Searching for an Authentic Filipino Voice: F. Sionil Jose's Dusk

The space that I inhabit is not my own. It is a space that shifts: where imperial and native cultures mingle, where traditions of the past and imaginings of the future coalesce in the present, where a sense of belonging eludes definitive place. As a Filipino American, I empathize with this problem of identity that many students experience. In our increasingly diverse classrooms, Dusk is an excellent choice, for it invites inquiry on race, religion, gender, and power-F. Sionil Jose addresses the complex nature of identity.

Set during the end of the nineteenth century, Dusk is the fifth novel that tells the story of the Rosales family. F. Sionil Jose is one of the most eminent writers of the Philippines. Dusk underscores the challenge of the subaltern: the search for an authentic voice. The postcolonial voice is one of intersection and juxtaposition: where past, present, and future collide, where the displaced search to find both a real and ideal homeland, and where the imperialist ideology and native sensibility compete for space and dominance within the heart, mind, and soul of the subaltern and the land itself.

The physical journey is resplendent with archetypal imagery - students will find Jose's use of monomythic elements intriguing. I ask my students to consider what is "universal" versus "particular," specific to culture or era. The hero Istak, obedient and innocuous, is called upon a journey that takes him from his humble town through the jungle in search of freedom and salvation. After his father kills a Spanish priest to avenge his family's suffering, Istak must reconsider his loyalties.

Dusk demands analysis of how the self is constructed. Opposing ideologies are evidenced in the duality of Istak's conscience. Istak embodies the dual forces competing for ownership of a land and its people: the imperialist Catholic dogma of the Spanish and the emerging Filipino nationalist identity. He is an acolyte who served Padre Jose for 10 years, and his subservience to Spanish rule and Catholic authority rules his place. The image of Padre Jose represents the ideal of the beneficent imperialist-one who has saved the Filipinos from themselves. That the postcolonial self that is "other" occupies no real space is the problem of existence.

The novel closes with a letter from an American soldier, denoting the shift to American colonization. Classes discuss America's international presence, both past and present. Analysis of American political and cultural influence, which includes both positive and negative consequences, engages students.

How does one achieve a cohesive sense of self amid competing cultures, languages, faiths, or ideologies? Opportunities abound for students to make connections to their own lives. The novel enhances student understanding of the marginalized or the amorphous state of the displaced. An authentic postcolonial identity must reject "otherness" and claim ownership of real space and place. Dusk fosters meaningful discussions of race, identity, religion, and gender roles in its colonial context and our postcolonial world.