Deconstruction on advertisement

 If you have watched the advertisement, you would consider the food Jjamppong as Korean traditional food because of several factors; language that they use, clothes that they are wearing, and the spiciness of the foods.

The product, however, actually came from China and Japan. The food has been improvised and developed into Korean food by adding some Korean taste on its original food. As a result, I approached with Birmingham School's idea on cultural commodity and post-colonial discourse analysis on the food.

Critical Comments#3. Indigenous Filipino Theories and criticism

      Due to several and long colonization, Filipinos have accepted several different culture, tradition, and beliefs. Through this process, some theorists such as Virgilio Enriquez have asserted the need for Filipino indigenous theories.

     The theories that have set by the Western theorists can be applied in Filipino contexts. On the other hand, the these theories are not universal and need to be reconstructed in Filipino context.

       I believe having a Filipino indigenous theories is very important because it fits for Philippine society. The theories that have set by the Westerners cannot be applicable to Philippine situation at all times. In this reason, the movement for having own theories is worthy for the Philippines.

        On the contrary, I also believe that this movement would also bring ultranationalism which would bring hostility to the other culture and tradition. 

     Sikolohiyang Pilipino(SP), one of the well-known theories for indigenous Filipino theories, focused on Filipinos' own voices, thoughts, and beliefs. Therefore, it set different perspectives on negative Filipino traditions such as Bahala na and Talangka mentality. On the other hand, i believe, this set of ideas would bring unconditional acceptance of indigenous culture and tradition.

       Students should always have critical minds on not only in indigenous Filipino theories but also Western theories. The most important thing that i believe is one's assertion and logical reasons instead of unconditional acceptance.

Critical Comments#2. Critics on Western Theories; Feminism and its counternarratives

Most countries in the world have experienced or are experiencing patriarchal society, because the nations have created through several wars resulted by men's greedy. The modern society, on the other hand, puts more weight on the woman's right to participate in the society. Nowadays, women actively participate on employment and suffrage. As a result, women have well recognized.Feminist theories also unraveled the objectification of women in politics and culture.

My question arises from here, 'wouldn't this marginalize the men?'

The logo on the left is from Ministry of Gender Equality and Family(MGEF). The picture on the right side is LRT1 and MRT line in the Philippines. The similarity in these two pictures is that it strengthens the women's role and position while it marginalizes the men.

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has been created in South Korea since 2003. The main purpose of this institution is to strengthen and empower women in society. As a result, the institution receives massive amount of budget from the government in order to fulfill the goals that they have set. The outcome for this institution, however, marginalized men's position with massive support for women.

In MRT and LRT, I personally found marginalization of men. The first car of the train is only served for disabled, children, and women while there is no specific car assigned only for men. Even the purpose of this project was to ensure women's security by separating them from the men, men are marginalized by this system. I believe this system is contradictory for what women are asserting, sexual equality. 

Reflection#6. Critical comment on popular culture: advertisement and gender role

The advent of globalization and Information Technology(IT) allowed diverse ideologies, theories, and information to propagate from one society to another. The idea on Confucianism on patriarchal society, however, has strongly been constructed in Korean society. Despite of several cultures and theories accepted in 21st Century such as Feminism, the socially expressed idea on gender role through advertisements has now become the constructed idea in Korea and affects several youths.

<Advertisement on air freshener>

           Most advertisements depict woman as a ‘living person in a house’. Woman is usually depicted as a person who takes care everything on house works such as laundering, washing dishes, and nurturing children. In this advertisement, a husband brings his colleges and a mother-in-law visits the house. Due to the bad smell in the house, a woman uses air freshener to get rid of odor. Both of them complain on the smell instead of thanking a woman for preparing all foods.

           From this advertisement, we could know how gender role is divided and constructed in the society. Woman in taking care of all the house works is socially accepted and constructed as shown in this advertisement, otherwise, woman is considered as lazy.

Cultural Politics distinguished by space

Paseo

The very first that I have visited was Paseo. The structure and design of the place was pretty much Western. It was open space where the typical Filipino malls are indoors. As a result, the place had beautiful view. The stores were well-divided by section and they were all located in one common section. For instance, the stores for cloth were located in one side where the bars and restaurants were located in the other side of the load.

Even though I arrived there on Friday, there were only few people because, according to security guard, the place is usually occupied in the evening. Since I have arrived in the place around 2 pm, I was not able to observe much of the mall culture among the customers. According to the sales clerks, on the other hand, I was able to find out that most of the customers are foreigners such as Koreans, Japanese, and Americans (or minorities/riches). Most of them were assumed to live in nearby villages. Since the main customers are foreigners, the mall seems to be developed as modern as possible to satisfy the foreigners.

SM Calamba

          Compared to Paseo, the mall had its very distinguish structure, indoor and lengthy. The structure and designs of the mall was pretty much same with other SM in Metro Manila. So, I was able to distinguish SM Calamba with other SM. Moreover, I was also able to compare this place with Paseo where I have observed in the very beginning.

         



      It is not very sure whether the social class of the customers affects on the size of the space and number of stores. But, compared to other SM, SM Calamba had smaller space and limited stores. I was able to ask one of the customers on the reason why they visit SM Calamba. They said it is cooler than the outside and has everything they want; ‘buy everything you want in one place’. The place is usually occupied by family members and the masses of the Philippines. It is more approachable for the masses compared to Paseo.

Liliw

           Among the places that I have visited, Liliw was the most impressive one, because I was, somehow, feel the tradition Filipino market. I said ‘somehow’ because the modern(commoditized) and the traditional culture was coexisting in the place. The cultural product in this place is shoes. In order to commoditize this culture for tourists(foreigners/minority) and other visitors(masses), the products have been commoditized and the shoes became the symbol of Liliw. In addition, some stores were located with one another in order to strengthen the products.

           The traditional foods were well-observed in this place such as bibingka and buko wine. I have tried some of the foods that were sold in this place in order to experience the cultural products in this region. The whole street, as a result, became one traditional culture for the neighbors in that place.

Night Culture

           I also had a chance to experience the night culture in Laguna near UPLB(University of the Philippines Las Banos). The place was similar with University Mall(U-Mall) near De La Salle University-Manila. The main differences were price of the foods and the customers. Compared to U-Mall, the price of the foods was really cheap and satisfied. Most foods were sold with almost 70% of the prices in Manila. Furthermore, the place was very calm, not noisy, and had very pleasant environment. I assume that the socially different accumulation of wealth and price of the land estate defined the difference in these two regions. 

Aerobic

          The other cultural differences that I have observed was on performing the aerobic. The aerobic that was performed in SM Calamba seemed to be more commoditized compared to the aerobic that was performed in UPLB. In SM Calamba, the purpose of performing the aerobic is more on showing the people on their cultural practices. The purpose of aerobic that was performed in UPLB, however, has weighted more social network between the neighbors and the health issues. Even the common cultural practices were performed differently in one region. This indicates that even in small community, diverse culture is existing. 

Critical Comments#1. Post-colonialism and its critical comments

The idea of post-colonialism is a product of resistance on colonialism. Colonialism argues that the self becomes other where the other become new self. In this process, the indigenous group of people absorbs the idea of one's colonizer. As a form of resistance, the post-colonialism has emerged.

The main idea that post-colonialists argue is to seek the damaging effects of colonialism/imperialism by uncovering them and construct its own identity. In this process of decolonization, two phases are mainly introduced. First phase focuses on political-economic nature of the colonial state and seek on how to transform the idea into one's identity. Second phrase focuses on ontological nature of the colonized and locates the struggle on identity politics. On this phrase the process could be divided into two; (1)project of recovery or (2)project of reconstruction.

In project of recovery, people usually seek to recover their own identity in pre-colonial era. From this process, they can recover its own indigenous culture which have been lured due to colonizers. In project of reconstruction, people usually seek to transform the idea of colonizer's into their own. The constructed idea or traits by colonizers are transformed into applicable form for colonized. I find the product in the Philippines that contain both recovery and reconstruction from Jeepney. Indigenous Filipino culture is recovered from pre-colonial period and practiced inside the Jeepney where Western culture such as the structure of the Jeepney is transformed to be adopted in Philippine society.

I, however, will make a criticism on this theory. The post-colonialist idea has a tendency for a people to have ultranationalism and, as a result, have hostility in mind toward colonizers or culture of any other countries. The idea of post-colonialism is good because it tries to form an indigenous idea or one's own cultural product. From this process, on the other hand, the people usually think that their culture is the best compared to other foreign culture. Nazism also has occurred due to ultranationalism from the leader to the masses. Since the importance or greatness of the culture can not be measured, people should acknowledge and recognize the difference. 

Reflection#5. Indigenous Filipino food; post-colonialism and its relation to dishes

From the documentary that I have watched during the class was about Filipino food culture. It was very interesting film because I was able to interconnect the political issue, specifically post-colonialism, with food culture in the Philippines.

The documentary was titled as ‘No Reservation’ and it was all about the food and cultural trip led by Anthony Bourdain. He travels all over the countries and experiences the culture, especially through food. It seemed that he enjoys the Filipino dishes including lecheon, sisig, and other street food.

<Documentary 'No Reservation'>

No difference with him, I do really like Filipino food. What I like the most are sisig and ballot. The reason behind my preference is this; a unique and traditional food that could only be found in the Philippines. One day, my professor asked our classmates the reason why there are no fine restaurants in other countries while there are prevalent fine Vietnamese, Thai, and, Arab restaurants. The most supported answer regarding this question was ‘because Filipinos value kinship or network rather than the food itself. With whom you are with is much more important than what you eat’. I agree on this argument. I, however, would like to answer his question by elaborating my supports from post-colonial era. From now on, I would like to write my personal opinion and it might seem to be discriminating Filipino culture when reasoning out this question. But I do not have any offense to any Filipino culture, rather, I am just writing my own opinion based on my understanding regarding lack/absence of fine Filipino restaurants in other countries.

The Philippines has been colonized by three different countries; Spain, America, and Japan. On the process of colonization, Filipinos accepted several culture, practice, traits, and, even, food from its colonizers. The key point of success in terms of colonization is harmony through hybridity of Filipino and colonizer’s culture. Once the culture is rejected by the mass, it gradually declines and disappears in the end. Japanese colonization could be perfect example for this. Even though Japan colonized the Philippines before World War II, no or rare cultural traits, practices, or tradition is remained among Filipinos. American and Spaniard colonization, on the other hand, could be considered as the most influenced ones in the Philippines.

Based on my research and observation, BBQ and Lecheon came from America and Spain. Mixing them with vinegar and calamansi and eating with all family members could be seen only as Filipino indigenous culture. The hybridity of Western food and indigenous practices completes the work of post-colonialism and explains its survival in present time.

I do not consider barbeque and lecheon as indigenous Filipino dishes rather as Western. If I ask other foreigners, they also do not consider these as Filipino food. Moreover, if I ask any of my foreign friends except Filipinos or those who have been to the Philippines, their main idea on Filipino food are fruits such as mango, pineapple, and banana rather than any fine dishes.

In order for Filipino fine restaurant to be prevalent, I would suggest two advice. First, promote the dishes that are really unique and indigenous rather than popular dishes in the Philippines. Second, develop popular dishes by empowering Filipino traits in terms of taste, decoration, or any other unique Filipino culture on the way of eating the food.

Through the passage, I am not saying that all popular food are not indigenous Filipino food because the hybridity of culture creates another unique Filipino culture. In other word, there should be a movement on creating its own image of food from the hybrid outcome on which the Western image is more strengthened than indigenous culture.

Reflection#4. My Way not Right Way

     As food chain exists among the animals, power relation/chain also exists among the people. Some people consider them as powerful than the other while some people consider them as being ruled or governed. Even those powerful people that we could think of, such as president, king/queen, or CEO, are also affected or advised by other people.

     I also have experience on wielding power over some people but, at the same time, I was also ruled or governed by some others. I did not resist all the times when I found struggle on their authority over me. I, however, tried my best to resist their form of resistance and decide freely with my own beliefs. Instead of reacting violently with force, I tried my best to control my emotion and form ordinary forms of resistance such as ignorance, parody, and bricolage. What I usually utilized among these were ignorance and collective action.

MY WAY NOT RIGHT WAY!

     What most usual people mistakenly think is that taking the safe and right way would fulfill their family, society, and, of course, themselves. I consider this kind of thought as a mistake. Within a democratic society that we live in, the power of the majority could not be ignored. On the other hand, no standard or beliefs should be made due to the opinions of majority.

     Recently, new state head has been elected in South Korea. Prior to the presidential election, general election was also held on April 2012. In both election, Saenuri-dang, or conservative party, has won for the head of executive branch and majority seats in Congress. From this result, we could also assume that majority of Koreans consider themselves as conservative.

<collective action could bring bigger power>

<collective action for minority for their rights>

     Regardless of the opinions of the majority, I consider my self as progressive and liberal minded person which only forms minority in South Korea. Even though some conservatives curse at me due to political difference, I easily ignore their opinion because  what one wants can be different from others. In this regard, I do not argue with anyone because of different political or religious issues. Its one's right to choose their own beliefs. Despite of small number of liberals in South Korea, I participated online electoral campaign for liberal camp in the Philippines. Although the conservatives won the election, I do not regret what I have done for liberal camp, because I believe that our collective action to speak the opinions of minority, somehow, affected the perspective of conservatives. The experience as a campaign promoter was a valuable one for me because it allowed me to reconsider about the power of the minority on forming the resistance. Such a small step that I have took from this experience might bring bigger resistance as a collective action in the future.

Reflection#3. Forms of domination and marginalization

     Since the creation of the society, people tended to form their own tribes with people who have similar ideologies and beliefs. In addition, the democratic thought of valuing majority, where disregarding the minorities, allowed people to form dominance and marginalize the minorities. As a consequence, people tended to objectify, exploit, subordinate, and oppress others who have marginalized or different thought, beliefs, and ideologies with them. These four(4) forms of domination and marginalization can normally  be observed in our daily lives. 

OBJECTIFICATION

     This form of domination and marginalization is usually observed. I have experienced objectification from my parents. Their thoughts and beliefs have not met with my beliefs and thoughts. This difference made them to consider themselves as dominant ones and myself as a marginalized one. With the different perspective of defining the term 'success', the expectation from my parents on academic performance was really high so that I felt that they consider me as a machine that could do whatever they wish. Moreover, they crammed their beliefs on me regardless of my strong dissent.

     The objectification did not only occur from my parents. Since I am also one of human beings, I have experienced objectifying the others. As a man, I tended to define the woman with her feature/appearance. I tended to objectify woman as a thin and weak ones. Once they gain weight, I never considered them as a woman. This kind of objectification of most men made most women to get liposuction and have compulsive idea on diet. 

EXPLOITATION


SUBORDINATION
     Subordination is the process where the subjects are placed below and at the disposal of other subjects. Living in a Confucianism society in Korea, I have a lot of experience being subordinated and subordinate the others. Most subordination processes, however, occur in military service.
     The person superior than me have the authority and power to rule over me. This kind of authority or power that is rendered to them allows them to think that they are superior than the subordinate. As a result, the superior tends to abuse his power for his own benefits. This kind of bad custom, however, is passed down to next superiors. As a result, the cycle starts again. Even though I experienced some bad customs and thought myself not to do to next subordinate, I tended to practice this bad custom to next subordinates.

Reflection#2. Concept map for personal politics: who exercises power over me and to whom do I exercise power?

     The chart indicates the power relation around me. Those who mostly exercise power over me were my parents. They exercise direct power over me and I respect and accept their control and power. The decisions that have been made by my parents were mostly followed. My aunts and uncles do not have direct access to exercise their power over me. On the contrary, their indirect control and exercise of power through my parents also affect me and I also follow their advice and decisions. The only family member that I have considered as having similar position was my older sister. Even though she is older than me, we have almost equal range of power toward one another. I sometimes accept the power over me from my sister but I sometimes deny it. That's the reason why several quarrel occur between me and my sister.

     Friends and vice president in my informal club were also had similar influence with one another. Most of us have similar influence and power over one another. The members of the informal group, on the other hand, have no power over me rather only accept my decision through which my power has been exercised. At all times, the members accept my decision and advice. Moreover, they have never questioned my influence over them. The last but not the least group was my subordinate during my military service. At all times, my subordinates accepted all of my decisions and blindly followed my command. Furthermore, this kind of incident also happens through the whole chain of command.

     From this activity that I have made, I was able to indicate those people who have exercised the power over me and to whom I am exercising power. By indicating this fact, I could find out that how chain of command is created in our daily lives and how our decision is affected by other people. Moreover, the activity allowed me to reconsider that we, human beings, are political animals and the society is existing to allow us to express our instincts, exercising power.

Reflection#1 Power: Self Access and Control Profile

     All people potentially have power within themselves and these powers tend to come out only in some contexts. Power can be divided into two categories; ascribed and acquired. Sex and ethnicity are ascribed power while decision on religion and political stance are acquired power.

     Two approaches to the analysis have been mentioned in the class; reputational and decisional. Since reputational analysis put more importance on the reputation of people, the person who is really exercising the power might be different from what people have recited. Therefore, the decisional approach which identifies those who have power and analyzes the conflict would be much more accurate and preferable.

     Throughout three steps of dimensions of power, three steps for exercising the power were elaborated. In first dimension, power was only implemented through the speech or conversation. In second, the threat on the process of exercising power hesitated one to implement the power. In this dimension, power along the physical threat has blocked the contestation at the very beginning. The third dimension totally changes one’s consciousness and makes them believe that is true. The person in this dimension is totally controlled without any conflict with the person implementing the power. The religious fanatics and Nazis could be the best example in third dimension.

<Movie 'Borderland' depicts religious fanatics>

<Nazis were unconscious about their vices>

                                   

Resource Access and Control Profile

Resources	Household Members
	Father	Mother	Sister	Me
Productive
1.   Company	C	A	A	A
2.   Kindergarten	A	C	A	A
3.   Farm	C	C	A	A
Reproductive
1.   Car	C	A	A	A
2.   House	C	A	A	A
3.   TV	C	C	A	A
4.   Computer	C	C	A	A
5.   Sofa	C	C	A	A
6.   Guitar	A	A	A	C
7.   Piano	A	A	C	A
8.   Mobile phone	C	C	C	C
9.   Bed	C	C	A	A
10. Closet	C	C	A	A
11. Refrigerator	C	C	A	A

     All productive resources in my household are controlled by my parents. I and my sister only have access to them. For reproductive resources, there was no big difference. Almost all listed items are controlled by my parents. I only have control over my guitar and mobile phone. I am able to access or use other items but have no control over them.

Decision-Making Access and Control Profile

Decision-Making Issues	Household Members
	Father	Mother	Sister	Me
Related to Productive Activity
1.   Where to invest the money?	C	C
2.   Which stock option to buy?	C	A
3.   Which bank to use for higher interest rate?	C	C
4.   Which land estate to acquire?	C	C
Related to Reproductive Activity
1.   Which school should the children enroll in?	C	C	A	A
2.   Where to eat for dinner?	C	C	A	A
3.   Which place to go for vacation?	C	C	A	A
4.   What movies to watch?	C	C	A	A
5.   Which hospital to go for medical examination?	C	C	A	A
Related to Community-Management
1.   Who to vote?	C	C	C	C
2.   Who will clean the neighborhood?	C	C	A	A
3.   Which social club to join?	C	C	C	C

     I and my sister have neither the ability to control or to access on decision making when it comes to productive activity. All decision-making issues are controlled by my parents and my sister and I have ability to express our thoughts on the reproductive activity matters. Since my family members are all adults, they all have the ability to control their own decision-making related to community-management such as election. 

Benefits and Burdens Access and Control Profile

Benefits and Burdens	Household Members
	Father	Mother	Sister	Me
Benefits
1.   Income	C	C	C	A
2.   Internet access	C	C	A	A
3.   Credit card	C	C	A
Burdens
1.   Paying association dues	C	C
2.   Insurance fees	C	C	A
3.   Paying credit card bills	C	C	A
4.   Paying electricity and water bills	C	C	A	A
5.   Paying tuition fees	C	C	A

     In benefits and burdens access and control profile, my parents have control over all benefits and burdens. Even my sister has a control over her own income. On the contrary, I have no ability to control any benefits or burdens. Furthermore, I have least ability to access on burdens. 

Positionality Assessment Profile

Aspect of Identity	Are you in control?
Lifestyle	Yes
Religion	No
Course	Yes
Political Ideology	Yes
Sports	Yes
Fashion	Yes
Diet	No
School	Yes

     Despite of few abilities to control among the family members, I felt that I am controlling my own aspects of identity.