Abstract
What does the invented notion of a culturally unencumbered sovereign self, now the default understanding of human subjectivity in the discourse of modernity, have to do with the question of sustainability? This paper proposes that the uninterrogated presumption of the “individual” as the basic unit of human society lies at the root of our ecological crisis and augurs ill for any possibility of transforming the present global order towards a culture of sustainability. Coming from a homeland context where a very different conception of human being has continued to militate—often to incongruous consequences—against the modern bureaucratic imperative seeking to reconstitute Filipino “self” and “society” within liberalism’s norm of individual rights and responsibility, this paper aims to turn the analytic gaze on individualism’s exclusive claim to define “proper” human subjecthood using “kapwa”—a Tagalog term for “shared being” found resonant across the Philippine archipelago’s diverse ethnolinguistic communities (with counterparts in other indigenous cultures around the globe)—as a counter-mirror. Using insights from decolonial, critical-historical, and indigenous literature, its aim is to unpack the deep ramifications of these contrasting definitions of human subjectivity for alternative ways of responding to such questions as: What does it mean to be a human being? What is the good life? What lifeways are truly sustainable? And more.
Presenters
S. Lily MendozaProfessor, Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations, Oakland University, Michigan, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Unseen Unsustainability: Addressing Hidden Risks to Long-Term Wellbeing for All
KEYWORDS
Individualism, Subjectivity, Filipino Kapwa, Sustainable Culture, Indigenous, Decolonial
