Abstract
This book is a product of lectures delivered by Agnes Brazal at Boston College in 2017 as part of the Duffy Lectures in Global Christianity. Brazal fills the gaps in theological research and ethics, such as the absence of postcolonial theological ethics in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Although this volume does not seek to comprehensively cover the theology in Southeast Asia, it is largely confined to liberation-postcolonial ethics in the Philippine context. The focus of Brazal’s volume is to “chart the shifts in Philippine theological ethics from vernacular/liberation hermeneutics to a postcolonial perspective” (xxxiii) to develop a liberation-postcolonial approach in dialogue with social theorists, such as Stuart Hall and Homi Bhabha.
The volume consists of two parts. Part 1 explains the “contextual methodologies employed by theological ethicists in the Philippines” (xxxiii). Brazal proposes a further development toward a liberation-postcolonial approach. Chapter 1 begins with “From Vernacular/Liberation to Postcolonial Hermeneutics?,” which examines the method, contributions, and limitations of classic vernacular and liberation hermeneutics employed by representative first-generation, post-Vatican II moral theologians/ethicists, and the shift among ‘second- and third-generation theological ethicists’ to postcolonial hermeneutics. This chapter alludes with criticisms of early postcolonial discourses, such as the weak link between cultural discourse and structural dimensions of power (e.g. the global economic system), and the challenge posed by vernacular cosmopolitanism’s insistence on both “locality” and intercultural exchange. Chapter 2, “Discourse Analysis in Doing Liberation-Postcolonial Theology,” suggests a way of doing postcolonial theology via discourse analysis that appropriates ‘postcolonial/neo-Marxist’ theorist Stuart Hall’s circuit of culture, a perspective that blends philosophico-cultural and structural analysis while ensuring the simultaneous assertion of local categories and narratives with cosmopolitanism. For Brazal, Hall “distinguishes culture from the economic and the political for analytical purposes, the circuit of culture illustrates how meaning is very much linked with both economic processes and questions of power” (xxxiv).
Part 2 of Brazal’s volume is an application of liberation-postcolonial ethics. Her chapter 3 focuses on “Feminism in the Philippine Catholic Church.” She presented the feminist critiques and the promotion of women’s dignity and rights. From a liberation-postcolonial perspective, sex and gender cannot be separated from issues of colonialism, authoritarianism, neocolonialism, neoliberal capitalism, and other forms of domination and subjugation. This chapter illutrates how feminism in the Philippines has assumed a strong indigenising orientation in order to assert that it is not just a Western import but is very much rooted in the Philippine historical and sociopolitical context. The key characteristics of feminisms in the Philippines include (1) a shift from nationalist to liberation-postcolonial feminism, (2) dialogue with lived feminist spiritualities in subaltern/autochthonous religious communities, (3) reconstruction of vernacular categories as alternative hermeneutical lenses, (4) the use of narrative theology, and (5) alliance with pro-feminist men. The chapter also delves into the reception of feminist theology in the Philippine Church. Chapter 4, “Ecological Cultural Struggles of Indigenous Peoples: Toward Sustainability as Flourishing,” foregrounds the ecological-cultural struggles of indigenous peoples, and examines how they negotiate their cultural identities and their survival. She argues for an understanding of sustainability as flourishing, which is closer to the indigenous aspiration.
Brazal’s chapter 5 focuses on the “Migrant Remittances as Utang na Loob: Virtues and Vices,” which discusses remittances within the traditional gift economy operative in Philippine lowland culture. This economy is centred on utang na loob (debt of solidarity). The chapter develops a theology of gift based on utang na loob, elaborates on utang na loob as a virtue, and explores its corresponding vices and their roots in neoliberal capitalism driving South to North migration and dependence on remittance. The final chapter, “Facebook and Populism: Reflections in Cyberethics,” attends to the emerging cyberculture brought about by developments in computer-mediated communication. Concretely, it outlines the key characteristics of populism and how social media platforms such as Facebook enable or foster populist discourse–for example, in the campaign and continuing generation of propaganda for President Rodrigo Duterte. She explores challenges to cyberethics and, in this context, reconstructs hiya (shame positively construed as sensitivity to the face of the other) as a crucial vernacular virtue in a digital age. She added an “Epilogue,” which explores how liberation-postcolonial theologising goes beyond the “local” as it engages a wider and diversified community of moral discourse.
In conclusion, this book is an invitation to rethink and review the ongoing reflection of ethical-postcolonial theorists in Southeast Asia, and their interactions with emerging contexts in the region. This book makes an important contribution to the intersection between local cultures, religion, power, and postcolonial and ethical theories in Southeast Asia. The themes of hybridity, power, feminism, ecology, cyberethics, and populism make it relevant to interdisciplinary studies. This book will inform and transform students and scholars to engage in the critical discourse and notions of power within and beyond Southeast Asia.
