In the Philippines, amok is often viewed as a form of homicidal behaviour to which Muslim Filipino or Moro men are prone. Various assumptions about contemporary Filipino perceptions of amok are challenged in this thesis. It is assumed that this perception corresponds with the actual occurrence of amok in the Philippines, and this is challenged by the demonstration that the perception is merely a construct. The perception of amok is assumed to be the culmination of attempts by Spaniards, Americans and Filipinos to discern the true nature of amok, and this is challenged by the fact that discrepancies exist between recognition of amok by the Spanish on one hand and the Americans and Christian Filipinos on the other. It is argued that contemporary Filipino understanding of amok is the product of two factors: the American drive to acquire information about Filipinos that would enable them to control their newly acquired subjects, and the conflict between Americans and Filipinos generated by this attempt at control. The association of amok with Muslim Filipinos is the outcome of the mistaken conflation of amok with the juramentado convention of the Moros, and the idea that the Muslim Filipinos were the most Malay of the Malay ‘subraces’ in the Philippines and thus most likely to run amok. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/235699 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Ugarte, Eduardo F., University of Western Sydney, School of Cultural Histories and Futures |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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