For the second day of the national conference “Bagumbayan: Stories of Place and Identity” (BAGUMBAYAN), 12 research papers were featured by UP scholars and national and international institutes of higher learning.
Held on March 10 via Zoom and simultaneously livestreamed on the Facebook pages of the Folklore Studies Program (FSP) of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) and the UP Diliman (UPD) Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA), the conference had four panels each having three paper presentations. Two panels were held in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Hernandez. Photo from the Department of Linguistics website
BAGUMBAYAN was organized by the FSP with the support of the UPD Office of the Chancellor (OC) through OICA.
The conference started with Panel 3, the first panel of Day 2 and was moderated by Prof. Madilene Landicho of the CSSP Department of Anthropology (Anthro).
“Ang mga papel sa panel na ito ay maglilibot sa atin sa iba’t ibang lugar mula sa UP Los Baños (UPLB) sa pamamagitan ng mga alaala ng mga mag-aaral, sa mga ritwal na mundo ng Pokemon GO, at palibot sa Metro Manila sa pamamagitan naman ng mga kableng pangkuryente at pangtelekomunikasyon,” Landicho said.
The third panel had the research papers “Mapping Memories and Place Attachment among Undergraduate Students of UP Los Baños” by professors John Ceffrey L. Eligue, EnP and Sharon Feliza P. Ann Macagba, MSc, EnP (UPLB College of Human Ecology Department of Community and Environmental Resource Planning), “The Tale of Two Worlds: Photo Stories of Player’s Experience with Pokemon GO!” by program director Fernand Francis M. Hermoso (University of Asia and the Pacific Institutional Outreach and Extension Program), and “Lines Vanishing at a Point: The Disembodied, Disconnected, and Dysfunctional Representations of Wires in Metro Manila” by Prof. Annie Dennise Pacaña (UPD College of Fine Arts).
Meanwhile, the fourth panel, moderated by Prof. Jem R. Javier of the CSSP Department of Linguistics, featured research papers by CSSP faculty members.
These were “The Lower Abra River Geo-stories” by Prof. Dominique Sasha N. Amorsolo (Department of Geography/Geog), “Places of Disaster, Places of Devotion: Mary in the Lives of People Faced by Disasters in a Town in the Philippines” by Prof. Soledad Natalia Dalisay, PhD, (Anthro), and Landicho’s “Pangungunyapit sa Ala-ala: Ang Paghubog ng Identidad sa Gitna ng Kalamidad na Dala ng Pagsabog ng Bulkang Taal (2020).”
After an hour and a half break, BAGUMBAYAN resumed its session in the afternoon with the fifth panel moderated by Prof. Francisco Jayme Paolo A. Guiang of the CSSP Department of History (Hist).
“This panel has three presentations that take us to an inquiry on various topics, namely: metaphysical interrogation on traditional healing practices in Southern Tagalog, investigations on cultural heritage preservation in Batanes, and an exploration on the Ivatan indigenous cosmology,” Guiang said.
The papers presented were “Towards a Filipino Metaphysics: Uncovering the Metaphysical Presuppositions of Traditional Healing Practices in a Southern Tagalog Town” by Prof. Jairus D. Espiritu (CSSP Department of Philosophy), “Storying Immateriality: Field Reflections from Intangible Cultural Heritage Conservation in Batanes” by professors Emmanuel B. Garcia, EnP and Joseph Palis, PhD, (Geog), and “Ivatan Indigenous Cosmology” by Prof. Edwin Winston A. Valientes (Anthro).
The last panel (Panel 6) featured “Three esteemed panelists who have done great work in the fields of history, archaeology, and anthropology,” said Prof. Noreen H. Sapalo of Anthro, the panel moderator.
The research papers presented were “The Parian of Manila: ‘Chinatown’ and the Chinese in the Spanish Philippines” by Prof. Jely A. Galang, PhD (Hist), “Forgotten but Not Forgotten: Mga Kuwento sa Pinagbayanan” by Prof. Grace Barretto-Tesoro, PhD (Archaeological Studies Program), and “Un/making Myths and Miracles in the Town of Dollars, Philippines” Prof. Dada Docot, PhD (Purdue University).
In closing, Prof. Jesus Federico C. Hernandez, BAGUMBAYAN convenor and FSP coordinator, thanked everyone who helped organize the national conference and the OC, through OICA, for the support.
“Hindi madali mag-organize ng pambansang kumperensiya sa maikling panahon lang. We had less than two months, (ma)buti na lang nakabuo tayo ng team na tila type A personalities at mukhang sanay magtrabaho ng 18 hours a day kung kaya’t naging madali at masistema ang pagbuo nitong kumperensiya,” he said.
In addition, Hernandez encouraged the participants to help the FSP “locate the places of folklore in contemporary Philippine academia and redefine perhaps the identity of folklore from more than just stories of antiquity to a folklore that is relevant, reflective, and responsive to the experiences and struggles of our communities.” BAGUMBAYAN is part of the UPD Arts and Culture Festival 2022 with the theme “kaMALAYAn: Pamana ng GomBurZa @ 150.”