Podcast: Code Switch – The Utang Clan
Utang na loob is the Filipino concept of an eternal debt to others, be it family or friends, who do a favor for you. It goes back to pre-colonial times in the Philippines, and can pass from one generation to another. And some Filipino-Americans want to do away with utang all together, especially when it butts up against “American” values of independence and self-reliance. On this week’s episode, we break down this “debt of the inner soul” — and discover a surprising side to this value.
Blurb for Episode: The Utang Clan by Code Switch
This episode, we’re talking about this notion called utang na loob. It’s a Filipino virtue, value, ideal that literally translates to debt of the inner self – so soul, basically. And Malaka is here because she feels some type of way about this perpetual inner debt and its implications for her life, and it turns out a lot of young Filipinos like her feel the same way.
Gene Demby, Co-host/Correspondent, Code Switch
Utang na loob is kind of a tricky topic for a lot of Filipino Americans. On the surface, it feels like an issue about boundaries and obligations. But when you dig a little deeper, it becomes more existential.
Malaka Gharib, Digital Editor, Life Kit
We are forced to make decisions. Do we subscribe to Western values of individualism and independence? Or do we adhere to Filipino values of interdependence and connectedness?
E.J. David, Author of “Brown Skin, White Minds“
These ideas of, you know, I’m a self-made man, you know, again, which is a reflection of this individualistic worldview, which is, you know, very different from the Filipino worldview and really the worldview the majority of the world – really the nonwhite worldview of collectivism and being connected to each other.
E.J. David, Author of “Brown Skin, White Minds“
Scholars aren’t sure when it started, but they believe it’s a core precolonial value of the Indigenous peoples of the lands now known as the Philippines. Back in the 1950s, Charles Kaut at the University of Chicago studied utang na loob. It’s a way for people to take care of each other, to protect each other from poverty, danger, outsiders, and to hold each other accountable. By upholding your end of the exchange, that’s how you show care to people in your community.
Malaka Gharib, Digital Editor, Life Kit
Well, the person who is owed this utang also has a responsibility to the person who owes the debt, and part of that responsibility means not taking advantage of them. It means you’re both looking out for each other. So kapwa is the connection that Filipinos have to each other, a kinship that you and me are equal. And in Tagalog, walang kapwa means you don’t have that.
Malaka Gharib, Digital Editor, Life Kit
That’s the worst person in the Filipino worldview because once you’re walang kapwa or you’re accused of having walang kapwa, then you really – that means that you’re – you cease being a person. You cease being a human.
E.J. David, Author of “Brown Skin, White Minds“
At least the way that I understand utang na loob, it is this, you know, sense of connection and responsibility to other people, right? Understanding that I did not get to where I am – like, as successful as I might be, I did not get here by myself. I think that’s important for many of us to understand. Like, you know, this country – we worship, quote-unquote, self-made millionaires or self-made billionaires. In the Filipino worldview, you cannot be self-made anything. The world is going to be a much better place if we stop seeing ourselves as these, you know, super-independent people because we are connected. We are interdependent.
E.J. David, Author of “Brown Skin, White Minds“