An Inheritance that Cannot be Stolen: Schooling, Kinship, and Personhood in Post-1945 Central Philippines

By pursuing a capacious understanding of inheritance, this article examines how kinship and personhood propel, and are altered by, schooling. It thus foregrounds kinship and personhood’s transformative and historical dimensions, while considering complexity and unevenness. It describes how the post-1945 generation in the central Philippines considers schooling (edukasyon) as their inheritance from their parents who had little or no educational credentials. This view reflects edukasyon’s increased value after the war, the simultaneous judgment and emulation of the old landed elite, and the salience and elaboration of hierarchical parent-child ties. Alongside this view, children are recognized as completing, redeeming, and compensating for, their parents. Likewise, edukasyon is acknowledged as requiring personal striving, but also solidarity and sacrifices among siblings. Yet, edukasyon fosters autonomy, at times creating breaks in kinship ties. Finally, as an inheritance, edukasyon depends on, and generates, inequality, with long-term, intergenerational implications.