A two-day international conference on environmental humanities was recently organized by the UP Diliman (UPD) Department of History (DHist) together with the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Department of History, and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of History.
According to the conference organizers, Environmental Humanities in the Philippines and Southeast Asia (Environmental Humanities) “brings together the humanities and the sciences to offer context and discussion to the many issues and questions relevant to understanding the changing natural world in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.”
In his message to the conference participants, UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II said “our experience in Southeast Asia provides important local perspectives from which to understand the global environmental crisis.” He added, “this conference is therefore timely and crucial as addressing our global ecological problems requires collaborative engagements between humanities scholars and scientists.”
For her part, Dean Ruth R. Lusterio-Rico of the UPD College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) said, “scholars in the social sciences and the humanities have delved deeper into the studies of the environment, particularly focusing on the relations and interactions between people and their physical environment and the numerous aspects of such relationship. In the Philippines and in the whole region of Southeast Asia, the study of the environment definitely requires a multidisciplinary lens. The use of different perspectives from various fields and disciplines in analyzing complex environmental issues and problems is always instructive and relevant.”
Meanwhile, Patricia Irene N. Dacudao, PhD, conference convener and assistant professor at the ADMU Department of History, highlighted the fragility of local ecologies and the need to better understand humanity’s relationship with the environment. She stated that it is through such understanding that wisdom can be gained to address the challenges of our times.
Lusterio-Rico expressed confidence that the research papers presented at the international conference would make significant contributions to environmental humanities in Southeast Asia and “to our understanding of the various aspects of the environmental issues and challenges in the region.”
The conference featured 24 paper presentations aimed at fostering conversations on environmental topics. Twelve of these papers were divided among four panels and presented at the UPD Pilar Herrera Hall at the Palma Hall on April 28.
Panel 1, which focused on coasts, lakes, and reclamation, included the papers Transforming Urban Natures on the Edge: Temporalities of Land Reclamation in Manila Bay by Kristian Karlo C. Saguin of UPD; The Future of ‘Wallace’s Dreamponds’: Novel Configurations of Conservation Practice in Sulawesi’s Ancient Lakes by Jonathan Galka of Harvard University / NUS Asia Research Institute; and Mga Kwento sa Hibasanan (Stories from Hibasanan): Local Ecological Knowledge Reveals Threats to Coastal Gleaming Systems by Dawn Iva P. Satumbaga, Justine Nicole Torres, Cherie Audrey Alfiler, and Raymond Rodolfo of ADMU. Lusterio-Rico chaired this panel.
The second panel, chaired by Ma. Florina Orillos-Juan, PhD, associate professor at the De La Salle University, is about entomology and society. Papers at this panel were Recapturing the Light by Eunice Jingmei Tan of NUS; Raden Soesilo and the Making of Malaria Ecology in Indonesia, 1925-1943 by Anthony D. Medrano of NUS; and Marvelous Insects, Injurious Insects: Leopoldo Uichanco and the Practices of Philippine Entomology by Ruel V. Pagunsan of UPD.
The third panel explored local ecologies and vernacular practices and was chaired by Peter Schoppert, director of the NUS Press. The papers at the panel were Marketing the Land: Mapping, Resistance, and Environmental Memory in the 1745 Tagalog Revolts by Ros C. Costelo of UPD; Plants to Heal the Lovesick in the Malay World by Faizah Zakaria of NUS; and Sero Worlds: Shifting Livelihoods and Spatial Orientations in Kupang Bay by Gillian Bogart of University of California Santa Cruz.
The final panel, chaired by Maria Mangahas, PhD, professor at the UPD Department of Anthropology, focused on animals, institutions, and conservation. Presentations included Alvin Seale, the USFC Albatross, and the Beginning of Insular Fish Science in the Philippine Islands, 1907-1910 by Brian Paul Giron of ADMU; Bienvenido M. Gonzalez and the Advancement of Animal Husbandry in the Philippines by April Hope T. Castro of UP Los Baños; and Mudskippers as Conservation Emblems for Mangrove Parks by Zeehan Jaafar of NUS and Kathy Poh of NUS Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
The second day of the international conference will take place on April 29 at the ADMU Escaler Hall of the Science Education Complex, where the rest of the participating research presentations will be delivered.
Environmental Humanities was jointly organized with the support from the CSSP and the UPD Learning Center for Environment and Social Sustainability, and the ADMU Rosita G. Leong School of Social Sciences and the ADMU Office of University Partnerships and Internationalization.
Conveners of the international conference are Dacudao, Ruel V. Pagunsan, PhD, associate professor at DHist, and Anthony D. Medrano, PhD, assistant professor at the NUS Department of History.