Rolando Talampas, Associate Professor at the UP Asian Center, presented a paper, “Filipino Tricycle on Trial: Living on Three Wheels” at the 8th EuroSEAS Conference, which was held at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria from 11 to 14 August 2015. In his paper, Associate Professor Talampas argues that the tricycle is a mode of transportation intimately linked to the “slow” pace of progress and development in the Philippines. Designed for short-distance travel, especially in the countryside, the tricycle is “a poor-people’s vehicle,” a motorbike attached to a ‘sidecar' that is “central to the lifeblood” of Philippine society.
Despite its centrality, however, Talampas contends that the tricycle has been the subject of much criticism and legislation that aims to regulate it or drive it out of existence; and it is threatened by “globalization-inspired national road-building programs.”
His paper was part of the panel “Wheels of Change? Development and Cultures of Mobility in Southeast Asia," which sought to grapple with, among others, the rise of “privatized forms of transport in Southeast” and the ways people cope with urban mobility.
The 8th EuroSEAS Conference explored multi- and interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives on Southeast Asian studies. The conference was organized by the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS), an organization of scholars from various disciplines dedicated to the study of Southeast Asia. Learn more about EuroSEAS and the EuroSEAS conference.
Rolando Talampas is Associate Professor and College Secretary of the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. Specializing in West Asian Studies, Philippine Studies, and Development Studies, he handles several graduate courses, including Research Methods and Seminar on Southeast Asia.
Photo: Associate Professor Talampas presenting his paper at the EuroSEAS conference. Photo courtesy of
The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. View recent and upcoming Lectures & Conferences and read other News & Announcements.