The recent cold-bloodied murder of Rev. Fr. Marcelito “Tito” Paez shook the Christian world that has been already burdened with…
Problematizing the Mindanao Settler Identity: Final Part American, likewise, makes an excellent cautionary example of the pitfalls of Settler identity…
Writer’s note: From now, until the end of the year, I shall write about articles originally written in Filipino, share…
Stories are extraordinary. A writer would spend a lifetime crafting the perfect one, and an anthropologist would spend a lifetime unravelling them. Stories are potent. They can move people to weep and to fight and to believe things they might not have thought possible.
From now, until the end of the year, I shall write in English about articles originally written in Filipino, share thoughts regarding their respective contexts, and discuss related themes . Part translation, part summary, part review, I hope these previews pique the curiosity of the readers about the essays and their ongoing conversations with other texts that challenge national narratives and preconceived notions on Philippine literature, art and culture.
At the outskirts of Davao going down South of Mindanao, lie my humble beginnings my hometown in Balut Island of the Municipality of Sarangani. You could reach this faraway land through General Santos City, the Tuna capital of Mindanao, if not the whole of the Philippines.
Seeking to Settle: Creating a Mindanao Settler Identity Because the Settler is always dismissed as Bhabhan Hybrids of State or…
The owner of the house along Bara-as Street in Iligan City might have envisioned her or his house as a beautiful structure built from the sweat from long hours of work in a foreign land and several years of being away from family and homeland. She or he could have thought of that house as the ultimate reward for the sacrifices made abroad.
Named after the city that also got its name from the so-called Father of Philippine National Language, QCinema helped in the production of films with anti-colonial undertones and with characters speaking in languages of the regions. Preceding the historical setting of all the other films, Balangiga: Howling Wilderness happens in the Samar of the early 1900s, telling the journey toward Quinapundan that starts with the boy Kulas, his Lolo (grandfather), their carabao Melchora and their pullet Salvi.
As I opened my migration class last week, I read a riveting quote by Isabel Wilkerson: “what I love about the stories of the Great Migration is that this is not ancient history; this is living history. Most people of color can find someone in their own family who had experienced a migration of some kind, knowing the sense of dislocation, longing, and fortitude.”
