Elites and Ilustrados in Philippine Culture

This book examines how Filipino literature has intervened in the intellectual and popular debates on the historical origins ascendancy power and legitimacy of the elites. Writers like Jose Rizal Nick Joaquin Ninotchka Rosca Miguel Syjuco and Ramon Guillermo are unsparing in their criticisms of elite authorship of the Philippines' past and the present woes while seeking to recuperate the critical stance represented by Ilustrado. The book highlights a number of figures- "the middle sector" or "middle element" in Manila and othe rurban areas, Manila men and musicians, overseas Filipino workers, intellectuals, and Fil-foreigners- whose emergence as social forces points to the ongoing redefinition of the elites and the transformation of the Philippine society, politics and economy.