Thursday, November 9, 2017

UGAT 39th Annual Conference - Book of Abstracts

UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines

39th Annual Conference
THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS: 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON WHAT IS AND WHAT OUGHT TO BE 
9-11 November 2017
Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS 


UGAT 39th Annual Conference BOA - download here.


Wednesday, November 8, 2017

UGAT 39th Annual Conference - In Photos

UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines

39th Annual Conference
THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS: 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON WHAT IS AND WHAT OUGHT TO BE 
9-11 November 2017
Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City

IN PHOTOS


















All photos by Anthony John R. Balisi

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Aghamtao 25 (Special Issue)

Aghamtao: Journal of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT) / Anthropological Association of the Philippines
Volume 25, No 2 / 2017 (Special Issue)



Articles: 

Editors’ Notes

“Amoy isda”: The Middle Class Life of Fishmongers
Nelson Turgo

The Dynamics of the Fish Trade in Cebu City
Romeo J. Toring, Jr.

“Barter”: The Persistence of an Illicit Trade in Commercial Fishing Industry
Cherry Jhane Mondilla

Revisiting tensions and successes of marine protected areas in a Visayan municipality
Enrique G. Oracion

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) watching and tourism in Tan-awan, Oslob, Cebu: Ecological Insights from Local Knowledge
Andrew John Fernandez

Dagat ug Kinabuhi: A survey of Bais fisherfolk and their survival strategies
Gerardo C. Maxino and Juliet J. Torete

‘Outsmarting the tuna’: Pamarilis, Technological Innovation and Local Knowledge in the Davao Gulf
Glenn Francis C. Lanticse

Obituaries: Wilfredo Arce, Harold Conklin, F. Landa Jocano, William Longacre, Mariflor Parpan, and Gerard Rixhon

Source: 

Journal cover courtesy of Maria Mangahas

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Travel Advisory: UGAT Conference, Cagayan de Oro (CDO)

Travel Advisory from our Conference Host

Cagayan de Oro's Airport is in Laguindingan (between CDO and Iligan City), and 45 minutes away from Cagayan de Oro City.

From Laguindingan, participants could take a taxi at P500.00 to Cagayan de Oro or take the shuttle vans (priced at 150-199.00). Most of these vans are "door-to-door" and could take some time before the participant reach Cagayan de Oro. I suggest they take either Lax Shuttle or Magnum Express and then get off at Centrio/Ayala Mall.

Centrio/Ayala Mall is about 100 meters away from Capitol University. Seda Hotel is in Centrio. Budgetel is right in front of Capitol University along Corrales Extension. For guests staying at Mallberry Hotel they could take the Magnum Express because the terminal of Magnum is at Limketkai Mall, very near Mallberry.

Please advise participants to take their current and valid ID cards (passport for foreigners) with clear photos. There could be 1-2 checkpoints along the way. Policemen at these checkpoints are generally nice and respectful, so there is no need to worry.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

WCAA Global Survey on Anthropological Practice

Dear UGAT members and practitioners of Anthropology,

Greetings! UGAT, as a member of the World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA), is administering the Global Survey of Anthropological Practice (GSAP). This is an on-line survey for all member associations of the WCAA from October 17, 2017 to January 31, 2018 only.  All UGAT members (whether past active members or in current standing) are encouraged to please participate in the survey.

The survey can be answered by clicking the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6NWPRG7

The aim of the Global Survey is to compile information on the contemporary state of anthropology as an international profession. The survey will collect information about the demographic characteristics of anthropologists, their qualifications and employment status, the nature of their work, and the thematic and regional focus of their expertise. The results will feed into ongoing reviews of anthropological practice globally, including teaching and learning issues, professional development and under-employment. (More information about the objective of the survey is also available on the survey link)

The survey is a significant opportunity to learn more about the current state of our community of practice: who we are, what we do, and where we do it.

Thank you for taking the time to answer the survey! Please forward this message to all concerned.

Thank you very much,

Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT)

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Where to Stay in CDO

Where to stay in CDO - recommended accommodation options for the 39th Annual Conference of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc (UGAT)

RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE VENUE

Budgetel Bed and Breakfast Corrales Extension
(63-88) 856-4200; 856-6829; 0917-7941010; 998-9610049

  • Standard single 650.00
  • Standard twin 990.00
  • Standard double 990.00
  • Superior Twin 1, 180.00


GV Hotel Corrales Extension
(63-88) 323 1547

  • Standard single 500.00
  • Budget twin (for 2) 650.00
  • Standard twin (for 2) 750.00
  • Standard family (for 3) 1,000.00


300-500 METERS AWAY FROM THE VENUE

Seda Hotel Corrales-CM Recto Avenue
(63-088) 323 8888; 0917 577 5880

  • De luxe (good for 3) 3,900.00 – 7,000.00


Urban Pod, Corrales Avenue
(088) 859 0687; 0926 0233443

  • Single 625.00
  • Double 775.00
  • Twin 875.00
  • Family 975.00
  • Capsule 250.00/pax


Red Planet Hotel, Recto Avenue
(088) 880-0888
Note: Breakfast at P246.00/plate served by Circa Restaurant

  • Double 1,650.00
  • Twin Single 1,750.00


Xentro Hotel Corrales Avenue
(088) 850 1922; 0925 868 8689; 0917 723 0861

  • Economy 595.00
  • Standard Single 695.00
  • Standard Double 950.00


Metro Hotel (in between Centrio Mall and SM Downtown)
0917 888 5388

  • Single Room 880.00
  • Double Room 980.00


REQUIRING TAXI (flagdown 40.00) OR JEEPNEY (7.00)

Mallberry Suites Lim Ket Kai Compound
(088) 854 9999; 09175491421

  • Standard 1,980.00
  • De luxe 2,400.00
  • Corporate Solo 1,780.00 (with breakfast)


Travelers Pod, Recto Avenue
(088) 851-8988
Meals not included but available at the hotel lobby. Meals by Figaro

  • De luxe Pod 1,500.00


Nature’s Pension T. Chavez Street
(088) 723551; 857 1900

  • Standard room 720.00
  • Superior room 840.00
  • Executive Room 960.00


Grand City Hotel A. Velez/Abejuela streets
(088) 723 551; 723 658; 857 2272; 09554195578

  • Economy (good for 2) 980.00


New Dawn Pension Velez Street
(088 22) 721776; 721777; 8571776; 09264620881

  • Economy (double) 880.00
  • Standard (triple) 980.00
  • Superior (for 3) 1,180.00


Fem’s Vines Inn Aguinaldo-Yacapin Streets
(+63 88) 857 4762

  • Standard single 625.00


VIP Hotel Don Velez Street
08822-726080; 726552; 088-8562505; 09178843847

  • Business 1,950.00 (good for 2 with breakfast)
  • VIP class 2,800.00 (good for 2 with breakfast)

Philtown Hotel Velez Street
(08822) 726335; 723089; 0916 6716124

  • Tourist 1,000.00
  • Deluxe 1,200.00
  • Ambassador 1,300.00


Wen Grace Dormitory and Transient
Fernandez Street and Corrales Avenue
(088) 851 1247; 09233012626

  • Aircon room (for 2)
  • Transient per day 540.00

Monday, September 25, 2017

CHED Memorandum/Endorsement

CHED Memorandum/Endorsement

MEMORANDUM FROM THE CHAIRPERSON

FOR:

All CHED Central and Regional Office Directors
All Presidents / Heads of Public and Private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

SUBJECT:

Participation in the 39th Annual Conference with the theme, "The Struggle for Rights: Anthropological Reflections on What is, and What Ought to be," organized by the Ugnayang Pang-Agham Tao, Inc., (UGAT) to be held on November 9-11, 2017 at the Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro Cty

DATE: September 25, 2017

In accordance with the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (R.A) 7722, otherwise known as the "Higher Education Act of 1994", this Office hereby endorses the above undertaking organized by the Ugnayang Pang-Agham Tao (UGAT), for the support and participation of all concerned.

This activity is open to all interested participants from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

Participation of officials, employees and students from private higher education institutions shall be VOLUNTARY Officials and employees of State and Local Universities and Colleges (SUCs and LUCs) who will participate in this activity should obtain prior approval from the President/Head of their respective institutions and are hereby reminded to observe proper use of government funds in accordance with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM} National Budget Circular No. 486 and Administrative Order No. 103.

For registration and further information, you may coordinate with the following contact persons:

Conference Secretariat
Jessie Varquez, Jr., at ugat.conference@gmail.com; or
Lilian de La Pena at 0927-303-7081

Wide dissemination of this Memorandum is desired.


PATRICIA B. LICUANAN, Ph.D. (Sgd)

Download scanned copy here: https://goo.gl/292CsF

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Aghamtao Online

Aghamtao: Journal of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT) / Anthropological Association of the Philippines
Volume 1 to 20  / 1978 to 2011

Aghamtao, the official publication of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT), the Anthropological Association of the Philippines, is now online.

Beginning with its maiden issue in 1978 devoted to a stocktaking of Anthropology in the Philippines, Aghamtao continues to provide a forum for the “scholarship and practice of anthropology” in the Philippines. Aghamtao features papers read in annual conferences as well as reports from special events organized by UGAT.

You may access archival issues of the publication at -

http://116.50.242.171/PSSC/index.php/agt01/index



This site features past issues of Aghamtao. Users are requested to provide proper attribution to works accessed in this site and observe other terms of usage under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 Philippines License.

Alternate site (Philippine Social Science Center Knowledge Archive) -

http://lynchlibrary.pssc.org.ph:8081/handle/0/137

Thursday, September 7, 2017

UGAT 39th Annual Conference Call for Participation

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines

39th Annual Conference
THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS: 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON WHAT IS AND WHAT OUGHT TO BE 
9-11 November 2017
Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City

The UGAT cordially invites you to its 39th Annual Conference at Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City, from 9-11 November 2017. The central theme of the conference is on human rights, and it will thus offer academic panels, round-table discussions, distinguished lectures, films, and special talks that consider ‘rights’ as a lens by which to weigh the realities of people’s daily lives against what they believe they are entitled to in their lives, in terms of goods or benefits, services or resources, or respect and human dignity. Implicit here is the assumption that there is a difference between what is and what ought to be; a difference that demands analysis in terms of context and causation, and understanding in terms of appreciation of peoples’ perceptions of their situation and their agentive responses thereto. This project is timely and relevant, given the unsettling times and spaces that our people now occupy.

We seek to foster further critical reflection upon the state of our country, people, and communities today; encourage theoretical and methodological refinement in the work of academics, activists, development workers, media practitioners, policy-makers, legislators, government officials, educators, health practitioners, and other actors; and perhaps provide a platform for dialogue on the possible role of anthropologists and other scholars and practitioners in light of the presentations and discussions in the conference.

Conference Convenor: Atty. Augusto B. Gatmaytan, PhD

Registration fee

Early registration (before 15 October 2017)
P3,000 non-member
P2,000 UGAT member
P1,500 student

On-site registration

P3,500 non-member
P2,500 UGAT member
P2,000 student

The Registration Fee covers the cost of the conference kit and meals (lunch and snacks). To register early, please deposit the amount to “Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc.”, CA 393359300015, at the Philippine National Bank (PNB - UP Campus Branch). Please present the deposit slip during conference registration. Membership in the UGAT is not included in the Registration Fee. The annual membership fee is PhP 750.00, inclusive of a copy of the AghamTao journal. Interested individuals may sign up for membership during the conference.

For further information, you may contact the conference secretariat (Jessie Varquez, Jr.) at ugat.conference@gmail.com or 09273037081 (Lilian de la Peña). Monitor UGAT on FB for updates: www.facebook.com/groups/ugat1978/.

Kindly forward this Call for Participation to your contacts and networks.

You can download pdf of this document here: https://goo.gl/K3GieU

Saturday, June 17, 2017

UGAT 39th Annual Conference - Second Call for Papers

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS

UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines

39th Annual Conference
THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS: 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON WHAT IS AND WHAT OUGHT TO BE 
9-11 November, 2017
Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City



Participants to the 39th UGAT Annual Conference are invited to consider ‘rights’ as a lens by which to weigh the realities of people’s daily lives against what they believe they are entitled to in their lives, in terms of goods or benefits, services or resources, or respect and human dignity. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that there is a difference between what is and what ought to be; a difference that demands analysis in terms of context and causation, and understanding in terms of appreciation of peoples’ perceptions of their situation and their agentive responses thereto. This project is timely, given the new, sometimes unsettling times and spaces people now occupy.

In this way, we may seek to foster further critical reflection upon the state of our country, people, and communities today; encourage theoretical and methodological refinement in the work of academics, activists, development workers, media practitioners, policy-makers, legislators, government officials, educators, health practitioners, and other actors; and perhaps provide a platform for dialogue on the possible role of anthropologists and other scholars and practitioners in light of the presentations and discussions in the conference.

Proposals for panels and paper that rely on local, ethnographic, or community-generated case-studies are particularly invited to address the following topics:
  • Roots of rights: indigenous or Philippine understandings of rights and obligations; reflections on religions and rights
  • Indigenous rights: assessing the IPRA on its 20th year; realizing self-determination; changing discourses (e.g., national minorities vs. indigenous peoples); indigenous concept of justice and rights in conflict resolution; recognition of rights according to the customary laws of indigenous communities
  • Human rights 1: consequences of war (e.g., secession, drugs, insurgency, etc.; the phenomenology of counter-insurgency; ethnographic reflections on state and anti-state violence)
  • Human rights 2: ethnographies of silence (or public acquiescence to violence); public secrets; scholarship in times of trouble
  • Women’s rights: continuities and changes; the state of Philippine feminism and feminist anthropology
  • Gender rights: sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions; LGBTQ+ rights
  • Moro rights: Islamic notions of rights; reflections on Moro identity and resistance; anthropological insights into the Moros’ road to peace
  • Governance and self-determination: issues in sovereignty; individual rights and human security; state power and instrumentalities
  • Rights of the displaced or dislocated: ethnographies of the internally displaced; the plight of informal settlers; issues arising from displacement or dislocation due to conflicts and disasters
  • Labor rights: continuities and changes; labor conditions in new and/or ‘shadow’ industries
  • Farmers’ rights: assessing the state’s agrarian reform program; the impact of climate change; the state of farmers and farming in the country
  • Property rights: transnational companies and local land grabs; the phenomenology of urbanization; issues in tenure systems
  • Environmental rights: continuities and changes in environmental advocacy; local responses to global climate change; articulating the rights of Nature; biodiversity conservation
  • Consumer rights: the ethnography of traffic; the phenomenology of disaster and life after disasters; reflections on the right to information; the internet as venue for activism and anti-activism
  • Rights of the disabled: reflections on/by people with physical and mental disabilities; inclusivity in the workplace; access to basic services; assessment of the implementation of the Magna Carta for disabled persons
  • Media rights: access to media and information; issues and concerns in various media (e.g., print, broadcast, new, social, etc.)
  • Children’s rights: the ethnography of young people; children in conflict with the law; the right to basic education, play and self-expression; issues on bullying
  • Language rights: struggles against the extinction of languages; the language of rights, the language of impunity
  • Rights to the past: Heritage and the materiality of symbols; struggles against revisionism; who owns the past?
  • Intellectual and privacy rights: copyright and ownership issues of creative, scholarly and other intellectual pursuits; informed consent and rights of research subjects
  • Non-human rights: rights and obligations in human and non-human relations; multispecies ethnographies; do spirits, plants, and animals have rights?
Proposals for other topics are also welcome, and will be given serious consideration.

Conference Convenor: Atty. Augusto Gatmaytan, PhD

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
  • Proposals for papers must include an abstract (250 words) written in a style that is accessible to non-academic audiences. Sub-themes into which the abstract falls may also be indicated. 
  • Proposals for panels, must include a panel abstract as well as paper abstracts.
  • Please include author’s name(s), institutional affiliation, and complete contact information (email-address, contact number and mailing address). 
  • Students intending to join the Student Paper competition must indicate this in the submission. Please specify the degree program, year level, and university.  
  • Kindly email your proposals as an attachment (in MS Word format) to ugatconference@gmail.com.   
Download CFP pdf here: goo.gl/cv6waV

Deadline: 10 August 2017
Notice of acceptance of proposals will be issued by email by September 2017.

For further information, please contact the conference secretariat at ugatconference@gmail.com (Jessie Varquez, Jr.) or 09273037081 (Lilian de la Peña).

Monitor UGAT on FB for updates: www.facebook.com/groups/ugat1978/.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

UGAT 39th Annual Conference Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines

39th Annual Conference
THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS: 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON WHAT IS AND WHAT OUGHT TO BE 
9-11 November, 2017
Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City


Participants to the 39th UGAT Annual Conference are invited to consider ‘rights’ as a lens by which to weigh the realities of people’s daily lives against what they believe they are entitled to in their lives, in terms of goods or benefits, services or resources, or respect and human dignity. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that there is a difference between what is and what ought to be; a difference that demands analysis in terms of context and causation, and understanding in terms of appreciation of peoples’ perceptions of their situation and their agentive responses thereto. This project is timely, given the new, sometimes unsettling times and spaces people now occupy.

In this way, we may seek to foster further critical reflection upon the state of our country, people, and communities today; encourage theoretical and methodological refinement in the work of academics, activists, development workers, media practitioners, policy-makers, legislators, government officials, educators, health practitioners, and other actors; and perhaps provide a platform for dialogue on the possible role of anthropologists and other scholars and practitioners in light of the presentations and discussions in the conference.

Proposals for panels and paper that rely on local, ethnographic, or community-generated case-studies are particularly invited to address the following topics:
  • Roots of rights: indigenous or Philippine understandings of rights and obligations; reflections on religions and rights
  • Indigenous rights: assessing the IPRA on its 20th year; realizing self-determination; changing discourses (e.g., national minorities vs. indigenous peoples); indigenous concept of justice and rights in conflict resolution; recognition of rights according to the customary laws of indigenous communities
  • Human rights 1: consequences of war (e.g., secession, drugs, insurgency, etc.; the phenomenology of counter-insurgency; ethnographic reflections on state and anti-state violence)
  • Human rights 2: ethnographies of silence (or public acquiescence to violence); public secrets; scholarship in times of trouble
  • Women’s rights: continuities and changes; the state of Philippine feminism and feminist anthropology
  • Gender rights: sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions; LGBTQ+ rights
  • Moro rights: Islamic notions of rights; reflections on Moro identity and resistance; anthropological insights into the Moros’ road to peace
  • Governance and self-determination: issues in sovereignty; individual rights and human security; state power and instrumentalities
  • Rights of the displaced or dislocated: ethnographies of the internally displaced; the plight of informal settlers; issues arising from displacement or dislocation due to conflicts and disasters
  • Labor rights: continuities and changes; labor conditions in new and/or ‘shadow’ industries
  • Farmers’ rights: assessing the state’s agrarian reform program; the impact of climate change; the state of farmers and farming in the country
  • Property rights: transnational companies and local land grabs; the phenomenology of urbanization; issues in tenure systems
  • Environmental rights: continuities and changes in environmental advocacy; local responses to global climate change; articulating the rights of Nature; biodiversity conservation
  • Consumer rights: the ethnography of traffic; the phenomenology of disaster and life after disasters; reflections on the right to information; the internet as venue for activism and anti-activism
  • Rights of the disabled: reflections on/by people with physical and mental disabilities; inclusivity in the workplace; access to basic services; assessment of the implementation of the Magna Carta for disabled persons
  • Media rights: access to media and information; issues and concerns in various media (e.g., print, broadcast, new, social, etc.)
  • Children’s rights: the ethnography of young people; children in conflict with the law; the right to basic education, play and self-expression; issues on bullying
  • Language rights: struggles against the extinction of languages; the language of rights, the language of impunity
  • Rights to the past: Heritage and the materiality of symbols; struggles against revisionism; who owns the past?
  • Intellectual and privacy rights: copyright and ownership issues of creative, scholarly and other intellectual pursuits; informed consent and rights of research subjects
  • Non-human rights: rights and obligations in human and non-human relations; multispecies ethnographies; do spirits, plants, and animals have rights?
Proposals for other topics are also welcome, and will be given serious consideration.

Conference Convenor: Atty. Augusto Gatmaytan, PhD

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
  • Proposals for papers must include an abstract (250 words) written in a style that is accessible to non-academic audiences. Sub-themes into which the abstract falls may also be indicated. 
  • Proposals for panels, must include a panel abstract as well as paper abstracts.
  • Please include author’s name(s), institutional affiliation, and complete contact information (email-address, contact number and mailing address). 
  • Students intending to join the Student Paper competition must indicate this in the submission. Please specify the degree program, year level, and university.  
  • Kindly email your proposals as an attachment (in MS Word format) to ugatconference@gmail.com.   

Deadline: 01 June 2017
Notice of acceptance of proposals will be issued by email by August 2017.

For further information, please contact the conference secretariat at ugatconference@gmail.com (Jessie Varquez, Jr.) or 09273037081 (Lilian de la Peña). Monitor UGAT on FB for updates: www.facebook.com/groups/ugat1978/.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Who's in the shoes of E. Arsenio Manuel now?


Who's in the shoes of E. Arsenio Manuel now?

STELLA A. ESTREMERA
04 March 2017

FOR so many years now, maybe a decade, maybe more, but since I bought the book, "Manuvu Social Organization" I have been a fan of its author E. Arsenio Manuel.

But being out here in a southern city, tracking the man was impossible. Tracking his books is even difficult, much more the man. It was devastating to learn later on that the one author whose books I have been praying to collect has died in 2003.

From the few books that I have that were written by him, and several others where his works are included, I imagine how he went from village to village to explore the Manuvu communities in the 1960s when logging has not yet decimated the forests of Davao and Cotabato. I imagine meeting up with the datus he was able to meet and listening to their songs and epics.

Now, as I read through his books once more, I cannot help but wonder, who has taken up the tasks that he has left unfinished? He himself admitted that there were more stories and songs to record.

Along that line I can't help but rant at our basic education system and why the Department of Education cannot be pushed to make textbooks that carry the legends and epics and myths of Mindanao tribes. Why they insist on still feeding us the Legend of Lam-ang, when Lam-ang, the Ilocano strongman is but a puny epic hero when compared to the epic heroes of Mindanao.

Lam-ang, as our grade school textbooks say, only had brawn. Mindanao's super heroes had shields that fly and carry their masters to wherever they wanted to go, they had powers to make themselves as tiny insects that can enter their enemies' noses to kill from the inside or turn themselves into a pond a solid rock or an animal. They rode their spears and fly up the skies, they can bring back dead people to life.

But no, our students do not know about this. They know Superman and Ironman and Spiderman and just about every superhero in the Marvel comic books, but they do not have any idea who Tuwaang, Tulalang, Lumabet, Agyu, and Dumiwata are. Our children do not know about how the Sinalimba carries people to the heavens, and they are not even aware that in the Mindanaoan myths and epics and legends, whole villages rose up to heaven. We reserved that for our saints, and yes, Jesus Christ and Mother Mary. How much more colorful our schoolrooms would have been had our children been made to feast on the exploits of these epic heroes and met the Alingase (Aligase, depending on which tribe and village you are talking to), the one-eyed giant that seem to have a penchant for cutting down mountains.

Imagine, these are but a few of the tribal heroes and do not yet include the gods and demigods that took care of the land.

Reading through the relatively few books I have, I can lose myself in imagination as I see the epic heroes flying around while in battle, riding their shields and spears and hats, and dancing so hard, they could make the earth shake and crumble, while their women folks cast betel chews to bring warriors back to life, and all other stuff that only people living in the vast forests of Mindanao can ever imagine and weave into a tale.

How is it to live in the Skyworld inhabited by the supreme god and other major gods and goddesses, how is it to live in the underworld with Maivuyan (Mebuyan) and Tuhawa? How is it to live in the land of the swaying country? I can only wonder and wish that there will be an effort to put all these into storybooks that children can appreciate and make stories about, just as they do after watching yet another Marvel comic book story turned film.

I'm doing a bit of writing now, children's storybooks, but it's a mish-mash of originals and adaptations, and that's just me. Just one me. With the loads of myths and epics out there in Mindanao, we need a whole army to make a dent. Any takers?

*****

saestremera@yahoo.com

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/129486/Lifestyle/Estremera-Whos-in-the-shoes-of-E-Arsenio-Manuel-now

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Aghamtao 26 - Call for Submissions

Aghamtao: Journal of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT) / Anthropological Association of the Philippines
Volume 26 / 2017




CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

AGHAMTAO, the official and peer-reviewed journal of the Ugnayang Pang-AghamTao, Inc., is now accepting article submissions for Vol.26.

Submissions are encouraged to engage with the theme: “Circulating Anthropological Knowledge in the Public Sphere: Building Communities of Practice”.

Please email submissions to aghamtaojournal@gmail.com as soon as possible in order to be considered for the issue which is scheduled for launch in October 2017.  Given the review process, the closing date for submissions for this particular issue is March 2017. Submissions received beyond this date would be considered for succeeding issues.

Article submissions should be emailed in MS Word .doc format. It should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 250 words.  All figures (numbered and with captions) should be in a separate file. The minimum length for an article submission is 3,000 words.  For referencing style, please consult recent issues of AghamTao.


Very truly yours,


Fernando Zialcita and Jose Jowel Canuday, Issue Editors
Eulalio Guieb III, Editor-in-Chief
and the Editorial Board of AGHAMTAO Vol.26