Two Asian Center students, Clio Kimberly Tantoco and Karen Santillan, joined the Philippine Delegation to the Japan-ASEAN-Oceanian Student & Youth Exchange Program from 3 December 2013 to 10 December 2013. Ms. Tantoco is taking up MA Asian Studies while Ms. Santillan is finishing her Masters in Asian Studies. Both are Japanese Studies majors.
More than three hundred delegates from ASEAN, Timor Leste, Australia and New Zealand also participated in the program, which was organized by the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS 2.0)
They were divided in groups and were sent to visit the following prefectures, Yamaguchi, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Shimane, Kochi, Wakayama, Shizuoka, Chiba, and Ibaraki. The program included homestays, site visits to tourist spots, local companies, school exchange and museum visits. Upon their return, the participants are recognized as Youth Goodwill Ambassadors of Japan and are expected to promote their experiences in Japan in their respective countries.
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The JENESYS 2.0 succeeded the JENESYS, which started in 2007, to include Timor Leste and other Oceanian countries in the program. It aims to increase Japan’s tourism, assist the country’s economic recovery, and increase understanding between Japan and the Southeast Asian region.
Dr. Joefe Santarita took part in the Roundtable Conference on Strengthening Regional Integration in ASEAN through Multi-channel Dialogue from 9 December 2013 to 10 December 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dr Santarita presented, “Currents and Undercurrents of Filipino Migrant Workers in the ASEAN Region,” which examines the nature (e.g. competitiveness, resiliency) and challenges of the Filipino migrant workers in selected Southeast Asian countries amidst the forthcoming economic community integration in 2015.
The conference was jointly organized by the Foreign Policy Study Group (FPSG), the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF). It aims to provide an avenue to discuss issues and to understand bilateral relations between and among the ten member states in light of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. Leaders, scholars and various stakeholders from all ASEAN countries participated in the conference.
Dr. Santarita coordinates the South Asian Studies program of the Asian Center.
MCM Santamaria and Reuben Ramas Cañete traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to present their research in two separate conferences last December 2013. Dr. Santamaria delivered two presentations at the 6th International Seminar on Maritime Culture and Geopolitics from 10 December 2013 to 11 December 2013 at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The conference is organized by the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Malaya.
In ‘Expanding the Canon: Revisiting Sama Kulintangan Music(s) Across Island Communities in the Southern Philippines and East Malaysia,” MCM Santamaria seeks to interrogate Sama diversity via another language, that is, through its music and to lesser extent also through its related expression of dance. It mainly looks at how diversity is expressed in the performance of the kulintangan (graduated knobbed gong) ensemble repertoires.
Dr. Santamaria, Professor at the Asian Center, also discussed ‘A Tale of Two Festivals: Examining Sama-Bajau Culture in the Kamahardikaan Festival of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Province, Philippines and the Regatta Lepa Festival of Semporna, Sabah State, Malaysia’ with Hanafi Hussin from the University of Malaya.
Dr. Reuben Cañete, Associate Professor at the Asian Center, joined Dr. Santamaria in participating in the 5th International Conference on Southeast Asia (ICONSEA 2013) from 11 December to 13 December 2013, also at the University of Malaya.
In this conference, Dr. Santamaria discussed ‘From Tortillier to Ingsud-Ingsud: Creating New Understandings Concerning the Importance of Indigenous Dance Terminology in the Practice and Kinaesthetics of the Sama Igal Dance Tradition,’ which examines the use of indigenous dance terms from the perspective of linguistics and cultural studies.
Along with Dr. Santamaria and Marc San Valentin, Dr. Cañete presented ‘Re-Imag(in)ing the Nation, Sulu Sojourns: Examining Discourses of Nation in the Ethnographic Slide Collection of the Philippine Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS).Their paper explores how photography projects particular images of the nation, and helps facilitates the imagining of the nation.
The conference was organized by the University of Malaya and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya.