Long before Dante C. Simbulan’s path-breaking study on the Philippine elite, “The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy,” was published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2005, it had become “the much-quoted thesis on the socioeconomic elite in the Philippines,” according to Mark Turner, writing on the History of...
Tag: activism
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Art imitates life in Cinemalaya 2025’s hard-hitting indies
By putting a premium on thematic pertinence over pomp, formula and pageantry, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival has continually asserted its place as the country’s preeminent indie showcase since 2005. It explores stories that are deemed too risky for mainstream audiences and espouses perspectives that champion the weak, oppressed and marginalized. These indies operate...
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‘First Day Rage’ stirs UP campuses
Learning comes with militancy at the University of the Philippines (UP) right from the start of academic classes at UP Diliman and other campuses. In what was dubbed “First Day Rage,” students, faculty members, workers, community residents and other sectors assembled on Jan. 21, the first day of classes for the second semester of academic...
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Scholars should be activists, and vice versa
“All scholars should be activists, and all activists should be scholars” was Professor Emeritus Eduardo Tadem’s sharp response to Joe Quintero, a young geographer from York University who posed a simple yet provocative question that I paraphrase thus: “How did our activism influence our scholarship?” The question was raised in the panel on “Post-Pandemic Southeast...