Treading the Borders Between Sanity, Magic, and Reality - A Review of Borderline

Borderline by Mishell Baker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the Philippines, we grow up hearing tales of the supernatural - and not in the same way as our Western counterparts. Oh, to be sure, we grow up hearing all the same fairytales and watching all the same Disney movies as Western children do, but alongside those stories, we hear stories of another sort. These are the stories we hear from our grandparents (if we are lucky enough to have them nearby), or from our nannies or other members of the household help (for those who are lucky to have them). Sometimes we hear them from our aunts or uncles, or from playmates and classmates who, in their turn, heard them from other people in their lives. It is from these stories that we learn to be cautious of balete trees (genus Ficus), and to say “Tabi-tabi po” (translated: “Please step aside”) when passing by a termite mound or crossing a grassy field. It is from these stories that we learn to turn our shirts inside-out if we get lost, and to walk faster if we hear a crying baby while out and about alone at night. Incidentally, these beliefs do not in any way conflict with the prevailing Christian practice in the country; instead, they cohabit quite comfortably, side-by-side, in the Filipino mindset.

Things are different in the West. If one professes a belief in, say, fairies beyond a certain age, one is bound to be considered “crazy”, with subsequent reactions depending upon whether or not that “craziness” is viewed with tolerable fondness or otherwise. This is not to say that belief in the supernatural is considered acceptable by all people in the Philippines, but the acceptability of such beliefs depends more upon class and social status (i.e. such beliefs are considered more “prevalent” in people who are from more rural areas and/or belong to a lower socio-economic class, but supposedly less so in the urbanised, Western-thinking upper class) than on a person’s mental state. In the Philippines, belief in the supernatural is considered a symptom of inadequate education and/or poor socio-economic standing; in the West, it is generally considered a reflection of a person’s mental state.

( Read more... )