Description
EL ESPAÑOL en FILIPINAS
Author: Gaspar A. Vibal
EL ESPAÑOL EN FILIPINAS charts the vicissitudes of the beginning with the traumatic rupture with the traumatic rupture in Spain in 1898. The text also explores the development of Hispano-Filipino culture from the late nineteenth century through the American occupation, the Spanish Civil War, and World War lI, events that drastically impacted Spanish-speaking communities. Tragically, these historical developments transformed the leading language of the late nineteenth-century illustrados, early nationalists, and the clase directora (ruling class) into a language of a minority. The narrative not only highlights the efflorescent Hispano-Filipino literary tradition but also delves into the performing arts during a time when Spanish-language theater, radio shows, musical concerts, and public oratory were prevalent. This tumultuous and fascinating history is intertwined with the great vision and struggles of the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española to uphold and give luster to a language associated with five hundred years of Philippine history and culture. Shorn of postcolonial nostalgia, the book tackles with honesty the role and future of the Spanish language and Hispano-Filipino culture in the twenty-first-century Philippines.
Gaspar Vibal, like his namesake from the New Testament, is a man who follows a star. That seemingly unreachable star is Filipino identity as manifested in the shared culture of the Philippines and Spain. In EI Españiol en Filipinas, Vibal takes us on a journey tracing the roots of the Spanish language and culture in the Philippines. It is a journey, not a destination because Vibal shows how the modern Filipino has taken what was once, foreign and made it his own, not Spanish and Filipino but Hispano-Filipino.
- AMBETH R. OCAMPO
Hermenegildo B. Reyes Professor of History, Ateneo de Manila University, and Distinguished Professorial Lecturer, Department of Literature, De La Salle University
This book is a welcome addition to the growing number of publications dealing with Fil-Hispanic culture and literature. As most of these publications have been authored by foreign scholars, Vibal's work narrating the hundred years of the Academia Filipina and its struggle to defend the Spanish language provides the Filipino voice absent in those foreign works. Vibal displays impressive scholarship in his narrative. El Español en Filipinas will be an important reference for Filipino Hispanista historiography.
--WYSTAN DE LA PEÑA, University of the Philippines
El Español en Filipinas explores the Spanish influence on the Philippines over the last century. It is often stated-- first noted in the 1903 Census-that only ten percent of the Philippines. The population spoke Spanish. Many scholars have repeated this claim to argue that Spanish was not widely spoken in the Philippines, thereby downplaying the Hispanic influence in the country. In this insightful book, the author highlights the significance of the Spanish language in Filipino culture and among the Filipino intelligentsia. Spanish served as the language of key institutions in the Philippines, and even when the American colonial administration largely suppressed it by the 1930s, the language endured. This book provides an important and well-documented exploration of these watershed events.
- GLÒRIA CANO, Independent Researcher
GASPAR A. VIBAL'S career exemplifies a lifelong dedication to Hispano-Filipino books and ideas. His latest work, El Español en Filipinas: The History of the Spanish Language, the Academia Filipina, and Hispano-Filipino Culture, 1924-2024, offers a critical examination of the history of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture in the Philippines. This book is published to commemorate the centennial of the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española, providing a timely opportunity to reflect on the long and complex history of the Spanish language in the Philippines as we progress further into the second quarter of the twenty-first century.
Additionally, in true reflection of the author's dedication to his work, this book serves not only as a historical account but also as a call to action. It invites readers to reconsider the role of Spanish as an essential part of Filipino history and culture. The text explores how the Spanish language transitioned from being the lingua franca of the illustrados and early nationalists to becoming a minority language, yet one that has left a significant cultural impact. Additionally, the book addresses modern challenges, including ongoing debates about the place of Spanish in education, governance, and diplomacy within a multi-lingual. Despite these challenges, the resilience of the many Spanish-speaking communities in the Philippines ensures that the language, as well as its related Creole variants, remains vibrant. As the author emphasizes, Spanish continues to connect the Philippines with the global Hispanic world, particularly in commerce and people-to-people ties.
While language served as a tool for colonizers to articulate control and assert dominance in any society subjected to colonial rule, in the Philippines, however, Spanish also evolved into the language of the propagandists, liberators, and leaders of the República de Filipinas, the independent state that emerged after colonial emancipation, that was mirrored earlier in many Spanish American republics.
Size: 8 x 10 inches
Pages: 272
Copyright 2025
Vibal Foundation Inc.