'Brains of the Nation': Resil Mojares' groundbreaking new book

The storied beginnings that shaped the present-day Filipino Intellectual are the subject of the latest groundbreaking book of Cebuano fictionist, critic and historian Dr. Resil Mojares.

Entitled Brains of the Nation, the book was unveiled at the Ateneo De Manila University in Manila late last year, and most recently, at the University of San Carlos, here in Cebu.

Mojares has authored over a dozen books on Philippine history, literature, culture and politics, and for this latest book of his, he told The Freeman that Brains of the Nation concerns "the history of the development of the Filipino intelligentsia… and the history of the development of Filipino intellectuals in the 19th Century."

Grounded in absorbing details and analysis, Brains of the Nation is a rich read that covers the breadth of the lives and works of three pioneering intellectuals Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera and Isabelo de los Reyes, who Mojares calls his "three figures of Filipino enlightenment." According to the book, they formed part of the generation that birthed the "self-consciousness of the Filipino nation." Brains of the Nation is sure to be read and consulted for many years.

Mojares, whose last book prior to Brains of the Nation was Waiting for Mariang Makiling: Essays in Philippine Cultural History (2002), said that he worked on the book for roughly three years, with most of the work accomplished while on a fellowship at the National University of Singapore.

"I was always interested in the emergence of the Filipino intellectual. And the idea of writing it came years ago, but it was only these past few years that I was able to work on it," he explained.

"For this book, I looked into the generation of Jose Rizal. The book is focused on Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera and Isabelo de los Reyes because aside from Jose Rizal, they were the most prolific authors, writing articles and publishing newspapers," he added.

Unlike Jose Rizal who is "the best-studied in his generation," these three men have been largely glossed over, if not forgotten, despite their productivity. Mojares thus acknowledged in the preface of his book. "There is a need for a biographical archive since these three men are obscured figures whose careers have not been fully studied and whose works are now mostly unread," he wrote.

Here are some excerpts from his book.

Of Pedro Paterno: "He is the first Filipino anthropologist… To a greater degree than Rizal… Paterno self-consciously attempted the systematic application of enthological science to Philippine culture… Trained in the scholastic arts of theology and law, Paterno-the merchant's son who aspired to be a prince-was a theorizer and a dilletante."

Of T.H. Pardo de Tavera: "From the time he published his first book in 1884 to his death in 1925, T.H. Pardo de Tavera tirelessly applied himself to the life of the mind. He published some sixteen books and pamphlets, delivered lectures and wrote numerous articles on language, history, medicine and current social issues. Jose Rizal is reported to have remarked that, for his linguistic works, T.H. Pardo de Tavera deserved to appear ahead of him in encyclopedias of intellectual achievement."

Of Isabelo de los Reyes: "He was the country's most unorthodox intellectual. Energetic and erratic, Isabelo de los Reyes waged a campaign against Spanish and American rule; was incarcerated in Manila's central prison and Barcelona's infamous Montjuich Castle; consorted with anarchists and socialists; established a rebel church; and founded the Philippine labor movement. A prodigious pamphleteer, he wrote on diverse topics in history, folklore, language, politics and religion. He was as fecund in his private life…married thrice and sired 27 children. He is reported to have said: There is enough chaos in me for God to create another world."

When asked to react that the book might come across as too scholarly and "intellectual," Mojares has this to say: "In the broadest sense, every one is an intellectual because when you define an intellectual it's somebody who produces knowledge. People whose job or profession is to produce and disseminate knowledge-like writers, teachers, priests, journalists-or just about anyone who has to do with spreading knowledge or creating new knowledge is an intellectual. So the book should be of interest to anyone who is involved in producing and circulating knowledge."

The founding director of the Cebuano Studies Center and former editor of San Carlos Publications, Mojares, who was conferred the title of professor emeritus by the University of San Carlos last year, continues to lecture and publish even after retirement.

Mojares would be the first to tell interviewers to rather concentrate on the book than give attention to the personality responsible for its being, but the little details he has willingly given out himself revealed that this son of teachers was born in Dipolog, Zamboanga, but lived most of his life here in Cebu. And that history wasn't even his field.

To keep him out of trouble (he underwent detention during Martial Law for his work as a young journalist), he was mentored into a career in anthropology. But the budding academician got redirected after securing a fellowship in comparative literature. He eventually earned his Ph.D. from the University of the Philippines.

His career had since been deeply rooted in the academe, with his involvement in teaching, research and writing spanning more than three decades, accentuated with grants and research fellowships (Ford, Toyota and Rockfeller, Fullbright, etc.) and prestigious awards including the Grant Goodman Prize in Philippine History from the Association for Asian Studies, the Most Outstanding Individual from the Cebu City Government, a Catholic Mass Media Award, Gawad Pambasang Alagad ni Balagtas and the Centennial Award for the Arts from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, among others.

"Brains of the Nation: Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Isabelo de los Reyes and the Production of Modern Knowledge" is sold in local bookstores and at the Cebuano Studies Center, USC-Main Campus.