Imperialism In The Philippines

Pre-modern Asia was home to a vast selection of cultures, most of which were more closely associated with ethnic and religious groups rather than a given nation. The influx of imperialism brought cultural differences to the forefront of Asia’s attention, as in the face of alien cultures with far fewer similarities, Asian cultural groups with shared geography that had formerly seemed more different than alike began to obtain a growing consciousness of their similarities in response to the imposition of foreign customs. An example of this response is evident in Korea, during its time under Japanese imperial rule as the Korean national identity was forged in protest to the assimilative nature of Japanese rule in the 1920s, as Japan sought to …show more content…
Prior to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the collection of islands had no sense of unity or collective identity, as Craig Lockard describes the Philippines as “remote islands inhabited by some 1 to 2 million people speaking more than 100 different… languages and scattered across 7000 islands.” With the Spanish colonization of the Philippines came the first instance of unity between its islands, and a national identity formed around it. India shares similar experiences with its British colonization, as with the influence of the British, India was united for the first time and transportation and communication between its regions was established, as well as a common language. Lastly, the introduction of a mass educational system and a national language connects a nation’s people in such a way that the tools to communicate amongst themselves effectively and common knowledge of their history allows their national identity to be examined and …show more content…
Despite this fact, a concrete definition of the Korean national identity had yet to be established, emerging with the Japanese colonization of Korea, which provided motivation for Koreans to establish their nation as the home to their different and distinct national identity. During their period of colonial rule, Japan sought to assimilate the people of Korea to Japanese culture, aiming to convert Koreans into “…loyal but subordinate Japanese.” While Japan viewed Koreans as inferior to its own people, it also saw Koreans as both racially and culturally similar and therefore “…capable of being turned into Japanese…”, John Miller notes, which in turn motivated the instigation of a mass educational system in Korea where Japanese was taught as a first language, with Korean as a second, as well as a public health system, amongst other institutional changes designed to impose the Japanese national identity on the people of Korea while eliminating Korea’s own simultaneously. In response to Japan’s rigorous political changes in Korea designed to transform the country into an extension of Japan, a growing sense of injustice brewed amongst Koreans, whom became increasingly conscious of the elimination of their traditions and past at the hands of colonial subjugation. The threat of cultural assimilation provided the ideal environment for a growing consciousness of what it