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Affect and History in Ninotchka Rosca’s
State of War
11
encounter with force relations in the environment. The idea of
subject of becoming or affective subject is particularly relevant to
colonial and postcolonial conditions in the Philippines, for the
Filipino identity is hard to come by given the constant change of
rules and multiple dominations in any given historical period.
Filipino-American cultural critics such as Nick Joaquin and
Campomanes have observed that under the circumstances of
manifold colonization and exiles, the Filipino identity can be at
best “recognize[d] as a ceaseless process of Philippine-
becoming
[not Filipino
being
]” (as cited in Gonzalez & Campomanes, 1997:
85; emphases in the original). While the term “Philippine-
becoming” seems to address the lack of a stable identity for
Filipinos, it might well be taken as a condition for the production
of affective subjects who respond to the crisis of history and
improvise strategies of living in the historical present. The
condition of colonization, the constant change of rules by different
colonial powers and native resistance constitute forces in the milieu
that demand frequent and immediate responses from affective
subjects who are forced to become otherwise as they respond to,
and adapt themselves to, the crisis in the historical present. The
feelings of shame, fear, and betrayal can hence be seen as forces
that provide the subjects with an impetus to become otherwise.
II. Colonial Shame and the Resurgence of the
Babaylan
Taking my cue from Berlant and cultural theories of affect,
this paper will examine the affective history of the nation in
State
of War
through an investigation of the linkages among the
historical events, imperial intimate encounters, and the formation
of the affective subjects.
State of War
synchronizes the present, the
prehistory, and the colonial history by means of charting the family
sagas of the three major characters, Adrian Banyaga, Anna
Villaverde, and Eliza Hansen, during the Marcos regime, whose