The Kuya in Selected Filipino Storybooks: ‘Subordinate Storylines’ of Male Characters in Narratives of Adversities

Abstract

In many storybooks in the Philippines, the presence of a sibling is a commonplace in writing the child protagonist's world. More specifically, the kuya, which is the Filipino term for older brother, is a male character that can influence the child protagonists. In this chapter, my goal is to analyse the positionalities of the kuya as male characters in four storybooks from the Philippines that feature the bond between a younger child and the older brother/s. These storybooks are Salo-Salo Para Kay Kuya (A Feast for Big Brother), Sandosenang Kuya (A Dozen Big Brothers), Ang Kuya Kong Zombie (My Big Brother Zombie) and Ang Misteryo ng Patong-Patong na Damit ni Hulyan (The Mystery Behind Hulyan's Layered Clothes).

Through this chapter, I aim to theorise the roles that male characters play vis-à-vis their relationships with their younger siblings. The male characters' narrative journeys, character developments and roles in the context of the story are analysed through what Michael White calls ‘subordinate storylines’, which is character information that cannot be accessed by mere conversation among children. Thus, in the chapter, I investigate the values; intensions; knowledge and skills; and social, relational and cultural genesis of the male characters vis-à-vis the narratives and their interplay with the child protagonists in the story.

Citation

Sayuno, C.M.M. (2024), "The Kuya in Selected Filipino Storybooks: ‘Subordinate Storylines’ of Male Characters in Narratives of Adversities", Le Clue, N. (Ed.) Gender and the Male Character in 21st Century Fairy Tale Narratives (Emerald Studies in Popular Culture and Gender), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 187-199. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-788-420241016