Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Kansulay revisited
I am re-reading James Hamilton-Paterson's excellent dissection of Philippine culture and the Marcoses, America's Boy (Unusually for Amazon.com, the reviews on this book are equally thoughtful and well-written). I'm sure I've written this before, but his pen is sympathetic and his descriptions of rural life in the Philippines ring true. Being a city boy myself, I only really absorbed a lot of probinsya influences when I started dating Van. Manila really is an imperium in imperio, a kingdom unto itself. Hamilton-Paterson spent years in the isolation of an anonymous Luzon village he calls Kansulay. His descriptions of the primitive standards of living entangled with the unbelievably complex social waters are completely believable and compelling. Van and I fell in love with this book the first time we read it; now it's like a comforting reminder of home.
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Unfortunately, with all the traveling round we plan to do this year, it's looking less and less likely that I'll come home before Christmas. It's strange knowing this is the longest I've ever been away. I always say this, but I feel as though the connections to who I am are growing stronger and weaker at the same time. Like the henna tattoo I got from Dubai, sometimes it feels like I've washed away a part of me, a skin of superficial attachment to an idea of home that, maybe, I left a very long time ago. Not the happiest thought, is it?
Labels: books, philippines, random stuff
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