Research in the Social Sciences

Media

Part of Panorama

Title: Research in the Social Sciences
Creator: Yabes, Leopoldo Y.
Language: English
Year: 1961
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Fulltext: RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Leopoldo Y. Yabes From the end of the war or, more specifically, since the establishment of the Phil ippine Republic on 4 July 1946, there has been consider able research activity in the various fields in the human ities and social sciences. This upsurge of activity may be traced as largely due to the interest taken by the Filipinos in their own culture and ins titutions. After almost four centuries of colonial subjec tion, they find themselves free and independent to direct their own affairs and shape their own destiny. Naturally they should now develop a greater interest in the study of their own culture and ins titutions than at any time in the past. And as an extension of this self-interest is a grow ing interest in the countries and peoples of Asia which the accident of history did not permit them to know more closely in the past. This increased interest in their own culture and institu tions and in those of their neighbors resulted in the in tensification of the graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities in some uni versities and in the institution of similar programs in some, of the newer universities, and in the establishment of sepa rate institutes of Filipino cul ture and of Asian studies in a few of the universities. How ever, although this interest at a rediscovery of themselves is quite pervasive among the thoughtful portioil of the po pulation, the researchers and scholars charged with the gra duate programs and research projects are fully aware of the difficulties they are faced with as a result primarily of the widespread destruction of public and private libraries and museums in the wake of the last war. This destruction of research materials has been so thorough that, in the case of historical research and writing, the Filipino histo rians have had to go abroad to Europe and America to look for most of the materials to document their mono graphs with. 38 Panorama As to be expected under such circumstances, the qua lity of the research done has not been uniformly high. There are published re searches those quality is of a high level; but there are also published researches which could be of doubtful worth because of inadequate docu mentation. As in other coun tries, we in the Philippines also have good researchers and good writers as well as bad researchers and bad wri ters, the only difference per haps being in that in the Phi lippines the bad researchers and writers still seem to be more numerous than the good ones. But this is a situation which we hope to improve gradually. The only researches under taken in the Philippines con cerning the peoples of East, Southeast and South Asia are those which have something to do with the relations bet ween the Filipinos and these other peoples. Thus there have been a few scattered re search projects on PhilippineIndonesian, Philippine-Indian, Philippine-Chinese, and Phi lippine-Japanese relations. Research in the humanities and social sciences is carried on mainly in the better uni versities bv faculty members and graduate students in va rious academic departments. Some research is also done by some research societies and other research organiza tions outside the universities or in cooperation with the uni versities. Most universities in the Phi lippines are still largely teach ing universities and are un dertaking very little research work. Considering that one essential function of a univer sity is research, it is not dif ficult to see that a number of institutions of higher learning are not as yet offering ade quate instruction. However, there are a few universities undertaking research, not as one would desire, but com mensurate with their own re sources. Among these few are the University of the Phi lippines, the Ateneo de Ma nila University, and Silliman University, the first being the state university and the other two being private, denomina tional institutions. The Ateneo de Manila University has re cently established an Institute of Filipino Culture as a sepa rate unit in its organizational scheme. Silliman University, a Protestant school, has also instituted a program in South east Asian studies. The University of the Phi lippines should properly be the center for study and re search in the social sciences and humanities. Its charter December 1961 39 provides that the purpose of the University “shall be to provide advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences, and arts, and to give professional and technical training,” and the University Code adds, “to encourage and undertake research and con tribute to the growth and dis semination of knowledge.” To enable it to comply with its functions and responsibilities properly, the Constitution of the Philippines has provided that “universities established by the state shall enjoy aca demic freedom.” Shortly after its establish ment more than a half-centu ry ago, the University of the Philippines instituted gradu ate programs, with thesis re quirements, in certain fields of the humanities and social sciences, and these programs through the years have been improved and expanded to include more fields. Most of the thesis requirements in clude original research in Philippine culture and insti tutions. Graduate work in this University is offered pri marily “to encourage and in duce independent thought, to develop the investigative spi rit and promote research, and to prepare the way to specialization in selected fields....” The University has a separate Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to take care of the basic disciplines. This school, in cooperation with the Institute of Asian Studies, offers a graduate pro gram leading towards the Master’s degree in . Asian Studies. The professional and technical schools offer their own graduate programs independently. Independent of and some times in cooperation with the graduate programs are re search projects undertaken in: the various academic units and research bodies under a Committee on Research chairmanned by the Executive Vice-President of the Univer sity, who is ex-officio Coordi nator of Research. The Office of Research Coordination ad ministers the University re search fund and acts as clearing house for research matters. It also administers specific programs on faculty development which includes post-graduate and post-doc toral studies undertaken lo cally or abroad. The Social Science Research Center and the Natural Science Research Center work directly under the Coordinator of Research. The National Research Council of the Philippines, which has a Divison of Social Sciences, maintains offices in the University of the Philip pines and is administered by 40 Panorama professors of the University. The Community Development Research Council, which is also affiliated with the Uni versity, administers for the Republic President’s Assistant on Community Development specific research projects about suburban and rural communities. Conceived as primarily re search units in the fields of the humanities and social sciences are the Institute of Asian Studies, the Institute of Economic Development and Research, and the Institute of Public Administration. How ever, by reason of its peculiar relations with the College of Arts and Sciences, the-Con servatory of Music, the Col lege of Business Administra tion, the School of Fine Arts and Architecture, and the University College, from which it borrows most of its faculty, the Institute of Asian Studies is not yet in a position to fully implement its primary function of research. Outside of the universities there are also research insti tutions and groups. The Na tional Science Development Board is a government insti tution which also undertakes research programs in the so cial sciences and humanities. Among the private research groups are the Philippine His torical Association, the Na tional Historical Society, the Filipiniana Research Society, the Bibliographical Society of the Philippines, and the Phil ippine Sociological Society. The first'two societies receive a modest regular subsidy from the government for the pub lication of their researches, while the Bibliographical So ciety sometimes receives grants-in-aid from some fo reign foundations for its bib liographical studies. Some of the universities in the Philippines issue journals in which some of the research" works produced by the uni versities are published. In the University of the Philippines there are the Philippine So cial Sciences and Humanities Review and the Diliman Re view issued by its College of Arts and Sciences, the Phil ippine Law Journal issued by its College of Law, the Phil ippine Journal of Public Ad ministration issued by its Ins titute of Public Administra tion, the Education Quarterly issued by the Graduate Col lege of Education, and the University College Journal issued by its University Col lege. The Ateneo de Manila Uni versity has its Philippine Stu dies, Silliman University its Silliman Journal, the Univer sity of Sto. Tomas its Unitas, the Far Eastern University its December 1961 41 Faculty Journal, the Univer sity of Manila its Journal of East Asiatic Studies, and Centro Escolar University its Faculty and Graduate Studies. These journals of the private universities publish materials not only in the humanities and social sciences but also in the physical and biological sciences. The University of the Philippines has separate journals devoted to the natu ral sciences and technology. The Philippine Historical Association has its Historical Bulletin and the National His torical Society its Journal of History. The Bibliographical Society has its Occasional Pa pers. The Philippine Sociolo gical Society publishes the Philippine Sociological Re view. The Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, which is in charge of the Rizal Cen tenary Celebration, issues a Bulletin which records the ac tivities, including research, in connection with the Centen nial. Regarded as significant have been the studies published in recent years by the Univer sity of the Philippines on the Philippine Revolution. The most important of these stu dies are The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Boni facio and the Katipunan (1956) and Malolos: The Cri sis of the Republic (1960), by Teodoro A. Agoncillo, and The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revo lution (1957) and Mabini and the Philippine Revolution (1960), by Cesar A. Majul. These works not only contain new facts on that important event in Philippine histo ry but also introduce a new point of view quite different from that of the colonial his torians. These publications form part of the Philippine Studies Series of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Asian Studies. Also considered important are the series of basic studies and monographs in public ad ministration published under the auspices of the Institute of Public Administration and the series of studies on com munity problems undertaken by the Community Develop ment Research Council. Among the more important titles in the public administra tion studies series a^re The Bureaucracy in the ' Philip pines (1957), by O. D. Corpuz, and Focus on the Barrio (1960)> by J. V. Abueva. Ano ther noteworthy studies series are those of the Community Development Research Coun cil some of which have alrea dy been published. For its own part, the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines, within its own 42 Panorama modest resources and with subventions from Unesco, and from other sources, has been issuing occasional publica tions many of them the re sult of research undertaken either under its own auspices or by researchers or research groups not affiliated with it. Some of these studies are on anthropology, sociology, and education. This year being the centena ry of Jose Rizal, Filipino scho lar, writer, scientist, patriot, and martyr, there is nation wide interest in his life and works. During the last few years many studies — some competent, some not very competent — have been pub lished about his .writings. His more important works have been translated into many languages. New biographies have been written; his life or aspects of it have been depict ed in imaginative form of the novel, short story, and drama. Even his two novels. Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, are being rendered into a series of plays in order to enable the readers to “have a concrete and substantial pre sentation of what Rizal is try ing to communicate....” Some University of the Philippines professors, notably Ricardo R. Pascual, have done the most serious work in the analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of Rizal’s life and writings. Some valuable works on the life of the Filipinos before and in the early part of the Spanish conquest also deserve mention. I am referring to Wu Ching-hong’s Study of Refe rences to the Philippines in Chinese Sources from Earliest Times to the Ming Dynasty (1959), Carlos Quirino and Mauro Garcia’s The Manners, Customs, and Beliefs of the Philippine Inhabitants of Long Ago; Being Chapters of “A Late 16th Century Manila Ma nuscript”, Transcribed, Trans lated, and Annotated (1961), and Robert B. Fox’s The Calatagan Excavations: Two 15th Century Burial Sites in Batangas, Philippines (1959). These will throw more light on the still obscure period of the history of the culture of the Philippines before the coming of the Europeans. Aside from the continuing programs in public adminis tration and communtiy dev elopment, there are now un der way, in the University of the Philippines, two research projects being undertaken by the Institute of Asian Studies. One project is on the Philip pine experience during the American Colonial regime, which covers roughly fifty years of the national history, and the other is on the expe December 1961 43 rience of the whole nation from pre-historic time to the present. Regarding the first, the ob jective is fo obtain a clear and unified picture of the overall experience of the Fi lipino people under the Ame rican rule. The project will include the more important aspects of that regime, name ly, the * humanistic, the social, and the scientific and techno logical. It is believed that the fifty-year period immediately preceding the establishment of the Republic should be more thoroughly studied for a more adequate understand ing of the national develop ment. As for the second, the ur gency of an authoritative book of information on the country has long been felt. It is be lieved that a research and aca demic body like the Institute of Asian Studies is in a better position than any other entity, government or private, to pre pare such a book. There is no intention to make the work an official history of the Phil ippines. The books, parts of books, or chapters which will constitute the work will be published under the names of the actual writers of such pieces. Another commendable pro ject — a series of symposia on the culture of the Philip pines — lias been started by the UneSco National Com mission of the Philippines' with the cooperation of Unes co. The first of such sympo sia — also the first of the kind on a national scale — was held early this year..’ The working papers presented were not <-£ a uniformly high quality a id the panel discussions were not always carried on a scho'arly level, but on - the whole the symposium was rewarding, and there was a general con sensus among the par * cipants that other symposia of a simi lar nature be held in the fu ture. The proceedings and some of the working papers may yet be published in more permanent form. Also under way is an Inter national Congress on Rizal, under the auspices of the Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, which is schedul ed for the early part of De cember, 1961, and to which the most distinguished Rizal scholars both local and fo reign have been invited as participants. The theme of the Congress is: “Rizal: His Signixicarice to the Philippines and to the World.” The con ference has been divided into three working Commissions, of Science, Social Sciences, and Humanities, the three Commissions being further subdivided into Divisions to 44 Panorama take up in greater detail Rizal’s achievements in the va rious fields under the three great divisions of human knowledge. There is reason to expect that important addres ses will be delivered and scholarly working papers will be presented as basis for the discussiohs. Indispensable to all research work are bibliographical fa cilities, but bibliographical services in the Philippines have lwavs been sadly inadeqtlSlt. Aiter~tne publication oFTFie three-volume Aparato Bibliografico de la Historia General de Filipinas, by W. E. Retana, early in this centu ry, no concerted and serious effort has been made to take up the work where Retana left off. There are a number of separate efforts to improve facilities for the researcher and scholar, but these are scattered and naturally wide gaps or lacunae occur, and these become the despair of the researcher. Happily the Bibliographical Society of the Philippines and the Library of the University of the Phil ippines and some leading Fi lipino bibliographers are pool ing their resources together to improve bibliographical ser vices. The latest published ef fort of both institutions is a Checklist of Philippine Gov ernment Documents 1917-1949 (1960), which is a continua tion of a similar Checklist covering the years 1900-1917 and published as long ago as 1918. The Social Science Re search Center and the Insti tute of Asian Studies of the University of the Philippines have also published annotated bibliographies in the social sciences like sociology, poli tical science, and economics. Liberated only recently from almost four centuries of colonial rule, the Filipino peo ple cannot be expected, after a decade and a half of inde pendent national existence, to establish and maintain high standards of scholarship in Asian studies. For one thing the colonial mentality, the Western orientation, still are very much alive amongst most of the people. They under went a * horrifying experience during most of the Spanish rule, yet the Christianity that came with that rule has been influential towards orienting them to the Western or Europeo-American civilization. For another thing, their ex perience in their dealings with some of their neighbors has not been any too happy. The result is that very few Fili pino students are inclined to the study of Chinese and Ja panese. It is a pity consider ing the wonderful civilizations to which the Chinese and Ja December 1961 45 panese languages are a vital key. But time certainly will af ford the Filipinos the proper perspective and help them ad just their values to their new situation. They do not have to con^etely reject their past colonial experience; perhaps that experience might even be useful to their new role in the Asian world of today and tomorrow. They will utilise that which is usable of their past experience in the build ing of an independent and de mocratic national state and throw away that which is not usable. The University of the Phil ippines is playing an impor tant role in the reshaping of the destiny of the nation' dur ing these difficult years of transition to fuller self-reali zation. The various symposia and conferences held in con nection with the year-long ce lebration of its half-century of existence which took place only a few years ago helped crystallize the problems faced by the nation and helped fo cus its attention to possible solutions to them. The other universities have also tried to contribute to the same objec tive. For instance the Ateneo de Manila University, during the celebration of its cente nary in 1959, sponsored a con ference on higher Education and Philippine Culture. Among the . problems com fronting the nation is the irP provement of cultural rela tions with our neighbors on the mainland of Asia and in outlying archipelagoes. To wards this end the Univer sity of the Philippines, in con nection with its golden jubi lee and the inauguration of its eighth president, sponsored a conference of Asian univer sities on cultural cooperation. The objective of the con ference, according to Univer sity President - V. G. Sinco, was “to explore existing and potential avenues of cultural development within indivi dual participating nations of Asia and among the Asian countries as a whole, on the basis of a common heritage of indigenous culture and civ ilization.” An Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning had been organized earlier. The Philippine Historical Association, with subventions from the government of the Republic -.and from some foundations, sponsored an in ternational conference of his torians of Asia in Manila in November 1960. One of the good results of the conference was the organization of an In ternational Association of His torians of Asia, with a per manent secretariat in Manila. Some Filipino historians also (Continued on page 78) 46 Panorama . So far as the stories of Ja panese bridges go, one of the best known bridges in Japan is the Nihonbashi (Japan bridge), which was the start ing point of Tokaido (TokyoKyoto road) in olden days and today is the center of down town Tokyo. The history of this bridge tells of the history of bridge construction in the country. Originally a wooden bridge, it is now a steel and concrete structure beautifully decorated with bronze orna ments. “Oedo Nihonbashi” (Nihonbashi of the flowery RESEARCH... (Continued from page 46) attended another meeting of historians of Asia in Singa pore early this year. These conferences are only in addition to others more nu merous which have been held under the sponsorship of Unesco and other United Na tions. agencies, or organiza tions affiliated with it, on the national, regional, or inter-re gional levels. Their specific mention is only an illustra tion of the efforts of men of capital of Edo), as it is called in folk songs, has been rebuilt several times, recruiting the latest engineering skill of the period. There are 126,700 bridges in Japan, with a total length of 16,720,000 kilometers. They represent the tradition of old Japanese culture and the af fection the people entertain for time-honored architectu ral beauty. But large wooden bridges are gradually bowing out of public view, with the rapidly increasing availability of steel and concrete. DEAD LANGUAGE ... (Continued from page 74) plicated language has recent ly been deciphered. As a re sult, it is expected that stu dies on Hsi-Hsia will be ad vanced in the future, parti cularly in the field of EastWest contact through Central Asia in the Middle Ages. goodwill from all lands to wards greater mutual under standing among them through education. ♦ ♦ ♦ One Lady—Why do you want to get divorced? Another—Because Pm married. 78 Panorama