The UP Diliman (UPD) Department of English and Comparative Literature recently organized the 2024 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Summer School (IACS Summer School 2024). Held from Aug. 5 to 16 with the support of the UPD Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts, the summer school carried the theme Tense and Tender Tropics: Ecologies of Vulnerability and Care. Below is a write-up by Kristine Reynaldo, about the summer school. On the IACS Summer School 2024 Kristine Reynaldo In his opening lecture for the 2024 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Summer School (IACS Summer School 2024), Chih-ming Wang characterized the event as a “subject-making laboratory” through which “the inter-Asia project is … advanced.” The gist of this project, as Chua Beng Huat reiterated to the summer school participants, was “to bring Asian scholars, Asian writings in Asia to the global audience and into the global archive. The idea, as Chen Kuan-Hsing has said in Asia as Method, is to multiply locations and frames of references within Asia itself, rather than singular reference of Western material.” Such a tide-turning endeavor requires concerted efforts by generations of scholars in building resources and spaces of encounter among intellectuals in Asia. Participants at the Vargas Museum. Photo from the UPD Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts The IACS Summer School 2024 organized by the UP Diliman (UPD) Department of English and Comparative Literature (DECL) with the support of the UPD Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts, brought together 30 local and international scholars and cultural workers and activists to serve as summer school faculty, workshop facilitators, and film screening talkback speakers, and 45 graduate students, researchers, and artists from all around the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Held from Aug. 5 to 16 in UPD and assembled around the theme Tense and Tender Tropics: Ecologies of Vulnerability and Care, the summer school consisted of lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, workshops, performances, field visits, and small-group discussions. Through this diverse range of activities, participants explored four interrelated areas of inquiry: (1) Ecocriticism and Critical Island and Empire Studies; (2) Conflict and Violence; (3) Care Work, and; (4) Critical Mediations, focusing on curatorial and artistic practices, productions, and initiatives committed to political story-telling. They inquired into problems faced by many societies in Asia, as these manifest in the Philippine context: inequality and generalized precarity, militarized discourses and state violence, development aggression, imperial and neocolonial politics and economies of extraction (including not only of natural resources, but also digital and academic extractivism), and responses to climate emergency and other planetary conditions of crisis and vulnerability. Participants during Day 1 of IACS Summer School 2024. Photo from the UPD Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts In advancing discussions on these topics, the summer school…

The UP Fighting Maroons Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) started the second round of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 men’s basketball tournament with a win against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers, 83-73, on Oct. 13 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Francis Lopez and Terence Fortea led the charge for the UP Fighting Maroons en route to their seventh win in eight outings. Lopez scores on a dunk against Cabañero. Photo from the UAAP Media Team It was a close contest from the tip off as UPMBT and UST traded baskets in the first three quarters. The UP Fighting Maroons were just down by three points, 59-62, going into the fourth frame. Down by four points early in the payoff period, 61-65, the UP Fighting Maroons then put up a good defensive stance and uncorked a 16-2 run to take the lead, 77-67, still with four minutes and nine seconds remaining in the game. Fortea. Photo from the UAAP Media Team The Growling Tigers tried fight back as Nic Cabanero and Mo Tounkara scored on their ball possessions, but Fortea responded with two three pointers to seal the game for the UP Fighting Maroons. Lopez top scored for the Fighting Maroons with 20 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Fortea scored 16 points, two rebounds, and three assists. Harold Alarcon and Quentin Millora-Brown chipped in 11 points and 10 points, respectively. JD Cagulangan who saw action after missing their last two games, contributed nine points, four assists, and two steals. UPMBT’s next game against the University of the East Red Warriors is onn Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. (From left) Millora-Brown, Lopez, and Fortea. Photo from the UAAP Media Team

In honor of the people who fought the atrocities brought by the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines 52 years ago, UP Diliman (UPD) held events contributing to the university’s Day of Remembrance this year. For the whole month of September, UPD lined up close to 20 activities comprising exhibits, forums, film screenings, radio shows, and discussions. The activities were held by more than 10 academic units and organizations on campus. The units that held events for the Day of Remembrance were the UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA), Bulwagan ng Dangal University Heritage Museum (BnD), Center for International Studies (CIS), Third World Studies Center (TWSC), UP Film Institute Film Center (UPFI Film Center), College of Architecture (CA), College of Arts and Letters (CAL), College of Fine Arts, Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas (DFPP), Departamento ng Kasaysayan (DKas), University Library (UL), and UP Theater Complex (UPTC). Student organizations Aliguyun UP Folklorists (Aliguyon), DZUP, the School of Library and Information Studies Student Council (SLIS Student Council), and DZUP special program Serbisyong Tatak UP (STUP) also hosted activities in observance of the Day of Remembrance. Kalahating Siglo ng Daluyong, 2022, oil on canvas, an artwork from the OICA collection given by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, exhibited at the Palma Hall lobby during the Day of Remembrance observance. Photo from the UP Diliman OICA Facebook page. According OICA’s official roster, there were seven exhibits in observance of the Day of Remembrance: SP Lopez: The Radical President Exhibition hosted by the University Library, Kalahating Siglo ng Daluyong (OICA and the BnD), 09.21 We will never forget. (OICA and the DKas), Special night lights of ‘ARKI’ letters in red, an outdoor exhibit (CA), Black Cloth Hanging and 09.21 Projection on UP Theater, an outdoor exhibit (UPTC), Paggunita at Pagdiwang: Day of Remembrance Exhibits (UP Fine Arts Gallery) and Exposing the Private Face of Ferdinand E. Marcos: An Exhibit (TWSC). Two forums were also held: Ang Bagong Pilipinas Hymn: Bagong Awitin, Lumang Tugtugin? Organized by the CIS, and Gunita ng Pakikipagtunggali: Mga Akda at Sinupan sa Panahon ng Diktadura by DKas. Maritial Law-related films were screened at the UPFI Film Center: Lakad Gunita sa Pamantasang Hinirang: First Quarter Storm and Diliman Commune; and Alipato at Muog. Over at DZUP, radio shows discussing Martial Law were aired: #NeverAgain: Anong Estado ng Pamamahayag Noong Panahong Bawal Maghayag?; #NeverAgain: Martial Law History: Paano Ipaiintindi sa mga Gen Z?; Diktadurang Marcos: Ang Katotohanan ng Batas Militar—aired in partnership with STUP; #NeverAgain: Anong Estado ng Pamamahayag Noong Panahong Bawal Maghayag? Part 2; and Kanya-kanyang Tasaday: Mito at Diskurso ng Pagkakakilanlan (Balik-tanaw sa Cultural Lore ng Batas Militar)—aired in partnership with Aliguyon and CAL.