Referring to the readings and lectures, discuss one of the following aspects of pre-colonial society with relation to social hierarchy:

• Slavery
• Trading/Raiding/Feasting
• Bodily appearance

Why do you think this aspect featured prominently in pre-colonial society? (100-150 words)

Here is the Sample Initial Post (145 words):

I think the novels of Jose Rizal show a great disdain for the corruption of Philippine society, government, and economy. The main hero in his stories is a model of the expanding middle class who is educated but stymied by the status quo as he struggles to make improvements that benefit the majority rather than the ruling minority. If Rizal had not been executed in 1896, I think he would have continued to be a political force through his writings as global awareness of the dishonesty in his homeland began to grow. There would have been outside pressure by way of trade and alliances to help encourage a fairer distribution of policies for Filipinos. Many middle-class Filipinos would have contributed to large-scale grass-roots revolution that would have forced more permanent changes to how government and economics work by way of fostering home-grown education and talent.

file:///Users/ceciliannnn/Downloads/Abinales%20and%20Amoroso,%20state-and-society-in-the-philippines.pdf (pp 27-40)

file:///Users/ceciliannnn/Downloads/L01-Scott-Barangay-1994.pdf