Showing papers in "Philippine Studies in 2016"
TL;DR: A comparison of flood control efforts in the 1970s with those that preceded it in 1909 and 1952 demonstrates that flood control in Metro Manila has been a deeply political issue as discussed by the authors, which gained traction only under Ferdinand Marcos, who starting in 1972 initiated large-scale projects and neutered local autonomy by creating the Metro Manila Commission.
Abstract: The emergence of Metro Manila as a political unit is inextricably tied to its history as a flood-prone metropolis A comparison of flood-control efforts in the 1970s with those that preceded it in 1909 and 1952 demonstrates that flood control in Metro Manila has been a deeply political issue Opposition from local governments derailed plans, which gained traction only under Ferdinand Marcos, who starting in 1972 initiated large-scale projects and neutered local autonomy by creating the Metro Manila Commission Marcos’s flood-control program followed his regime’s technocratic, high-modernist approach to disaster mitigation and centralized metropolitan governance, with slum dwellers living along the waterways bearing the brunt of his undemocratic disaster governance
17 citations
TL;DR: The authors provided a typology of capital cities and from this perspective explored the design of the newly created capital of Quezon City in the late 1930s, which embraced some design ideas from elsewhere, but it remained unique.
Abstract: Political leaders have always sought to build monumental capitals, with earlier designs influencing those of later cities. The Western design that revolved around a central axis of power became evident in some Asian capitals, although cities in the Chinese cultural realm differed in shape but nonetheless had its own axis of power. This article provides a typology of capital cities and from this perspective it explores the design of the newly created capital of Quezon City in the late 1930s. Quezon City’s design embraced some design ideas from elsewhere, but it remained unique. However, the design was not realized entirely.
14 citations
TL;DR: This article provided comparative examples and explored aspects of the impacts of typhoon impacts on Philippine society and history, with particular reference to population increase and cyclonic storms; economic development and typhoon; and political development.
Abstract: Cyclonic storms have helped shape the character of particular regions and areas in the Philippines. But typhoons have not affected all people and all areas in the archipelago equally. Patterns of death and damage from cyclonic storms and the capacity of people to recover and reconstruct their livelihoods reveal differences based on history, regional wealth, and sociopolitical organization. This article provides comparative examples and explores aspects of the impacts of typhoons—specifically those of 1831, 1882, 1970, 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2013—on Philippine society and history, with particular reference to population increase and cyclonic storms; economic development and typhoons; and political development and typhoons.
13 citations
TL;DR: In contrast to the literature's dominant focus on Western constructions of tropicality, the authors explores representations of the tropics by the colonized, specifically the climatological conditions of the Philippines as portrayed in the late nineteenth century by the Europe-based native intellectuals known as ilustrados.
Abstract: In contrast to the literature’s dominant focus on Western constructions of tropicality, this article explores representations of the tropics by the colonized, specifically the climatological conditions of the Philippines as portrayed in the late nineteenth century by the Europe-based native intellectuals known as ilustrados Their anticolonial sentiment was intertwined with visceral estrangement from Spain and idealized views of the tropics, which reversed the colonizers’ racial-geographic prejudice and asserted an identity as a civilizable tropical people capable of genius Rizal’s return visit to the homeland in 1887, however, made him agree with the Spanish premise about the climate in order to argue that colonial rule was the greater disasterKeywords: tropics • climate • disasters • racism • indolence • nationalism
11 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the hazardous nature of living in the islands and explore the ways Filipinos have adapted to natural hazards as a frequent life experience over time, focusing on the ways in which Filipinos adapted to the natural hazards over time.
Abstract: The historiography of the Philippines has been largely bounded by the nation-state, which has defined how its past has been conceived and to whom its peoples are mainly compared A more transnational environmental history, however, seeks to situate the archipelago within the context of the daily threats that its peoples have to face This article focuses on the hazardous nature of living in the islands and explores the ways in which Filipinos have adapted to natural hazards as a frequent life experience over time Keywords: historiography • Philippines • disasters • risk • adaptation
9 citations
TL;DR: Aquaculture, a modern scheme introduced by the Philippine state to improve fish production and livelihoods, has resulted in contradictory outcomes in its four-decade history in Laguna de Bay as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Aquaculture, a modern scheme introduced by the Philippine state to improve fish production and livelihoods, has resulted in contradictory outcomes in its four-decade history in Laguna de Bay This article examines the fate and trajectories of these modern schemes through the lens of hazards It situates the place of typhoons and floods in the introduction and regulation of pen aquaculture technology, and in the practices of living with hazards among aquaculture producers in the lake In both cases hazards are considered as intrinsic to their narratives rather than as external forces that occasionally disrupt human plans
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on ethnographic research in Siquijor, a Central Visayan island with a Catholic population, to show that unlike notions promoted by elites of the Catholic Church, which fix personhood to the moment of conception, local notions of personhood are processual.
Abstract: Issues of fetal personhood have been controversial in the Philippines in the context of reproductive health debates, but little is understood about how ordinary Filipinos construct fetal and early infant personhood in the context of their everyday lives. This article draws on ethnographic research in Siquijor, a Central Visayan island with a Catholic population. Based on conversations about pregnancy and miscarriage, I show that unlike notions promoted by elites of the Catholic Church, which fix personhood to the moment of conception, local notions of personhood are processual. Significantly, ensoulment, while thought to occur at conception, is not sufficient to produce a person.
8 citations
TL;DR: By revisiting the eruptions of Taal in 1911, Hibok-Hibok in 1951, and Pinatubo in 1991, the authors investigates Bankoff's argument that the culture of disaster produces coping mechanisms manifested in public apathy and the state's failure at mitigation.
Abstract: By revisiting the eruptions of Taal in 1911, Hibok-Hibok in 1951, and Pinatubo in 1991, this article interrogates Greg Bankoff’s argument that “cultures of disaster” in the Philippines produce “coping mechanisms” manifested in public apathy and the state’s failure at mitigation It argues for historical contingency as illustrated by the relative success at disaster mitigation in Pinatubo’s case, despite extreme challenges It highlights the warning system in which the Aeta who lived on Mount Pinatubo, along with volcanologists and other key actors, played crucial roles The Aeta’s nonscientific perspective was not an obstacle to understanding risks and taking defensive action Keywords: volcanoes • warning systems • Aeta • Pinatubo • historiography
8 citations
TL;DR: A deep ethnographic account of how popular culture is generated, reproduced, and consumed reveals its anchoring in material structures the interests of which are often disguised or unacknowledged as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The links between politics and entertainment in the Philippines are well known, but few have noted these links in the media phenomenon known as AlDub. As a subpart of Eat Bulaga, a long-standing midday TV show, AlDub has gained a life of its own, giving its actors national and even global prominence. How was this possible? Was it happenstance or do basic interests and structures explain its popularity? A deep ethnographic account of how popular culture is generated, reproduced, and consumed reveals its anchoring in material structures the interests of which are often disguised or unacknowledged. Anthropology provides a way of exploring such interests and structures. Keywords: ethnography • politics of fandom • hegemony • material culture • technological mediations
8 citations
TL;DR: The observatory pioneered the modern study of weather, climate, and natural hazards through the use of instruments and apparatus it invented and produced as discussed by the authors, through its programs and projects, the observatory operationalized colonial science, particularly meteorology, to promote a new understanding of weather and natural phenomena and create new avenues for public engagement.
Abstract: The scientific endeavors of the Observatorio Meteorologico de Manila in the nineteenth century brought about major changes in colonial science in the Philippines The observatory pioneered the modern study of weather, climate, and natural hazards through the use of instruments and apparatus it invented and produced This article explores how, through its programs and projects, the observatory operationalized colonial science, particularly meteorology, to promote a new understanding of weather and natural phenomena and create new avenues for public engagement
8 citations
TL;DR: The authors showed how South Korean retirees' feelings of economic superiority and communal exclusiveness are challenged by the sociocultural advancement of Filipino middle classes, and the imaginary distance between the two countries has widened.
Abstract: Dwindling economic opportunities in South Korea after the financial crisis of 1997 spurred forced retirement, with the Philippines emerging as a viable destination for relatively young South Korean retirees. Relations between these retirees and Filipinos have been influenced by the colonial-era system of racial hierarchy, resulting in intra-Asian hierarchies held by both groups. Shedding light on racial relations between postcolonial peoples, this article shows how South Korean retirees’ feelings of economic superiority and communal exclusiveness are challenged by the sociocultural advancement of Filipino middle classes. Among South Korean retirees in the Philippines, the imaginary distance between the two countries has widened. Keywords: South Korea • Philippines • intra-Asian migration • retirement migration • postcolonial racialization
TL;DR: In the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries poor people's voting behavior has been subversive of elite interests, causing the upper classes to be skeptical of votes cast by the poor and to “educate” them on the proper exercise of suffrage.
Abstract: In the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries poor people’s voting behavior has been subversive of elite interests, causing the upper classes to be skeptical of votes cast by the poor and to “educate” them on the “proper” exercise of suffrage. But voting by the poor can be understood within a “moral economy” framework in which communal interests transcend utilitarian calculations. Populist politicians (Joseph Estrada in the Philippines and Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand) have brought localist voting patterns to the national level, resulting in adverse reactions: an elite-led insurrection ousted Estrada in 2001, while the Thai military staged the coup of 2014 to break the electoral bond between pro-Thaksin politicians and the poor. Keywords: Elections • poor voters • voter education • populism • Southeast Asia
TL;DR: The June 1863 and July 1880 earthquakes that struck Manila and environs caused widespread destruction But in varied and complex ways they stimulated the documentation of earthquakes and their aftermath, ranging from cataloging past earthquakes that placed these events in a historical series of earthquakes to recording street-and neighborhood-level damages to buildings and infrastructure to writing appeals for state support for victims years after the event as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The June 1863 and July 1880 earthquakes that struck Manila and environs caused widespread destruction But in varied and complex ways they stimulated the documentation of earthquakes and their aftermath, ranging from cataloging past earthquakes that placed these events in a historical series of earthquakes to recording street- and neighborhood-level damages to buildings and infrastructure to writing appeals for state support for victims years after the event This documentation reveals different layers of the narratives of the social history of these two disasters and other similar events in Philippine history
TL;DR: Rido: Clan feuding and conflict management in Mindanao (expanded ed.), by Wilfredo Magno Torres III, ed., Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University and the Asia Foundation, 2014.
Abstract: Review(s) of: Rido: Clan feuding and conflict management in Mindanao (expanded ed.), by Wilfredo Magno Torres III, ed., Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University and the Asia Foundation, 2014. 451 pages.
TL;DR: This article identified some of the salient themes that run across the articles in this special double issue on "Disasters in History" The common themes include (a) disasters as catalysts of different types of change in society, the state, and science; (b) the relationship between disasters and social inequality; (c) the attribution to nature of the ability as an actor in history, which raises questions about how to conceptualize nature's agency; and (d) disaster as constituting a specific type of modern discourse; (e) the limitations to the geographical frame of the national discourse
Abstract: This concluding article identifies some of the salient themes that run across the articles in this special double issue on “Disasters in History” The common themes include (a) disasters as catalysts of different types of change in society, the state, and science; (b) the relationship between disasters and social inequality; (c) the attribution to nature of the ability as an actor in history, which raises questions about how to conceptualize nature’s agency; (d) disasters as constituting a specific type of modern discourse; and (e) the limitations to the geographical frame of the national discourse on disasters Keywords: disasters • historiography • social analysis • cosmology • modernity
TL;DR: Bautista as mentioned in this paper is an associate professor, Division of Socio-Cultural Dynamics, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho, Yoshida Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501 Japan.
Abstract: Julius Bautista is associate professor, Division of Socio-Cultural Dynamics, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho, Yoshida Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501 Japan. He is coeditor of Christianity and the State in Asia: Complicity and Conflict (Routledge, 2009), editor of The Spirit of Things: Materiality and Religious Pluralism in Southeast Asia (Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 2012), and author of Figuring Catholicism: An Ethnohistory of the Santo Niño de Cebu (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2010).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that despite its flaws, CBDRRM is neither hegemonic nor oppressive but can be adapted to the needs and cultures of communities and call for an empathetic form of participation and room for diverse partners to work together.
Abstract: Emergency and participation intersect to form the basis of Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (CBDRRM) This article has three aims First, it explores the criticisms of participatory development in CBDRRM Second, it highlights how disasters provide insights into participatory development when disasters are viewed not merely as terrible events but as catalysts for social change Third, the article contends that despite its flaws, CBDRRM is neither hegemonic nor oppressive but can be adapted to the needs and cultures of communities The article calls for an empathetic form of participation and room for diverse partners to work together Keywords: disasters • Indian Ocean tsunami • floods • fires •Southeast Asia • Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management • cultures of disaster
TL;DR: Ateneo et al. as discussed by the authors have shown us the great merits of exhaustive scholarship combined with lucid writing, and Aguilar has shown us that studies of this standard become more common among Filipino scholars and their Southeast Asian counterparts.
Abstract: 304 than serious academic research. There is no doubt about the thoroughness of his investigations. My final quibbles refer to minor points: one is the small print or font of the Ateneo Press version, making reading the text sometimes difficult; the other is a presumably mistaken reference on page 78 to a domestic worker returning home to purchase 10,000 hectares for her poor relatives. I congratulate the academic institutions in Singapore (NUS Press) and Kyoto (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University) for recognizing the importance of these essays and encouraging their republication as a book. I can only hope that studies of this standard become more common among Filipino scholars and their Southeast Asian counterparts. Aguilar has shown us the great merits of exhaustive scholarship combined with lucid writing. We remain in his debt.
TL;DR: On 15 October 2013 an earthquake of 72 magnitude struck the Central Visayas It caused huge devastations, reducing to rubble some centuries-old Catholic churches in Bohol Past architectural interventions enabled some edifices to survive the quake, but inappropriate additions made quite recently rendered other structures vulnerable to destruction.
Abstract: On 15 October 2013 an earthquake of 72 magnitude struck the Central Visayas It caused huge devastations, reducing to rubble some centuries-old Catholic churches in Bohol Past architectural interventions enabled some edifices to survive the quake, but inappropriate additions made quite recently rendered other structures vulnerable to destruction Partially damaged structures have been undergoing restoration by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) The NHCP’s permission to publish these photographs is gratefully acknowledged
TL;DR: This paper explored the conditions brought about by Westernization that created and sustained the vulnerability of the marginalized and explored the gaps that exist in the rationalities of policy makers and disaster-vulnerable persons and the consequences of these gaps for the vulnerable.
Abstract: Although Filipinos live with the realities of recurring extreme weather occurrences, some are more vulnerable to disasters than others Using discourse theory, this article seeks to understand how a community’s vulnerability is connected to the marginalization of its rationality It traces the conditions brought about by Westernization that created and sustained the vulnerability of the marginalized It explores the gaps that exist in the rationalities of policy makers and disaster-vulnerable persons and the consequences of these gaps for the vulnerable in order to argue for the need to found genuine disaster risk reduction (DRR) programs on the principles of inclusive discourse
TL;DR: Hannah Bulloch's (2016) article is a welcome contribution to the growing volume of studies of everyday religion in both various contemporary contexts as well as earlier historical periods as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Hannah Bulloch's (2016) article is a welcome contribution to the growing volume of studies of everyday religion in both various contemporary contexts as well as earlier historical periods. These studies shift interest in social science research from institutions of religious traditions to everyday religious practices of individuals and groups within and outside such religious traditions.
TL;DR: In the Visayan worldview, the quintessential stage of one's personhood is intuitively located not at conception but at the point in which we emerge into the world, when we take our first breath and attain an independent physical viability as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The common way of inquiring about someone's birthday in Binisaya is to ask, kanus-a ka na tawo? - literally, when did you become a person? It is an intriguing feature of the Visayan worldview, one that may well be rooted in an ancient cosmological order, that the quintessential stage of one's personhood is intuitively located not at conception but at the point in which we emerge into the world, when we take our first breath and attain an independent physical viability.