Clash of Spirits : : The History of Power and Sugar Planter Hegemony on a Visayan Island / / Filomeno V. Aguilar.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Archive (pre 2000) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Aguilar, Filomeno V.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [1998]; ©1998
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (328 p.)

This text illuminates the oral traditions of the Philippines and the convergence of capitalism and the indigenous spirit world. The author examines the social relations, cultural meanings and political struggles surrounding the rise of sugar haciendas on Negros during the late Spanish colonial period, and their subsequent transformation under the aegis of the American colonial state. Drawing on oral history, interviews and a wide array of sources culled from archives in Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Philippines, the author reconstructs the emergence of a sugar-planter class and its strategic maneuvers to attain hegemony. The book portrays local actors taking an active role in shaping the external forces that impinge on their lives. It examines hacienda life from the indigenous perspective of magic and spirit beliefs, reinterpreting several critical phases of Philippine history in the process. By analyzing mythic tales as bearers of historical consciousness, the author explores the complex interactions between local culture, global interventions, and capitalist market forces.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Part I. Colonial Enchantments, Indigenous Contests -- 1. A Clash of Spirits -- 2. Cockfights and Engkantos -- 3. Elusive Peasant, Weak State -- Part II. The World of Negros Sugar after 1855 -- 4. The Formation of a Landed Hacendero Class in Negros -- 5. “Capitalists Begging for Laborers” -- 6. Toward Mestizo Power -- 7. The American Colonial State -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author