Expressing Modernities: Day 4 Part I of “Contacts and Continuities II: 125 Years of Philippine-American Encounters”

The public is cordially invited to the fourth day, in two parts, of Contacts and Continuities II: 125 Years of Philippine-American Encounters, a conference series at Ateneo de Manila University.  Part I of Day 4: Expressing Modernities will take place on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at Leong Hall Auditorium and will feature the keynote address by Marian Pastor-Roces followed by three panels.

The panel Literary Contact Zones of US-Philippine Relations features Charlie Samuya Veric, Luisa L. Gomez, and Maria Gabriela Martin of Ateneo de Manila University. The discussions will explore the significance of the National Summer Writers Workshop, how commemoration practices reinforce Nick Joaquin’s literary greatness through biographical narratives, and the construction of self-reflexivity in Filipino-American literature. 

Philippine Fiction in English and Cultural Knowledge will include presentations by Nathan Chan, Stanley Guevarra (University of Tokyo), and Stephen Seth Zagala. This panel will focus on Nick Joaquin’s use of crab symbolism in his novels to critique and articulate the complexities of postcolonial Philippines, Philippine-American relations in the 1950s through N.V.M. Gonzalez’s The Bamboo Dancers, and Luis Katigbak’s portrayal of Manila as a dynamic, culturally rich city in his literary works.

Finally, Literature in Spanish will feature presentations by Maria del Rocio Ortuño Casanova (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia), Wystan de la Peña (University of the Philippines), and Irene Villaescusa Illán (University of Amsterdam). The discussions will focus on how radio shifted Filipino poetry from Hispanic sentiment to the popularity of tango from 1922 to 1952, how early Filipino writers affirmed identity using Malakas and Maganda in response to Americanization, and Evangelina Guerrero Zacarías’ stories in The Excelsior, highlighting her nuanced portrayal of women’s roles amid US-Hispanic cultural influences.

Interested parties may register through this link. Entrance to the conference and the panel presentations is FREE. Certificates of attendance may also be issued to onsite participants; kindly request these via the registration link.

These events will also be live-streamed on the main University YouTube channel. Visit 
https://sites.google.com/ateneo.edu/contacts-continuities-2/youtube-live-stream

We hope you can join us in reflecting on 125 years of Philippine-American encounters. If you have questions, please write an email to jvreyes@ateneo.edu. This event is organized by the School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences and made possible through the generosity of the Kwan Laurel donation to the School of Humanities.