Harvard University is finally offering a course on Tagalog!
According to student paper Harvard Crimson on March 24, this will be the first time for the university to offer a Tagalog language course. Before the introduction of this course, there was only one other course about the Philippines at Harvard, which is part of a survey course of the history of Southeast Asia.
For Harvard Philippine Forum Co-President Eleanor Wikstrom, it was about time the institution recognized Filipinos through their language after it went over 120 years without it. Other Southeast Asian languages like Bahasa Indonesia and Thai are already being taught at Harvard. Meanwhile, the paper noted that Tagalog is the fourth most spoken language in the U.S.
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“The hiring of a Tagalog preceptor is a necessary first step; it is also just one instantiation in a legacy made of instantiations, one novel articulation in a century-long speech. So while I am undeniably elated by the news of Tagalog’s offering, I refuse to celebrate Harvard for a legacy it has yet to remake," Wikstrom wrote in her opinion piece.
Regardless, Wikstrom said the addition of Tagalog in Harvard's roster of language programs is still a welcome move for the Filipino community on campus.
“Instead, I celebrate those who made this current moment possible—those who have been gradually drowning out Harvard’s systematic white noise by speaking alternate tongues of resistance all along."
International universities with Tagalog courses
Wikstrom wasn’t wrong when she said Harvard took long enough to adopt a Filipino course. Before Harvard, there were already several American colleges and universities that offer Philippine-related studies on the language and culture of the country, such as:
- University of Washington – Tagalog
- University of California San Diego – Heritage Filipino
- College of Mount Saint Vincent – Minor in Philippine Studies
- California State University – Minor in Filipino and Filipino American Studies
- Cornell University – History of Philippine Studies
- University of Michigan – Philippine Studies
- George Washington University – Filipinx American History
- University of Pennsylvania – Filipino
- University of California – Minor in Pilipino Studies
- University of Hawaii - Bachelor of Arts in Philippine Language and Literature
Outside the U.S., the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany has had a Philippine Studies Program in place since 2020.
The Moscow State University has Filipino among its four alternative languages offered at the MSU Institute of Asia and Africa. Language Professor Ekterina Baklanova claimed they have been holding Filipino classes since 1957.
The Tupper Secondary School in East Vancouver will also be offering a course on Filipino language and culture starting School Year 2023—a first in British Columbia.
* This story originally appeared on Spot.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Preview.ph editors.
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