A Memorial to Dr. Benedict Anderson

BENEDICT ANDERSON: A MEMORIAL

22 December 2015 (Tuesday)

3:00 - 7:00 PM

Seminar Room, 2nd Floor, Asian Center

University of the Philippines-Diliman

(Please see this link for the audiovisual recording.)

The Asian Center, together with the Third World Studies Center, the Department of English and Comparative Literature, the Department of Political Science, and Anvil Publishing, Inc., invites the public to attend a memorial service for Dr. Benedict Anderson (1936-2015) on 22 December 2015, from 3:00 to 7:00 in the evening at the Seminar Room, 2nd Floor, Asian Center, UP Diliman.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Leprosy: History, Memories, Stigma and Human Rights

In commemoration of Leprosy Awareness Week held every February in the Philippines, the UP Department of History, Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital and the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation will hold an international conference titled “Leprosy: History, Memories, Stigma and Human Rights” on 17-18 February 2016 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

The conference aims to put at center stage the historical and social dimension of leprosy by harnessing perspectives from the different social sciences. 

We are inviting proposals for academic papers that tackle the conference theme through one of (but not limited to) the following topics:

• History of a sanitarium in the Philippines (Culion in Palawan, Tala in Novaliches, West Visayas Sanitarium in Iloilo, Eversly Child Sanitarium in Cebu, Mindanao Central Sanitarium in Zamboanga City, Bicol Sanitarium in Naga, Camarines Sur)
• Religious orders and their role in the sanitarium
• Indigenous beliefs and leprosy
• Leprosy and gender
• Stigma among women and men
• Memories of the disease and life in a sanitarium
• Prominent figures in the history of leprosy in the Philippines
• The economic costs of leprosy 
• Geographical mapping of leprosy in the Philippines 
• Creating spaces for leprosarias/architecture of leprosarias

Please send 300-400 word abstracts with your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information or any related queries to leprosy2016@gmail.com.

DEADLINE OF ABSTRACT SUBMISSION 1 January 2016

NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE 7 January 2016

DEADLINE OF FULL PAPERS 1 February 2016

TWSC Director Dr. Ricardo T. Jose a Gawad Lagablab Awardee

ABOUT THE AWARD*

The Philippine Science High School National Alumni Association (PSHS NAA) has been celebrating the Gawad Lagablab since 1991. Excellence in academic performance, exceptional achievement in their chosen field of endeavour, and exemplary service to our community and our nation are the main criteria for the selection process. The subsequent staging of the awards were held in 1991, 1993, 1998, 2002, and in 2005, 2008, 2011.

The PSHS NAA confers the award to the alumni in recognition of outstanding achievements in their respective fields of endeavour. By bringing pride, honor, and prestige to PSHS, Gawad Lagablab recipients also serve as inspiration and role models worthy of emulation by both fellow alumni and students.

The selection process also becomes an overview, both for the association and the school, of what its alumni have accomplished through the years.


* - From the PSHS NAA website. Click here for the original document.

Interdisciplinary Team Starts Work on the Planning History of the Metro Manila Mass Transit

L-R: Elinor May Cruz; Miguel Paolo Reyes, Daniel Mabazza, Jonathan Villasper, Jose Regin Regidor, Joel Ariate Jr., Ricardo Jose; Marco Lagman, Gerard Daguio, Johnson Damian, Dominic Aloc, Geia de la Peña, Emerald Flaviano.

The Mass Transit System in Metro Manila: 
From Tranvia to MRT, 1879-2014

Program leader: Dr. Ricardo T. Jose

The Third World Studies Center, in collaboration with the National Center for Transportation Studies and the Geography Department of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy of the University of the Philippines, has been awarded by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs an Emerging Interdisciplinary Research Grant (2015-2017).


Four core projects and their proponents:

Project 1. A history (both text and audiovisual documentary) of the railway systems from the colonial Manila (1879) up to the present Metropolitan Manila (2014) as gleaned from plans and the built infrastructures

Co-project leader: Prof. Marco Lagman, Department of Geography, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman

Project 2: A GIS rendering of the evolution of the railway system in Metro Manila as well as those which were put into plan but remains unexecuted

Co-project leader: Dr. Daniel Mabazza, Department of Geography,  College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman

Project 3: A critical transportation engineering review of the of the mass transit system in Metro Manila, focusing on railways

Co-project leader: Dr. Jose Regin Regidor, National Center for Transportation Studies, UP Diliman

Project 4: An oral history on the politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, and academics who were involved in planning, designing, funding, and building the Metropolitan Manila mass transit system

Co-project leader: Dr. Ricardo T. Jose, Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman

Click here to know more about the research.

Democratization Advocates in Vietnam, 1990s–2014: A Public Lecture by Dr. Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet

Democratization Advocates in Vietnam, 1990s–2014

A Public Lecture by Dr. Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet

7 October 2015 (Wednesday), 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Seminar Room, Hall of Wisdom, Asian Center
University of the Philippines Diliman

Beginning in the mid-1990s, public criticism of the Communist Party government in Vietnam spread to the point that by 2014 it became a prominent feature of the country’s political scene. This presentation emphasizes critics who want to replace, non-violently, the present regime with a democratic political system. Drawing primarily on the writings and actions of Vietnamese critics themselves, the analysis shows that they differ over how to displace the current system. Some regime critics think the Communist Party leadership itself can and should lead the way; others form organizations to openly and directly challenge the regime; still others urge remaking the current system by actively engaging it; and some favor expanding civil society in order to democratize the nation. Underlying the four approaches are different understandings of what democratization entails and its relationship to social and economic development. The presentation ends by contrasting contemporary dissent in Vietnam to political criticism in northern half of the country in the mid 1950s and in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1970s-1980s.

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Dr. Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Political and Social Change, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, Australian National University. His areas of expertise are Government and Politics of the Asia and the Pacific, and Comparative Government and Politics. He earned his B.A. at Whitman College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin Madison. His research delves into the “interactions between ordinary people and authorities or other elites.”

The lecture is organized and hosted by the UP Asian Center and co-sponsored by the UP Third World Studies Center and the UP Department of Political Science. The lecture is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. However, seats are available on a first-come, first served basis; there is no online registration, but the organizers would appreciate an e-mail expressing intent to come: asiancenter@up.edu.ph.​


PHOTOS

The Mass Transit System in Metro Manila: From Tranvia to MRT, 1879-2014

“Rosario Street  Manila, P.I.; 1588; 1926.” University of Michigan Library Digital Collections.

The Third World Studies Center, in collaboration with the National Center for Transportation Studies and the Geography Department of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy of the University of the Philippines, has been awarded by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs an Emerging Interdisciplinary Research Grant (2015-2017).

The Mass Transit System in Metro Manila: 
From Tranvia to MRT, 1879-2014

Program leader: Dr. Ricardo T. Jose

Executive Summary

The proposed study, though largely historical in approach and structure, draws on the disciplines of geography, transportation studies, and political economy to put together a comprehensive and critical survey of mass transit plans for (Metro) Manila, focusing in particular for this research phase on the rail network that services the metropolis. This is evidenced by the institutions and academics that have come together to draw up this proposal, namely those from the Third World Studies Center, the National Center for Transportation Studies, and the Department of Geography. The core group may still expand as the project commences.

On a theoretical note, reading these varying configurations across time will be informed by a particular understanding of the political economy of ideas and institutions. This particular strand of political economy relies on the critical examination of the idea versus interest continuum and how this contrasting, yet linked, understanding on what drives economic, technocratic, and public policymaking shape the interpretation and implementation of select ideas regarding mass transit planning (Campbell 1998; Steinmo 2008).

The immediate focus on plans and its eventual (non-)execution aims to highlight the varied contexts (social, economic, cultural, political, and even technological) that configured the present-day mass transit system in Metro Manila.

The proposed study will inevitably include other public transport modes but would be focused on mass transit including rail and bus. While jeepneys are not formally classified and recognized as a mass transport mode these will be included in the analysis and discussions as they provide services along corridors that are supposed to be served by traditional mass transit. Upon conclusion of the project, these can serve as the next phase/new research proposal.

Hence for this study, the first priority is to identify, locate, and evaluate all plans related to mass transit—from the tranvia in cosmopolitan Manila at the end of the nineteenth century to the present light rail transits of Metropolitan Manila. Next is a genealogy of contexts: Who proposed what to whom? What did these proposals lead to? How were these plans evaluated by those in positions to make them possible? Why were those built, built the way they were? How were they built and by whom? What sections of the plans were relegated to the dustbin of history? What and who influenced those who made the plans? Those with the power and finances to make them possible, what were in their minds when they decided to build the mass transit systems in Metro Manila? Was it all a question of money and influence, of market efficiency, and not of public service? These questions have not fully been explored before and answering it, as is the intent of the project, will give a deeper context to the present-day problem in mass transit in Metro Manila.

The study, however, does not want to end its close scrutiny of mass transit plans and its contexts with a plan to end all plans. Instead, it will be a tightly-knit series of academic critiques of the current mass transit predicament in Metro Manila drawn from the disciplines of history, transport studies, geography, and political economy. This is what makes it a pioneering study. This is a study that questions both the received wisdom and the supposed alternatives.


Four core projects and their proponents:

Project 1. A history (both text and audiovisual documentary) of the railway systems from the colonial Manila (1879) up to the present Metropolitan Manila (2014) as gleaned from plans and the built infrastructures

Co-project leader: Prof. Marco Lagman, Department of Geography, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman

Project 2: A GIS rendering of the evolution of the railway system in Metro Manila as well as those which were put into plan but remains unexecuted

Co-project leader: Dr. Dan Mabazza, Department of Geography,  College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman

Project 3: A critical transportation engineering review of the of the mass transit system in Metro Manila, focusing on railways

Co-project leader: Dr. Jose Regin Regidor, National Center for Transportation Studies, UP Diliman

Project 4: An oral history on the politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, and academics who were involved in planning, designing, funding, and building the Metropolitan Manila mass transit system

Co-project leader: Dr. Ricardo T. Jose, Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman

For any inquiries, please send your correspondence to the Program Manager Elinor May Cruz at uptwsc@gmail.com.

Bangsamoro: The Quest for Peace in Mindanao (A Promotional Screening)

Bangsamoro: The Quest for Peace in Mindanao

A FREE PUBLIC SCREENING

22 and 24 September 2015

PH 400, Palma Hall, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, 

University of the Philippines-Diliman

The UP Third World Studies Center will be hosting the first promotional screening of the documentary, "Bangsamoro: The Quest for Peace in Mindanao," directed by Boyette Rimban, written by Luz Rimban, and produced by the K.A.K. Tri-Media Productions. 

Running for 54 minutes, this documentary will be screened on the following schedules:

• 22 September 2015 (Tuesday)
• 10:00 - 11:30 AM
• 1:00 - 2:30 PM
• 2:30 - 4:00 PM
• 24 September 2015 (Thursday)
• 10:00 - 11:30 AM
• 1:00 - 2:30 PM
• 2:30 - 4:00 PM

In this launch event, GPH Peace Panel Chair Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, together with Boyette Rimban, will be present for questions from the audience on the September 22, 10:00 - 11:30 AM and 1:00 - 2:30 PM screenings.

SYNOPSIS

The Moros have long defended their right to self-determination. Since the Spanish colonization of what the conquistadores would later call the Philippines, up to the American occupation, Moros in Southern Philippines have battled invaders who sought to violently subdue them, in order to get hold of the resource-rich land and resources of Mindanao. Manila-based governments have engaged the Moros alternately in war and peace, and it wasn’t until recently, under the administration of Pres. Benigno Aquino III, that peace seemed to be within reach.  

The peace was broken, however, on January 25 when members of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force launched an operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. The incident burst into the national consciousness, so to speak, and drew attention to the fragile peace that has been holding in Mindanao for at least three years now. 

Not many have properly explained the history behind the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination and explored the implications of the war to the people. This timely documentary is an attempt to discuss the roots of the conflict and present a deep understanding of the Bangsamoro’s struggle to attain genuine peace and autonomy.


PHOTOS

Palawan Documentaries (A Free Public Screening)

The University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center (TWSC), in partnership with the Department of Political Science of the Université de Montréal under the REINVENTERRA (International Research Network on Exploitation and Usage of Nature, Land, and Resources in Africa, Asia, and Latin America) Project, invites you the free public screening of “Palawan Documentaries” on 20 August 2015 (Thursday) from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (screening time: 10:00-11:30 a.m.; 1:00-2:30 p.m.; 2:30-4:00 p.m.) at PH400 (Palma Hall). Palawan Documentaries features two student documentary films “Sa Rio Tuba” and “Naglalahong Pamana.” Limited seats only.

Synopses

“Sa Rio Tuba”

Rio Tuba in Palawan is the site of the one of the biggest nickel open pit mine in the Philippines. It is also home to a once thriving fishing community along the Togpon River. Bobby Siplan, fisherman, and Lagrimas Padilla, fish vendor, are both members of this community. Two lives whose daily struggle to make a living ebb and flow with the changes wrought upon the river by the mining industry. The mine promises a harvest of bounty. Bobby and Lagrimas think otherwise. This is their story.

Watch Sa Rio Tuba online, for free, here.

“Naglalahong Pamana”

Panglima Kenisio Malasan is a traditional leader of a Palaw’an tribe. Through him, the tribe’s tradition is passed on to the next generation—a tradition rooted in the land. But the Panglima wonders how their way of life can endure in the face of relentless encroachment of palm oil plantations. In a poignant dialogue between father and son, the Panglima and his child share fears for the future of their tribe.

Zerowork: From abolition of work to instead of work (A Public Lecture by Bob Black)

About the lecture:

Bob Black’s 1985 essay has received too much attention. “No one should ever work,” thus it begins and “Workers of the world…relax!” and 30 years since, a lot has happened in between. BB’s arguments against work and the right to be lazy is still relevant given the global financial crisis, ecological disaster and ASEAN integration. Bob’s proposition from abolition of work to the passage of productive play, “life will become a game, or rather many games, but not-as it is now-zero/sum game.” According to BB, his anti-work writings during the last three decades are addressed to everybody, but more particularly to anyone who are already working, who is looking for work or who doesn’t have work at all, which includes virtually everybody. Far from being a play on words, Bob longs for open discussion and polemics for and against work. Therefore, it's an open invitation to discuss not only work but play, leisure, ludic lifestyle, technology among others. Come, let’s play.


About the speaker:

Bob Black is an anarchist author based in United States whose training in jurisprudence and anarchism often confronts each other. Black has produced more than 50 titles on topics that range from human rights, democracy, art, technology, among others—apart from anarchy, anarchism, and other celebrity anarchists. The Abolition of Work and other essays (1985) is mainly associated with him and his most recent work is Instead of Work (2015). He is interested to discuss The Myth of Human Rights and Dispute Mediation from primitive societies and contemporary times.


Co-organizers

UP Third World Studies Center
Marindukanon Studies Center
Marinduque Infoshop


PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

Oral History of China/Chinese Studies Scholars in the Philippines: Inception Workshop

The University of the Philippines (UP) Asian Center and the UP Third World Studies Center are co-sponsoring the "Oral History of China/Chinese Studies Scholars in the Philippines: Inception Workshop." This event will be taking place at the Third World Studies Center Conference Area, University of the Philippines-Diliman on 18 August 2015 (Tuesday), from 8 AM to 4 PM.

Dr. Tina Clemente, Associate Professor at the Asian Center, is coordinating the workshop in cooperation with Dr. Chi-yu Shih of the National Taiwan University.

(No more workshop slots available.)

Occupation & Liberation: An International Conference on the Pacific War in the Philippines

OCCUPATION & LIBERATION: 

An International Conference on the Pacific War in the Philippines

3-5 September 2015

GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center,

University of the Philippines, Diliman

Quezon City

This year, 2015, marks the 70th year anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. In relation to this, the University of the Philippines Department of History, in cooperation with the Third World Studies Center and the Asian Center, will hold a conference, Occupation & Liberation: An International Conference on the Pacific War in the Philippines.

The conference fee is PHP 1,500. Participants will be provided with a conference kit, lunch and snacks for the three days of the conference. We also encourage you to pre-register by filling out the form in this link.

Please follow this link to access the endorsement of the event by the Commission on Higher Education for your reference.

For queries and more information, please contact us through:

• Tel. No. (02) 981 8500 loc. 2126
• Fax No. (02) 434 4021
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historyadorngbayan
• Email: occupationandliberation@gmail.com
• Contact persons: Mr. Francis Malban or Mr. Alvin Ancheta

To access the conference's final program, please click on this link.

Higher Education for Sustainable Agriculture (HESA) and Food Security in the Philippines: An Academic-Government Dialogue

Higher Education for Sustainable Agriculture (HESA) and 
Food Security in the Philippines: 

An Academic-Government Dialogue

22 July 2015 (Wednesday), 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Hall of Wisdom, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, 
University of the Philippines 

Magsaysay St. cor. Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City

This event will discuss overlapping environmental-agricultural and education concerns in the Philippines. It aims to better understand related government policies, programs and institutions while examining implications for universities and research institutions nation-wide. The meeting will explore challenges, capacities, best practices and policy options for HESA in the Philippines while exchanging knowledge, and exploring interdisciplinary curriculum reform, teaching and research-extension needs as a contribution to strengthening regional poverty reduction, food/nutritional security and environmental protection. The public event July 22nd morning will be a dialogue with Philippine government officials and academics on HESA issues. 

Nationally organized/Locally hosted by:

• Asian Center, University of the Philippines-Diliman
• Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines-Diliman
• University of the Philippines-Los Banos Graduate School  

In regional partnership with: 

• Asia-Pacific Association of Educators in Agriculture and Environment
• Chulalongkorn University School of Agricultural Resources Thailand

Funded/Sponsored by: 

• Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI) with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

General information:  Visit this page and follow the links to learn more about SIANI, the HESA Southeast Asia project, and how to become a member of the global SIANI network.

HESA-SIANI Expert Group/Regional Coordinator: Dr. Wayne Nelles. Email: Wayne.Nelles@viu.ca.

Local/National Philippine Contact:  Dr. Teodoro Mendoza, Professor 12, Crop Science, College of Agriculture, UPLB, and Principal Organizer/Chair, National Meeting on HESA and Food Security in the Philippines. Email: ecofarm.mndz2011@gmail.com.

A Public Lecture by Melissa H. Loja on the Territorial Dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

The Principle of Status Quo Post Bellum and the Legal Resolution of the Territorial Dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

A Public Lecture by Melissa H. Loja

9 July 2015 (Thursday), 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Third World Studies Center Conference Area, Lower Ground Floor, 

Palma Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands often is described as the most intractable. This is because Japan is in de facto and de jure possession of the islands by virtue of its residual sovereignty. Japan’s residual sovereignty is recognized under the San Francisco Peace Treaty (peace treaty) and Okinawa Reversion Treaty (reversion treaty). The opposability of these treaties is denied by China which was not a party to them. China has interposed its own right to possession based on historic title.

Ultimately, the dispute revolves around the question of whether Japan’s possession has a legal basis which is opposable to China. A preliminary yet equally important question is whether this legal basis is to be ascertained from conditions existing ante bellum or post bellum. Most articles go around these questions by focusing on which between China and Japan has the longest historic title and the oldest map. Such approach presumes that historic title is dispositive of the dispute. However, the settled ruling of international courts and tribunals is that historic title which is rooted in non-Western normative systems generally is a weak source of territorial rights, and that ancient maps are neither source nor evidence of such rights.

This lecture applies the principle of status quo post bellum. Under this principle termination of war through the simple cessation of armed hostilities signifies a tacit recognition by the parties that their relative legal positions constitute the status quo post bellum or point of reference of their future international relations. As it is based on agreement, the status quo post bellum binds the parties until it is altered by a subsequent agreement such as a peace treaty. It continues to bind those parties which do not ratify the peace treaty. The rationale behind the continuing binding force of the status quo post bellum is that its existence is an objective fact which produces legal effects, especially on third states. No party is permitted to negate these legal effects merely by refusing to ratify the peace treaty.

In the context of the dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, primary and archival records provide a snapshot of the territorial situation during the period from the cessation of armed hostilities on 2 September 1945 up to the coming into force of the peace treaty on 28 April 1952. This snapshot reveals a status quo post bellum which is characterized by the following:

On the one hand, the Allied Powers, specifically the United States as the occupying force, openly and consistently acted as though 1) the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are a group of minor islands appertaining to the Ryukyus or Nansei Shoto rather than to Formosa (Taiwan); 2) the islands are subject to the residual sovereignty of Japan; and 3) the islands are not claimed as territory by China or any other power. On the part of Japan, it sought the substitution of the term “Ryukyu Islands” in the draft of Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty with the phrase “Nansei Shoto south of 29° north latitude”. In effect, Japan sought to broaden the area under its residual sovereignty to include the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. On the other hand, China did not claim the islands or consider them covered by its claim to Formosa. China did not object to the conduct of the United States and other Allied Powers of attributing the islands to the Nansei Shoto and of recognizing the residual sovereignty of Japan.

In sum, underlying the status quo post bellum was an agreement that the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are minor islands appertaining to the Nansei Shoto over which Japan has residual sovereignty. This agreement is a legal basis of Japan’s possession of the islands which is opposable to China.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Melissa H. Loja is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong where she also obtained her LLM. She clerked for the Philippine Supreme Court for a number of years.

RESOURCE LINKS

Playlist of Video Documentation of the Lecture
Burkina Faso v. Mali 
Eritrea v. Yemen
Qatar v. Bahrain
Copy of TWSC presentation (2014)
Copy of TWSC presentation (2015)

This lecture is co-organized by the Third World Studies Center and the UP Department of Political Science.


PHOTOS