"Within These Walls: The Legacy of Spanish Colonial Identity in Manila’s Walled City" by Matthew Zafra.

Within the walls of Manila’s Intramuros, the original Spanish settlement, the Spanish colonial influence onto the nation and people persists through Intramuros’ continued usage and significance to the modern city; through ethnography and archaeology, this study aims to analyze modes through which the Filipino people and government interact with and represent their history and identity. I hope to examine the conflict between everyday functional uses of the site by its inhabitants, the traditional, bygone uses of an elite class, and the increasing gentrification, as mediated by the management of and renovation by the Intramuros Administration. Pedestrian surveys, questionnaires, archival research, and interviews with key governmental agencies and community advocates will address questions about the continued role and importance of Intramuros in terms of its spatial and cultural legitimacy to modern Filipino identity. This approach to a study of Intramuros drives understanding into the inner workings not only of Manila the city, but that of the people themselves in relation to their past, their government, and their presentation to the world at large.

INTRODUCTION
Modern archaeological interpretation has recently begun to place more attention on the everyday lives within societies rather than only focusing on the monuments that they build. From this stance, we can understand the legacy of monuments not as remnants, but as living representations and influences on modern society. My research will look at Intramuros, the original Spanish settlement in the heart of Manila. Indeed, as a monument, the physical presence of Intramuros and its relevance and restoration today indicates a governmental, regional, and cultural significance of the site beyond its geographical constraints. Intramuros may indeed be an example of the imposition and reiteration of the 350 years of Spanish colonial rule long after independence. My methods will engage research in archaeology and anthropology to understand the ways that local Filipinos interact with and represent their history. The recent restoration efforts at an understudied site such as Intramuros also present an opportunity to reflect on Filipino identity formation and a long—running power struggle for the character of the space itself. As Michel Foucault writes, "A whole history remains to be written about spaces— which would at the same time be the history of powers… from the great strategies of geopolitics to the little tactics of the habitat" (Foucault 1980:14).

PROPOSAL

In this project, I intend to explore how the government, through the Intramuros Administration, represents Filipino identity through the colonial monuments of Intramuros, and how has this changed and affected the everyday lives of people within Intramuros, and the Filipino people as a whole? What is the importance of Intramuros, designated as a "History Town," to the urban image of Manila itself? Given that the government’s restoration and renovation is a relatively recent and intentional phenomenon, what hierarchies select the dominant narratives to be expressed and represented, and whose experiences are swept under the proverbial rug? Further, I hope to explore the motives behind community organizations such as the Heritage Conservation Society, which aims to support the "conservation and rehabilitation of the historical patrimony" in Intramuros as a means of "forging a strong national identity" (Harper). This is a movement by the elite to preserve iconic, Spanish Intramuros. Thus, I also explore the authenticity of representation and its relevance to the present.

Current representations of colonial structures may suggest modes of hegemony long thought defeated that may still be at work in the government and society at large. Anthropologists, such as Ann Laura Stoler in her study, Carnal Knowledge of Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule, argue how colonialism is contingent upon racial hierarchies and conceptions. Using Stoler’s model, Intramuros is then a racialized space and gives insight into the experiences of both the rulers and the residents. For instance, historian Robert Reed identifies Intramuros as a symbol of the beginning of Spain’s "radical social, religious, and cultural transformation" of the Philippines (Reed 1978:11), and arguably, this transformation continues today. This carefully planned walled city, imposing its foreign governance, architecture, and design, made definitive changes to the progress of the Philippines as an urbanizing nation. In particular, Daniel Doeppers calls Intramuros at its conception an opportunity for Spain to "experiment with urban design on a scale unknown since Roman times" (Doeppers 1972:775), after having already honed such skills with previous colonial settlements in the New World. Further, historian Robert Reed deems Intramuros the "Spanish urban ideal" (Reed 1978:70). To Spanish and Filipinos alike, Reed calls Intramuros "the politico—religious nerve center of the archipelago and the material symbol of Spanish authority [and]… the military stronghold, the seat of government, the womb of the Catholic faith, and the exclusive residential quarter of the Spaniards" (Reed 1978:51). But even though by the 1860s the greater city, Metro Manila emerges in importance over what Reeds calls "the ultraconservative, traditional concept of Intramuros," to this day the Walled City still exemplifies the urban image of a historical Manila presented to the world through government programs to designate it as the Philippine heritage site.

Through the government’s recent involvement in the development of Intramuros as a prided cultural and historical icon, Intramuros still represents an "urban ideal." There are many connotations for Filipino identity— racial, social, and cultural— resulting from the lasting impressions and structures from its colonial past. Given Intramuros’ function as the "nerve center" of colonial Philippines, an analysis of its present role in society may address the nature of Filipino identity throughout its subjugation. The work done by historians has traced much of the colonial legacy to Intramuros, particularly conceptions of identity, the urban ideal, and its glorified past and heritage. The urban image frames the experience of visitors, foreign and domestic alike, to a city. Theorists on the urban image, such as Diane Favro, characterize the urban image as "always in a state of becoming" (Favro 1996:248). Theorists on the Philippines such as Doeppers, Borromeo and Pernia, have argued about the primary role of huge metropolises in developing countries, such as Manila, as crucial and definitive of the cultural, political and social constructions of the country. Such "primate" cities, often holding the great bulk of the country’s population, are important structures for analysis. Intramuros, then, at the heart of Manila, contributes to the image Manila and the country as well. Intramuros as the "History Town" is billed as the very roots of Manila’s founding; we may find meaning of the legacy of Hispanization in the Philippines as it is constructed and presented through the urban image of Intramuros.

My work seeks to understand the changes and persistence of this influence, and the complicity of government, popular, and foreign perceptions in this regard. A visitor to rustic and quaint Intramuros would find it not immune to hastily—swept evidence of poverty, but still in glaring contrast to the bustling traffic and squalor of much of Metropolitan Manila. "Modern cities have consciously labored to recapture the potency of a favored urban image from their past long after the historical physical environment has been lost" (Favro 1996:2), which is certainly the case in Intramuros. A focus on romantic Intramuros may ignore or conceal the realities of poverty and crowdedness in the rest of Manila. Further, Filipinos live and work amongst a Spanish setting, and, even as Spain has been officially absent, it is conspicuously present in the names of buildings and streets, widespread religious iconography, looming military structures, and even people’s surnames and the time and date. While the destruction of Intramuros from World War II shelling presented an opportunity for change, the government has chosen instead to renovate Intramuros back to reflect its Spanish foundation. The bureaucracy is careful to maintain the illusion of the weight of a history and tradition even as it may be irrelevant to the majority of lives in the Philippines. While the rest of Manila is given to sprawl and slums, Intramuros can be a space where the bureaucratic bodies can carefully "program" people’s interaction with the cityscape (Favro 1996:247). Yet, while Intramuros represents Philippine colonialism, there still remain unseen avenues for the expression of the diligence and solidarity of Filipino identity even as it has been vastly shaped by Spanish rule.

SIGNIFICANCE

Academic work regarding Intramuros has focused on historical accounts of politics and socioeconomic demographics. While these works account for changing social patterns as the city of Manila grew in size and significance around Intramuros, they insufficiently represent the individual experience. Archaeological work is supervised entirely by government agencies; thus, findings are subject to editing to fit iconographic displays of the militaristic and colonial life of the Spaniards and mestizos. An example would be the displays of artifacts at Casa Manila, a recreated house depicting the life of a Spanish illustrado during the 18th century. My intent is to expose and address some of the issues about the uses of space, and its implications for cultural identity, by understanding the individual experience and including those who live and work in the fissures and cracks, those unrecognized by bureaucratic and political dialogue. Previous studies have not yet taken into account the more recent increased government involvement in the presentation of Intramuros and their control over its material visual history. Moreover, most of the research on Intramuros comes before the wave of restoration that has occurred in conjunction with increased government involvement. We are now at the point of development where it would be timely to reevaluate the uses of space in a reconstructed Intramuros. My work will build on the first wave of colonial studies produced by Western—educated scholars, and incorporates a study of architectural space and uses of space in addition to elaborating on the resistance narratives of both the urban poor and the conservative elite.

The Philippines has long wrestled with distinguishing its identity from a dynamic and deep—seated cultural amalgamation of racial and ethnic influences— Chinese, Spanish, American, Malay— in blood composition as well as in culture. Aside from the churches widespread throughout the provinces, Intramuros does not correspond with much of Metro Manila’s changes since colonial times. The Western styles and businesses, shantytowns, and congested streets of Manila suggest not a Spanish ambience but a neocolonial Third World one. The case of Intramuros is essentially the dominant approach by the government to represent its Spanish history. Both the resistance and restoration in this regard can help measure changes in how national and cultural identities are consciously negotiated. While the ubiquitous Catholic faith represents one lasting legacy of Spanish influence, the Filipinos maintained linguistic and other subversive modes of cultural independence besides armed opposition. In the right lens, we can gleam these modes historically, culturally, and archaeologically. While much of academia has focused on the revolutionaries who used their Western educations and lifestyles to undermine their Western oppressors from within, perhaps future research can elaborate on the resistance narratives of the urban poor and the general populace during these times. While Intramuros represents a glorified and preserved past imposed by Spanish rule in much of the scholarly work done on the Philippines as cited above, it may be rather a living relic of the diligence and resolution of the Filipinos throughout their suppression. Thus, this study contributes to ideas about Filipino heritage and identity and the conflicts between state power and local agency. The results may establish a baseline from which we can look at other cases in the Philippines to better grasp the complex and often exploited Filipino spirit. This project however, has larger anthropological significance that makes it a case not unique to the Philippines. Through this study, we can look at ways that heritage and monuments are part of a continued representation of identities that are actively produced, and sometimes coerced, throughout time and history. This project also strives for a holistic approach beyond disciplinary boundaries, in engaging both anthropology and archaeology to address this issue of cultural production. From this local phenomenon, we can perhaps extrapolate insight into much broader categories of contemporary identity formation in a colonized and colonizing world.