recontextualization of Burik (Traditional Tattoos) of Kabayan Mummies in Benguet to Contemporary Practice (2012). In the paper, she focuses a section on the history of burik by explaining the Kabayan Mummies or the Fire Mummies of Benguet, Mountain Province.

An image of one of the Kabayan Mummies uploaded by Dario Piombino-Miscali on ResearchGate.net

These remains had been dated back to the 13th century and are associated with the Ibaloi, an indigenous ethnic group from Mountain Province found in the northern parts of the island of Luzon. This does confirm that tattooing had been important to the people who had lived in this area during this time period as, in Salvador-Amores's paper, it can be noted that the tattooed mummies seem to be prominent with the adults.

I do have to note that the Ibaloi people, who are part of the larger Igorot ethnic group, were not fully colonized by the Spaniards and therefore does not share the similar Hispanic culture and history that a lot of Filipino groups have. They had only fully been integrated into the Philippines during the American colonial period where they and the other Igorots had been properly colonized by American and placed under the rule of the American-controlled Filipino government. (x)

Regardless, this does show that at least some cultures in the archipelago held tattoos with high importance and did not consider them as something negative compared to the modern perception of tattoos.

The first known illustration of tattooed Filipinos, however, was first seen in the Boxer Codex (circa 1590) during the early Spanish colonial period, written and illustrated by an unknown author.

A page from the Boxer Codex (circa 1590), author uknown

This illustration seems to be that of the specific ethnolinguistic group, the Visayans as this page is next to another one labeled as "Biſſaya", a likely earlier spelling of Bisaya that uses the long s (ſ). This aligns with the description given as early as Antonio Pigaffatta, Ferdinand Magellan's chronicler, who consistently describes the Visayans that he has met as painted in his account of their arrival in the islands back in 1521.

The book The Philippine Islands 1493-1898 Vol. XII has compiled different first-hand and second-hand sources about the Philippines during the 15th through 19th century, with Vol. XII focusing on the early 17th century which aligns closely to the Boxer Codex. Within the text, there are several mentions of the "Pintados" or the Painted ones, even having an entire province be called the "province of Pintados".

It isn't made clear who the Pintados are besides the fact that they seem to be hostile towards the Spanish colonizers and had often fought battles with one of the letters even claiming that they had poisoned one of the Spaniards. It isn't until we reach the last part of the compilation which features Pedro Chirino's Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas which I had a hard time finding before but had now found a free and accessible copy. Within Chirino's writing, he explains that the Pintados seem to be a name given by the Spaniards to the Bisayans and further explains it as such:

"The people of the Bisayas are called the Pintados, because they are actually adorned with pictures --not because this is natural to them, although they are well built, of pleasing countenance, and white; but because they adorn their bodies with figures from head to foot, when they are young and have sufficient strength and energy to suffer the torment of the tattooing; and formerly they tattooed themselves when they had performed some act of valor."

Chirino even gives an explanation as to how precolonial Visayans tattooed their skin:

They tattoo themselves by pricking the skin until the blood comes, with sharp, delicate points, according to designs and lines which are first drawn by those who practice this art; and upon this freshly-bleeding surface they apply a black powder, which is never effaced. They do not tattoo the body all at the same time, but by degrees, so that the process often lasts a long time; in ancient times, for each part which was to be tattooed the person must perform some new act of bravery or valiant deed

It is notable, however, that not only did the Spanish not mention any tattoos on other Filipino groups such as the Tagalogs, but a lot of the illustrations in the Boxer Codex do not sport any tattoos at all which makes it confusing as to when had tattoos faded out of cultural significance in these other communities, likely even before Spanish contact.

Lane Wilcken, a researcher who studies the history of tattoos from the Philippines and the Pacific Islands, writes in his book Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern (2010) that it may be possible that the Tagalogs may had lost their tattooing traditions shortly before Spanish contact during the recent islamization of their communities circa 1500 which was and specifically in the polity of Maynila. This may also be the case for the Moros which is a muslim ethnolinguistic group found in the island of Mindanao.

Either way. tattoos became more scarce within Filipino records after the arrival of the Spanish and the introduction of Christianity to the islands, save for some indigenous groups that were not fully colonized by Span like previously mentioned Igorot people.

Because of the spread and dominance of Christian and Islamic customs throughout the country, Batok, as it originally was, was lost to time with the lack of existing artists and cultural relevance tattoos. Tattoos didn't come back to the Filipino mainstream until modern tattoos became more prevalent especially in the mid to late 20th century, similar to its rise in popularity in Western cultures, and even then, it wasn't really what I would consider any traditional and is often negative.

Present Day

Like a lot of other countries, however, tattoos had seen a swing of opinion and is more accepted now as an art form rather than a sign of criminal activity but some stereotypes are still popular.

For instance, during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Department of Education provided modules for students to answer at home which would be then collected by the school from door to door. In one of these modules, Lea Salonga, a Filipino singer, complained on November 17, 2020 on her Facebook page of a discriminatory question that was found in one of the modules, pictured below

EN Translation:

White text: The answer is letter A based on the DepEd answer key. Module text: 3. Tattoos are a symbol of _____ A. being a criminal B. being a slave C. courage and beauty D. having a low standing in society

This controversy caused an uproar online and showed that there are a lot of Filipinos today that don't see a problem with tattoos and even see them as a positive. Two days after the image was posted on Salonga's page, the Department of Education publicly recognized the misstep and had issued that they officially recognized the controversial answer as an error.

It is important for me to note that, just like in a lot of countries, tattoos are typically not accepted in the corporate world and those who have them either have to get them removed or at least cover them up if they get hired at all. There's still a common idea that people with tattoos, if not dangerous, may be seen as unprofessional or even unclean which I do know is a similar thing that other countries may have as well.

As for batok, its comeback in the larger Filipino mainstream didn't return until some time in the late 2000s and 2010s when more international influence had resparked and interest in more ethnic cultures including the precolonial Filipino tattoos specifically because of the internet and the rise of social media. The current batok that we see outside of indigenous communities could be seen as a recreation of the extinct practices within the Philippines with some level of appropriation from related cultures (by appropriation, I mean this in a neutral way not a negative one).

It is argued whether or not the reconstructed practice could be considered traditional at all, but considering its heavy emphasis on the older designs found in historical illustrations as well as designs from indigenous communities that did not have practice eradicated by colonization, some also argue that the modern tattoos that has gained prominence because of modern technology and research is still valuable in a socio-anthropological sense.

As Salvado-Amore puts it

the successive phases and changes in the status of burik tattoos—enabled by the advent of modern technology, the Internet, and mass media—encourage an interaction between contemporary and historical influences rather than an extinction of past practice.

About Apo Whang-Od

A magazine cover of Vogue featuring Whang-Od, a traditional tattoo artist from the Butbut people, a subgroup within the Kalinga ethnic group. (The rest of this section pulls from the same article by Vogue)

Any research about Filipino tattoos, especially in the modern day would be incomplete without any mention of Whang-Od, the most popular traditional tattoo artist from the Philippines.

Apo Whang-Od (b. February 17, 1917, a.k.a. Maria Oggay) is a member of the Butbut people of the Kalinga indigenous ethnic group from Kalinga province, Philippines. She is often known as one of the last mambabatok in the country which earned her fame and recognition internationally. She started her tattooing practice since she was a teenager at age 16, under the mentorship of her father and was the only known female mambabatok during her time.

For years, she was called on by different communities within her locale in order to tattoo important and symbolic tattoos on members of her and different communities after they had received certain milestones. Men were tattooed for different reasons than women as men were given their marks when they succeed in activities like headhunting, which was ritualistically important for the Butbut people while women were tattooed for reasons like fertility or beauty.

Because of American colonization, however, headhunting was prohibited so she was mostly tattooing women from then onward.

She started gaining recognition some time in the mid-2000s to the 2010s after she started serving foreign tourists, although she doesn't give them the more traditional symbols. Non-members of the group are given a set of tattoos that she could tattoo on anyone without any strong connection to the original meaning of the art.

Since tattooing was passed through family and Whang-Od herself didn't had any children, she was known as the last mambabatok for a time which caused concern for the extinction of the practice as she was already in her 90s when she gained notoriety, but she has since started training her grandniece Grace Palicas and later on her other grandniece Elyang Wigan and the two, who are now in their 20s, has since helped their great aunt dealing with their clientele.

Due to her fame, she is often the subject of foreign media and interest, even being invited by Vogue magazine to pose for one of their covers (pictured above) and is now known as the oldest Vogue cover model earlier this year at the age of 106.

Despite her fame and arguably cultural importance to not only the Kalinga people but the Philippines as well as online petitions since the 2010s to give her the recognition, she is not eligible to receive the National Artist award— one of the highest awards given to artists of most artistic fields of which only 81 people had received. Victorino Manalo, Chairman of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) explains that this is because her craft, tattooing, isn't covered by the NCCA but by the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMBA, en. Award for Crafters/Creatives of the Nation) but there has been some discussion within the commission about this issue which still ended with her being denied. In light of this, she is now currently on the running to possibly receive the GAMBA award.

She has an online presence managed by others and she can be found via Facebook and Instagram.

Tattoos now, from my experience

As I had said before, tattoos these days are not as negatively seen as they were in the 20th century and had received a more positive reputation thanks to the rise of its social experience due to the internet and social media's prevalence in the country. As an art student, in fact, it's wasn't that surprising when I learned that one of my classmates had a tattoo and it was even a full sleeve! Now, as least three had tattoos before they graduated with one of them actually being a close friend of mine who's planning to get more despite their parents' disapproval.

Despite this, I still do have people in my life right now that see tattoos as undesirable and unclean, with stereotypes still being prevalent. I had once heard people speak of them in such a negative way but then make an exception for the artsy type of people? It's odd.

As for batok or batik, I had not seen a lot of people with these tattoos in my own life and had only seen it through articles and images circulated around by other people who I don't even know. I guess it makes sense as most people who do get tattoos similar to batok or batik often do it in tourist-y places or are foreigners who want to get a piece of Filipino culture on their way out of the country.

Besides more culture-focused people, batik or batok isn't as prevalent as some of these articles might make it seem and most typical Filipinos who don't come from these cultures are more likely to either not have tattoos at all or have similar tattoos to those that you may see in other countries.

Either way, tattoos could be so personal to a person and whether it's something as deeply-rooted to culture like batik or if it's just the names of your favorite K-Pop idol, that tattoo is important and has special meaning. Get whatever tattoo that you want or don't if you don't want any at all!

#mayaposts #mayapino #philippines #filipino #philippine history #philippine culture #filipino culture #filipino tattoos #philippine tattoos #history #culture #tattoos #apo whang-od #whang-od #mummy #mummies #death #long post #very long post

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