The Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman will be hosting a lecture, A Mountain of Difference? Talking About Lumads and Christianity in the Colonial Period” by Dr. Oona Paredes on Thursday, 17 September 2015, Room 206, Hall of Wisdom, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Below is an abstract of the lecture:
“We tend to think of people like the indigenous Lumads of Mindanao as having resisted or otherwise escaped Spanish colonial influence, retaining their cultural distinctiveness as a result. In her book, A Mountain of Difference: The Lumad in Early Colonial Mindanao, anthropologist and ethnohistorian Oona Paredes draws on Spanish archival sources and indigenous oral traditions to reconceptualize the political and cultural history of the island's "upland" minorities.Through a series of historical vignettes based on missionary and government records, she makes the case that Lumads were in fact actively engaged with colonial authorities, especially missionaries of the Recoleto order, even in the earliest phases of the colonial period (16th to 18th centuries). These contacts, in turn, remain embedded deeply in Lumad cultural traditions, and continue to be expressed in surprising ways.
For this lecture, Dr. Paredes will discuss her book within the context of her broader work on Lumad issues, specifically her research amongst the Higaunon peoples in northern Mindanao. She argues that rethinking our understanding of ‘Christianization’ during this period will allow us to appreciate that all Filipinos, not just the most ‘obviously’ Christianized ones, were shaped by the colonial experience. In turn, hearing the stories of Lumads and ‘non-Christian’ others is essential to reconciling our colonial past to the realities of the present.”
Oona Paredes is Assistant Professor in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, and Convenor for the Minor in Religious Studies. Dr. Paredes completed her B.A. in Anthropology at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa (with a minor in History), and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at Arizona State University.As an anthropologist, her research focuses on the indigenous Lumad peoples of Mindanao (Philippines), and to date she has studied evangelical converts amongst the Higaunon and Manobo Lumad, land tenure issues, Lumad ethnohistory, early colonial contact, the politics of traditional authority and customary law amongst the Higaunon Lumad, and the challenges faced by Lumads as second-order minorities within the Bangsamoro homeland. For more information, please visit her website.
The lecture will be held as part of the a graduate class taught this semester by Dr. Cecilia T. Medina, AS 202, East-West Encounters. Seating is first-come, first-served, but the organizers would appreciate it if interested participants can send an email expressing their intent to come: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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.