The Eye of the Fish

Cultural Writing. Asian American Studies. "Eye of the Fish" is a deft, luminously intelligent examination of the Philippines that crosscuts between Francia's recollections of the Philippines of his youth and accounts of his travels though the archipelago over the past two decades. The Philippines that Francia explores is a country indelibly marked by both Spanish and American colonialism, a collection of over 7,000 islands where cultural alliances and political ideology have pushed aside identity politics, and where traditional beliefs both mimic and subvert conventional Christian piety.