Philippine Folk Literature - As An Example of Southeast Asian Folklore

As An Example of Southeast Asian Folklore

Since it comes from a Southeast Asian nation, Philippine folk literature can be counted as a representative of Southeast Asian folklore. This is not a simple categorization, however, for two important reasons.

First, Southeast Asia as a distinct cultural region was not recognized until the political environment after the Second World War.

Second, even as the idea of a Southeast Asia was being conceived, the inclusion of the Philippines in the region was consistently in debate because of its very different cultural makeup.

Setting those two objections aside, Philippine Folk Literature would be considered a subset of the folklore of peninsular Southeast Asia, which includes the folklore of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. This would be distinct from the folk literature of continental Southeast Asia, which includes Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and others. The distinction roots from the geographical influence on the cultures arising from these countries.

Like all of Southeast Asia, however, whether peninsular or continental, Philippine Folk Literature shows strong cultural influences from India.

A major difference however, arises from the colonial influences in the development of Southeast Asian folk literature. The Philippines' 300 years of Spanish rule makes it unique, enough to earn the title of "a piece of Latin America in Southeast Asia."