UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines
and
University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
42nd Annual Conference
1521 and Beyond: Anthropology of Encounters
05-07 November 2020
University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
Christianity may be considered the most significant cultural consequence of Spanish colonization in the country. But this religion was utilized to subjugate the local population and coerce them to convert to a belief system imposed by the colonizers. Despite the victory of the locals led by Lapulapu over Magellan and his men in 1521, this group of islands now named the Philippines came under the rule not only of the Spaniards for centuries but also the Americans thereafter. Encounters with the colonizers were experienced by local peoples in different places across different time periods, sometimes violently. Such historical events illustrate how cultures encounter each other through various forms, resulting in a number of challenges, consequences, and changes, on both sides.
As we approach the 500th anniversary of Lapulapu’s victory, as well as Magellan’s success in circumnavigating the Earth, and the introduction of Christianity in this country, the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao (UGAT) would like to scrutinize various types of encounters before, during and beyond 1521 up until the present.
Encounter as a phenomenon has different typologies and layers of interactions with temporal and spatial dimensions corresponding to when and where two or more people meet and the circumstances that unfold before, during, and after every encounter. The traditional type of encounters is direct and face-to-face between individuals or groups involving actual physical movements together with certain products or objects, plants, and animals, ideas and technologies as commodities—like the experiences with Muslim traders and Spanish colonizers—which may have been used in the transaction in order to gain access to a particular place or to negotiate for other scarce commodities for mutual benefit or for the pursuit of some hidden agenda.
The other type of encounters, in contemporary times, does not only involve physical movements of people across places but include those engagements mediated by information technology, social media, transportation and communication systems, and other social networks that allow the parties involved to satisfy or achieve their respective purposes. But because encounters may involve individuals, groups, communities or organizations with varied and often conflicting interests due to social class, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age group, political position, and so on, as well as of commodities with differentiated values; the results of such encounters may be favorable or unfavorable. Due to the power imbalance between the involved parties inherent in the hierarchy of encounters, no mutually beneficial results are assured, but can be worked out by both parties in the process.
Therefore, this conference invites anthropologists, practitioners, and supporters of anthropology to submit and present studies that examine the cultural contexts, meanings, dynamics and consequences of encounters beyond its common notion as physical meetings of different peoples.
Individual and panel abstract submissions may cover the following topics:
- Precolonial contacts
- Exploration and colonization
- Evangelization and religious contacts
- Travel and tourism
- Religious movements
- Social movements
- Indigenous Peoples in transition
- Community engagements
- Virtual communities
- Digital encounters
- Classroom encounters
- Supply chain and product branding
- Expatriates and overseas workers
- Encounters with globalization
- Zone of encounters
- Encounters between economic systems & practices
- Political encounters
- Violent encounters
- Cosmological or ideological encounters
- Art objects and appreciations
- Gender and sexuality encounters
- Self and others
- Law and enforcement
- Human and non-human encounters
- Inter-generational encounters
- Discourse on time, space and place
- Researchers and the researched
- Science and local knowledge intersections
- Decolonizing anthropology
- Intercultural marriages
- Intercultural communication
Proposals that do not fall under any of the identified topics above may be given consideration.
Conference Convenors
Jose Eleazar R. Bersales – University of San Carlos
Enrique G. Oracion - Silliman University
Zona Hildegarde S. Amper - University of San Carlos
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
- Submissions must use the prescribed Submission Form (http://bit.ly/SubmissionFormUGAT2020) which includes an abstract (250 words) written in a style that is accessible to non-academic audiences.
- The submission must be original and has not been presented in other conferences or published in journals or books.
- Proposals may be written in English or in any Philippine language.
- Proposals for panels must include a panel abstract as well as paper abstracts.
- Kindly email the completely filled-out Submission Form (in pdf) to ugat.conference@gmail.com
Deadline: 01 June 2020
Notice of acceptance of proposals will be issued by email by July 2020
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For further information, please contact the head of the conference secretariat, Ms Marjury Dino (+63 956 538 2816) or at ugat.conference@gmail.com
To learn more about our conference venue, you can check the web page of University of San Carlos at http://www.usc.edu.ph/
Please like our UGAT page on FB for updates: http://www.facebook.com/ugat1978/
