As part of the weekly exercises of my graduate students in Anthropology 225: Philippine Society and Culture, I wanted my students to explore places and write ethnography using the method of participation-observation.
In celebration of the sesquicentennial (150th) birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippine's national hero - I asked my graduate students to visit museums that exhibit memorabilia for our dear renaissance Filipino man Jose Rizal, attend local and international academic symposium on The First World-class Filipino Jose Rizal, travel to his ancestral house in Laguna, or pay respect to one of Asia's great intellectuals enshrined at Luneta Park, and so on...
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography by Fernando Calleja Jr.
June 8, 2011. It was one rainy afternoon. After traveling for an hour and a half from Las Piñas, I finally got to Ayala Avenue. I was headed for Yuchengco Museum to visit its limited-time exhibit on Dr. Jose Rizal, entitled “Rizalizing the Future.”
Initially, I did not know what to expect from the said exhibit (which will run from June 3 to October 29, 2011). And I was not particularly concerned with what I’ll see displayed in the museum to commemorate Rizal’s legacy. I planned to observe other sightseers, follow them around, and see which pieces they paid particular attention to.
But when I entered, I realized I may be the only guest inside — no one else was there when I arrived, except for guards and a few museum staff members. It must be the rain. It might also be the day — it was Friday afternoon; even students would think of more fun things to do. I should not have stopped persuading my officemates to come with me, but they’ll have none of it. In fact, they laughed at me when I told them that I need to visit a museum. They told me no one goes to museums anymore unless it’s required. Maybe they’re right. I’m a pretty busy person myself; I wouldn’t have thought of going to Yuchengco on a rainy Friday afternoon if I had the choice.
Anyway, I convinced myself to just make the most out of my visit and enjoy the museum’s extensive collection of Rizal exhibit pieces. Needless to say, it has a lot on display — two floors of it, not including a few items on the main exhibit. The museum divided the pieces into zones, each focusing on different highlights of the life of Rizal.
The first one is Revisiting Rizal, which contained Rizal’s diplomas and certificates from Ateneo and the different schools he attended abroad, his family tree and a few anecdotes between him and his siblings, a few of his personal possessions such as his violin and the sculptures he created, photographs of him abroad, his masterpieces such as Mi Ultimo Adios, as well as a significant number of books about his life and mission. The purpose of this area, I infer, is to show Rizal’s foundations — as a gifted man with various talents, nurtured by a loving and understanding family, who had a lifelong goal to seek reforms for his country.
The second area is tagged Loving Rizal, which housed memorabilia related to his two greatest loves — Leonor Rivera and Josephine Bracken. Personal possessions of the two women were on display — including the latter’s passionate handwritten love letter to Rizal.
Honoring Rizal, the third area, contained memorabilia that sprouted in honor of Rizal — stamps, coins, banknotes, postcards, theater play newspaper ads, pictures of monuments, avenues, ships, shrines, coliseums, and the like. You name it, Rizal’s part of it. There’s also a section that introduced the Knights of Rizal. All these tend to show how extensively Rizal’s legacy is infused in Filipino life — and how we have continued to attempt through the years to commemorate him.
The fourth and fifth areas are Expressing Rizal and Spiritualizing Rizal, which contained avant-garde artwork and sculpture inspired by Rizal, such as a cyborg Rizal, items sold by Team Manila Graphics Design Studio, a sculpture of Rizal making love with Josephine Bracken, an infrared-sensitive painting of Rizal, and mystical paintings. They further prove our attempts to modernize Rizal and his legacy in our period.
I was almost done with exploring the museum, but I haven’t seen any other visitor even until then. Just one more floor to go. I told myself maybe it would be good enough to just ask a few questions to the guards and staff in the lobby. But I was surprised with what I saw next.
The next floor contained a gallery full of black frames, each with a trait of Rizal and a brief description of that said trait. But what made my day was that there were post-it notes placed on each frame, containing messages and reactions of previous visitors for that trait. The staff confirmed that visitors are free to leave notes in there as they please. It was more than what I bargained for.
Below are sample comments I collated for each trait. The comments ranged from heartfelt to comical, serious to entertaining. It gave me a glimpse of the realizations and reflections the different visitors had after they visited the museum and looked at the different zones of display.
1. Not one outstanding trait: “Giving jack of all trades the world over some hope! A man for all seasons.” (JC)
2. Wasn’t as smart as they say: “Rizal never stopped to inspire me to study harder and do my best to reach my dreams.” (Andrea)
3. Puritanical; too self-disciplined: “Influenced many people and touched many lives even in our generation.” (Anonymous)
4. He ain’t perfect: “JPR reminds me that no one is perfect; we make mistakes, but let us always remember that everything we do reflects who we are. Love the imperfection within you.” (Mitch)
5. Short and sickly: “Hoping to do great things even if I’m short.” (Zig PH)
6. Workaholic: “You and I are the same! I never liked to rest!” (Faye)
7. Will power: “If only Philippine government leaders have just a bit of Rizal’s patriotism within, we wouldn’t be in this shameful economic situation.” (CJC)
a. Another witty comment: “Just seen the movie Green Lantern and it speaks about will power, overcoming fear. Rizal is a Green Lantern.” (ARCM)
8. Stern and inflexible but gentle and kindly toward others: “A love and life like yours — outstanding!” (Sherry)
9. Strength of word: “His words won the heart of a whole country! Thank you Jose Rizal.” (Anonymous)
As a whole, comments reflect visitors who were inspired by Rizal, as though they got something positive and cathartic out of the whole experience. This is further highlighted in the post-its found in a special frame that contains the question, “Does Jose Rizal inspire you?”
• “Pinagnanasaan kita gabi-gabi. I love you!” (Edna Cortez, SLHS Professor)
• “Hoping that Philippines would rise again as a great country.” (Donna)
• “Rizal you rock like Michael Jordan.” (Aaron)
• “At first I didn’t care, but it turns out Rizal is way cooler than me!” (Anonymous)
• “Rizal is Filipino pride. Adore him!” (Nartea)
• “We won’t let you down!” (KL)
That was when I realized the purpose why we celebrated Rizal’s 150th birthday, why
Yuchengco Museum exerted so much effort and energy in setting up its “Rizalizing the Future” exhibit. We all need a hero to look up to, a role model who can inspire us to be better persons. Some saw it in champions like Michael Jordan or popular fictional characters like the Green Lantern. And somehow, we have continued to attempt to keep Rizal as that ultimate role model for Filipinos, to continue to make him relevant. After all, the fact remains that Rizal is our national hero. We look back for us to never forget and for us to appreciate what he has fought for. Furthermore, Yuchengco Museum humanized Rizal by showing different facets of his personality and some of his more eccentric interests, even highlighting some of his imperfections. At this day and age, we look for heroes who are human, who we can relate to. It encourages us to think we are also capable of achieving what he has achieved.
From the comments I’ve read, I think Yuchengco Museum was successful in achieving its goal. I just hope that more people — including my officemates — would find the time to endure the museum experience so that they’ll also get something out of it.
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