Philippine E-Journals

Deux Ex Populo: Timeless Counter-hegemonic Characterization and Discourse in Jose

David Michael M. San Juan

 

Abstrak:

Amidst the official glorification of Jose Rizal’s writings, a number of scholars tend to focus on the petty details of the national hero’s life. Substance is sacrificed at the altar of popularization and wanton mass consumption of bogus Rizaliana. His writings are seldom invoked to contextualize the social problems of contemporary society in academic articles, thereby diluting the power of his counter-hegemonic thought.

This paper analyzes the contribution of Jose Rizal’s literary masterpiece to the endeavor of building a culture of counter-hegemony through the counter-hegemonic characterization and discourse in his first novel Noli Me Tangere. A contextualized and indigenized Marxist approach was utilized to effectively scrutinize the counter-hegemonic thought in Rizal’s first novel. Pertinent contemporary events and personages were tackled side-by-side with the national hero’s musings to emphasize the continuing

relevance of his social criticism even in this complex era of globalization.