These articles interrogate diverse issues in Philippine cultural history: the place of Nick Joaquin in the nation's historiography; the debate on the class position of Andres Bonifacio and the revolutionary outbreak of 1896; the state of regional literary studies and the case of Filipino crime fiction; and Philippine electoral politics as seen in the cracked mirror of Pascual Racuyal's career. The book ends with the author's reflections on the past four decades of Philippine cultural studies.
Balik-Tanaw: The Road Taken is the memoir of the distinguished Filipino critic, Soledad S. Reyes. This book is a record of Reyess journey of more than seven decades where personal narrative intertwines with people and events, with social and political movements with which the country sought to negotiate the treacherous shoals in the postwar years. The account carries a fair amount of biographical data (as lodged in the critics memory in the absence of diaries), from her childhood into her college years. But as the context becomes wider and more complex, the narrative takes on a more analytical frame as she tries to make sense of disparate experiences whirling about her in the tumult of the 1970s and beyond, and in the startling changes in the political landscape, local and global, that now grip the Filipino nation. This account, according to the author, is a story of an individual constructing a narrative that seeks to impose order upon chaos by retrieving aspects of the past and weaving a series of recalcitrant experiences into a coherent whole. Published in association with De La Salle University Publishing House
The global history of liberalism has paid too much attention to the West, neglecting the contributions of liberals from colonial nations. This book mines the thought of Filipino propagandist and novelist, Jose Rizal, to present a vision of liberalism for the colonized. It is both an introduction to Rizal and a treatise on rights, freedom, and tyranny in colonial contexts. Though a work on history, it responds to the illiberal present of rising authoritarianism and populism.
"One of the largest Muslim populations in the world today resides in Southeast Asia. The region has also produced its own pedigree of reformers who have critiqued the limits of Islamic thought and propounded new lines of thinking in the road to construct a better ummah. This book captures the progressive and pluralistic nature of Islamic reformism in Southeast Asia from the mid-twentieth century onwards, a period can now be regarded as the age of networked Islam. Offering a fresh conceptualization that could be well applied in the parts of the Islamic world, the author shows how several influential Muslim intellectuals have given rise to an "Islamic reformist mosaic" in Southeast Asia. Representing different strands of reformist thinking, these shapers of Islam form a unified and coherent frame of thought that distinguishes itself from the ultra-traditionalist and ultra-secularist leanings. This fascinating study is indispensable to anyone interested in understanding the challenges facing Islam and other religions in the modern world"--
A startling exposé of the CIA's development and spread of psychological torture, from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and beyond In this revelatory account of the CIA's secret, fifty-year effort to develop new forms of torture, historian Alfred W. McCoy uncovers the deep, disturbing roots of recent scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Far from aberrations, as the White House has claimed, A Question of Torture shows that these abuses are the product of a long-standing covert program of interrogation. Developed at the cost of billions of dollars, the CIA's method combined "sensory deprivation" and "self-inflicted pain" to create a revolutionary psychological approach—the first innovation in torture in centuries. The simple techniques—involving isolation, hooding, hours of standing, extremes of hot and cold, and manipulation of time—constitute an all-out assault on the victim's senses, destroying the basis of personal identity. McCoy follows the years of research—which, he reveals, compromised universities and the U.S. Army—and the method's dissemination, from Vietnam through Iran to Central America. He traces how after 9/11 torture became Washington's weapon of choice in both the CIA's global prisons and in "torture-friendly" countries to which detainees are dispatched. Finally McCoy argues that information extracted by coercion is worthless, making a case for the legal approach favored by the FBI. Scrupulously documented and grippingly told, A Question of Torture is a devastating indictment of inhumane practices that have spread throughout the intelligence system, damaging American's laws, military, and international standing.
This “ groundbreaking book . . . is essential reading not only for the Filipino diaspora but for anyone who cares about the mysteries of racial identity” (Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist). Is race only about the color of your skin? In The Latinos of Asia, Anthony Christian Ocampo shows that what “color” you are depends largely on your social context. Filipino Americans, for example, helped establish the Asian American movement and are classified by the US Census as Asian. But the legacy of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines means that they share many cultural characteristics with Latinos, such as last names, religion, and language. Thus, Filipinos’ “color” —their sense of connection with other racial groups—changes depending on their social context. The Filipino story demonstrates how immigration is changing the way people negotiate race, particularly in cities like Los Angeles where Latinos and Asians now constitute a collective majority. Amplifying their voices, Ocampo illustrates how second-generation Filipino Americans’ racial identities change depending on the communities they grow up in, the schools they attend, and the people they befriend. Ultimately, The Latinos of Asia offers a window into both the racial consciousness of everyday people and the changing racial landscape of American society.
In 2007, an unlikely troupe of 1500 Filipino prisoners became Internet celebrities after their YouTube video of Michael Jackson's ground-breaking hit 'Thriller' went viral. Taking this spectacular dance as a point of departure, Dangerous Mediations explores the disquieting development of prisoners performing punishment to a global, online audience. Combining analysis of this YouTube video with first-hand experiences from fieldwork in the Philippine prison, Áine Mangaoang investigates a wide range of interlocking contexts surrounding this user-generated text to reveal how places of punishment can be transformed into spaces of spectacular entertainment, leisure, and penal tourism. In the post-YouTube era, Dangerous Mediations sounds the call for close readings of music videos produced outside of the corporate culture industries. By connecting historical discussions on postcolonialism, surveillance and prison philosophy with contemporary scholarship on popular music, participatory culture and new media, Dangerous Mediations is the first book to ask critical questions about the politics of pop music and audiovisual mediation in early 21st-century detention centres.
