Folklore Kasi! Unpopular Folklore and Popular Culture

Michael L. Tan is currently a full professor at the Department of Anthropology of the University of the Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (UP CSSP) in Diliman. Tan is perhaps better known for his twice-a-week column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer titled "Pinoy Kasi!"(loose translation: Because he or she is Filipino) where he analyzes mainly Philippine culture. He started writing the column in May 1997. Quoting from the Pinoy Kasi! website (http:// pinoykasi. homestead. com), Tan in his first column article "proposed a middle way of looking at Filipino culture, avoiding one extreme of a protracted Lenten self-flagellation that could see nothing good in the Filipino, but also being mature enough to talk about our faults and how those weaknesses, quirks... actually add to life's variety." Almost 12 years ago, he thought that the phrase "Pinoy kasi"best described the "middle way", given that the phrase was normally said by Filipinos in despair, exasperation, and shame. He hoped, however, that it would be more often "said in awe, wonder and pride". In this interview conducted on March 28, 2008 at the Gender, Health, and Sexuality Office of U.P. Diliman, Tan discusses folklore in the context of popular culture and explains the irony of its unpopularity among Filipinos. He also shares his views on the role of folklore in social development and how media organizations and educational institutions generally treat it.