What is my ethical parameter for doing my inquiry?

Most researchers, nowadays, tend to only consider the plagiarism as an unethical matter when conducting a research. Barnes(1979), on the contrary, defines the ethical parameter as a ‘standard applied during decision making whether to prefer efficiency and conformity or ethic.’ When the research result is affected heavily, researchers tend to prefer efficiency and conformity rather than the ethic. Even though our research is mostly focused on the object, ‘Jeepney’, the ethical matters are also concerned.

             The attitude that we should avoid the most is bias or prejudice. Conducting a research weights the responsibility on the researchers. The bias and the prejudice that we impose on our research process, position, and conclusion might marginalize the opposition group or some people. Even though our research analytical framework indicates that the nationalism, hybridity of culture, and struggle for national identity led to the survival of Jeepney, we would also open for the idea of conformity and acceptable price which also led to the existence of Jeepney on contemporary period of time. In order to conduct the true research, we would like to set the open-mindedness on conducting a research. Second ethical parameter is helpfulness. Our purpose of conducting a research is not to harm any group of people such as Jeepney manufacturers, drivers, or commuters, or government officials. The eagerness to discover the fact on the birth and the survival of Jeepney would require our research as accurate as possible.

             The best researchers are not those who conclude new fact of knowledge but those who ethically processed, positioned, and concluded on the research topic. Like the honor that has been bought could not ever last, the research that has been finalized by violating the ethics would not be honored or worthy. We would set and strictly follow the ethical parameter, because only through this, in my belief, the outstanding research paper can be realized.

REFERENCE

Burnham, P., Lutz, K. G., Grant, W., & Layton-Henry, Z. (2008). Research Methods in Politics. New York: Palgrave.

What is my discourse about discourse analysis?

     The events in our society are interpreted differently by various people. The language and communication play significant role on defining those events. Discourse analysis, on this regard, discovers how language and communication affect and construct the social world.

picture from
http://www.anunews.net/blog/?cat=97

     The policies, publications, journals, and thesis are defined as a discourse and affect significantly on policy making and, as a result, society. These outcomes explain the situation and dominant value of that period. The discourses can attach importance to some objects or situations by bestowing the values and importance. This process, however, would also marginalize some groups and values. The example of United States on Iraq War, as Burnham(2008) cited in his book, could explain the discourse analysis much easier. The assertion and discourse that former president George W. Bush made on Iraq invasion were the process of making a justification.

     Discourse analysis, in my opinion, explains the social world and structure. It explains why specific dominant discourses exist in our society. Discourse analysis also bestows researchers to establish counter-discourses in order to create alternative opinions. The discourses, as a result, provide us luxuriant research realms.

picture from
http://creatingspaceinc.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/ricky-francisco-talks-about-
collections-management-on-the-spill/

     Our group’s research topic on Jeepney can also be explained through discourse analysis. Dominant discourse on Philippine society explains and justifies the social structure and political agenda that prevented the Jeepney to extinguish. On this regard, our group would analyze what are the dominant discourses on supporting the Jeepney and how these discourses are successfully and justifiably established and embedded in the society. The post-colonialism and hybridity of culture, that we maintain, led the Philippine society to sustain the vitality of Jeepney. The culture that is embedded since colonization period allowed Filipinos to create their own national culture and national product. The Jeepney, therefore, became a indigenous Filipino product even though it is a product of post-colonialism and hybridity.

REFERENCE

Burnham, P., Lutz, K. G., Grant, W., & Layton-Henry, Z. (2008). Research Methods in Politics. New York: Palgrave.

Am I really into qualitative research? Why am I here?

      Qualitative methods have been utilized to identify intangible factors such as culture, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Better understanding of complex reality has been possible through this method by implication in specific situation. Our research topic, “What explains the persistent survival of Jeepneys in the Philippines and do Filipino people still perceive jeepneys as a cultural symbol?”, mainly contains the cultural aspect of jeepney in post-colonial period. 

      In order for us to solve our research question and understand the phenomena why jeepneys are prevalent in Philippine society which quantitative method would not explain well, three main qualitative methods, participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussion, will be mainly and inevitably used. These methods would allow us to understand the cultural embeddedness of jeepney in the Philippines after WWII. Furthermore, since the topic is about the cultural heritage and symbol, there is no specific or one answer for our research which indeed would lead us to finish the research with open-ended.   

      Jeepneys, even with its well-known drawbacks such as main source of air pollution and traffic jam, are prevalent and well embedded in the Philippine society. As a result, it has been survived more than half a century. Moreover, as consequences of several jeepney strikes indicate, the effect of its existence as been essential to Filipinos. Furthermore, even with an introduction of alternative transportation such as Light Rail Transit(LRT), the number of jeepneys has been grown. 

       Curious of prevalent of jeepney has stimulated us to go deeper in qualitative research in order to identify the factors. Our research with qualitative method would explain the cultural factors in post-colonial period which led to endless existence of jeepney in a nation. 

REFERENCE

Qualitative Research Method Overview. Retrieved from http://www.fhi360.org/NR/rdonlyres/etl7vogszehu5s4stpzb3tyqlpp7rojv4waq37elpbyei3tgmc4ty6dunbccfzxtaj2rvbaubzmz4f/overview1.pdf

In the end, what kind of political animal am I in the context of what I want to know?

Contemporary model of political animal?

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     The term 'political animal' refers to a person who acts in the arena of politics or has political role. This concept, on the contrary, is not consistent since it depends on the each background of history. For instance, Aristotle stated that 'Man is by nature political animal' where Platon under the concept that limited class with virtue becomes politician asserted the 'rule of philosophers'. In contemporary time, what kind of political animal am I in then?

     In order for us to understand our inquiry and set the standard position for our research topic, review of related literature was inevitable. Throughout this process, we found out that our research topic “What explains the persistent survival of Jeepneys in the Philippines and do Filipino people still perceive jeepneys as a cultural symbol?” primarily concerns the post-colonialism. In our belief, the symbol of jeepneys has been created as nationalism after long period of colonization in the Philippines; a nationalist product. In this vein, we argue that the decolonization after WWII and withdrawal of Americans have attributed to create new type of culture and prosper jeepneys around the country.

A jeepney became a substitute public transportation after WWII.
copyright on http://www.rottentomatoes.com/quiz/certified-pinoy/

     According to Munoz(1995), the colonization period explains the ‘mongrel culture’ in the Philippines. The experience under this period created a new form of culture(damaged and mongrel culture) thus required nationalist culture to be restored for its indigenous culture. Since jeepney is the product of decolonization process, study on the common form of vehicles for commoners during colonization and precolonial period became significant. By comparing both periods, we would easily define the importance of independence along the way to create the indigenous culture, which in our research is jeepney. This would also strengthen the significance of post-colonial era in the Philippines in terms of creating its own culture.

     The post-colonialism would not only guide us for deep and diverse understanding of current situation in the Philippines but also explain the reason why the jeepney is embedded in Philippine culture. Other approach could be utilized in order to explain the prevalence of jeepneys such as class division of drivers and commuters through Marxist approach. Our research topic, on the contrary, mainly focuses on the hermeneutics due to embedded nationalism among Filipinos since 1946. The decolonization process would best explain our inquiry thorough post-colonial approach.

REFERENCES

Constantino, Renato. (1978). Neocolonial identity and counter-consciousness. London, Merlin Press.

Feliciano, Ma. Laurdes.(1987). The cultural symbolism of the jeepney as evident in its decor and design.

Munoz, Mauro Jr. (1995). A layman’s reflection on “culture of nationalism”  

What is new in what I want to do?

Jeepney has been the most well-known public transportation for Filipinos since the end of the WWII. With its advantages; cheap and convenient, a jeepney has been prevalent around the country. The embeddedness of the jeepney on Filipinos significantly affected the way of life and the institutions. Despite the significance of jeepney in the Philippines, only few researches were conducted. Most of them were about the relationship between its design and Filipino culture and the drawbacks of jeepney. Some researches assert that the jeepney drivers expressed their thoughts and feelings through its décor and design. The research conducted by Feliciano(1987) states that the jeepney is a product of Filipino cultural aspect through its appearance. Chua et al.(1992) in their research, Eksena sa Dyipni, also asserted that the jeepneys became an institution and thus became a symbol of Filipino ingenuity. Other research conducted by Mercado and Teo(2000) and Axalan and Landicho(2008), however, indicate that the operation of jeepney caused the air pollution and the traffic jam around the country. As the related literatures introduced, the researches on the cultural aspect of jeepneys and the side effects of operating jeepney have been actively conducted and studied. Our research, on the other hand, has its own uniqueness and reasons to be conducted which is distinguishable from the researches that have been conducted already.

Our research primarily questions the existence of jeepney despite of its well-known drawbacks. The reviewed literatures that we have gathered only and simply state the process on how jeepneys became the symbol of the Filipino and the Philippines and the side effects of jeepney on drivers, commuters, and the society. However, no research was conducted to indicate the cultural aspect of jeepneys that barricades the abolishment of them. Historically, the strikes of jeepney drivers remarkably affected the economy and the society in the Philippines, since most public commute through jeepney. The importance and the gaining power of the jeepney became a significant phenomenon that should be examined. Through the research, we would find out the reasons why the jeepneys have been prevalent and the role of cultural aspect and embeddedness in explaining the existence of the jeepneys until current period of time without the abolishment.

We would also research and analyze Filipino arts that contain the theme about the jeepney to present the evidence of jeepney's cultural embeddedness on Filipino. The song titled 'jeepney love story' best exemplifies the cultural embeddedness of jeepney for most Filipinos.

The conducted researches about the jeepney would guide us to set a standard throughout the research. The research that we will conduct, on the other hand, would address the relationship between the cultural aspect and embeddedness of jeepney in Filipino society and its existence in current time without any abolishment.

References 

Feliciano, Ma. Laurdes.(1987). The cultural symbolism of the jeepney as evident in its decor and design.

Leonardo et al.(1987). A case study of the socio political relationships of Highway 54-Pateros Jeepney Drivers and their Association as an interest group.

Mercado et al.(2000). Aphidicolin sensitivity test in evaluating susceptibility among Filipino jeepney drivers.

Reflection#1. Is there culture in my politics, or is there politics in my culture?

Han,Ung

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         Culture can be defined as various life styles of citizens that have been practiced in a nation. In this regard, not only formal practices such as wearing ‘Barong Tagalog’ are considered as culture but also informal practices such as riding a jeepney for work and drinking iced tea or soda when having a meal could also be considered as parts of a culture. As a consequence, observing different traditions and practices in different countries would allow one to distinguish one country to another.  
         The globalization, which occurred due to wide variety of communication and flow of human capitals around the world, however, mixed the traditions from one country to another and allowed a newly created culture to be practiced more often. Moreover, the colonial period also attributed to bear the diversity of a culture. Birch et al(2001) also emphasized the consequence of culture in neocolonialism where more western values and beliefs were practiced than that of Asian’s even after the colonial period. On the contrary, most people do not acknowledge the importance of the consequences. Culture, whether it is newly created through hybrid or has been existed, is embedded on the citizens without making them noticed.
           The interconnectedness of both culture and politics makes them to be dependent on each other. Culture would establish or shape law, policies, and provisions and politics would also introduce various traditions, practices, values, and beliefs to citizens. This correlation has been cycled along the history of a country.

Korean students wearing school uniform during Japanese colonization(left) and current period(right)

            One of the historical events in Korea that best explains the culture that affected the politics is the Japanese colonization (1895-1945). Before the arrival of Japanese, Korean students wore Korean traditional cloth ‘Han Bok’. Once Japanese colonized Korea, however, Japanese started to distort the culture in order to conquer not only physically but also psychologically. Newly formed school uniform allowed Japanese government to successfully unify the mind of Korean students and oppressed Koreans' tradition and liberty. Even after half century, almost all schools in Korea regulates and unify students through uniform. In this context, we could assume that there is politics, unifying students, in my culture, wearing a uniform.
It is also possible to discover the culture from the politics. Once a state gains the power it establishes laws, policies, and provisions in order to create a social order. The standard on establishing these come from its own culture. The embedded unconscious beliefs and values of a leader play significant role.  

           Culture is not static rather dynamic. Culture can be created, abolished, or amended due to the factors such as, as I mentioned above, globalization, colonization, and independence. Unless the human beings cease to exist from the earth, culture would experience various shapes and be embedded to people.

References

• Birch, D., Schirato, T., & Srivastava, S. (2001). Asia: Cultural Politics in the Global Age. New York : Palgrave. 
• Mulder, N. (1996). Inside Southeast Asia: Religion, Everyday Life, Cultural Change. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books.