The UP Asian Center, in collaboration with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) and the Japan Foundation Manila, will host the onsite international symposium, “Pre-/Post-colonial Southern Philippines: Japanese and Filipino Perspectives” on 01 October 2025, 1 PM (GMT+8), at the Seminar Room, UP Asian Center. The event is free and open to the public. Walk-ins are welcome but, attendees are encouraged to register online because of limited slots.
ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM
Southern Philippines is a historically, socially, and culturally significant region and home to a relatively large Muslim population within the predominantly Christian nation of the Philippines. For centuries, it has served as a contact zone (Pratt, 1991) and site for political, economic, social and cultural mixing among various religious and ethnic groups, such as Christians, the Moro, and the Lumad. While the southern Philippines (especially Mindanao and Sulu) is sometimes regarded as the periphery, distant from the mainstream Philippines, it possesses a rich expanse and connectivity that link to the vast network of the broader Malay world and the rest of the global Islamic world.
This international symposium examines both the historical, inter-social, and inter-cultural realities in pre- and post-colonial southern Philippines, in particular and in relation to the Muslim society known as the Bangsa Moro. It gathers Filipino and Japanese scholars who specialize in the southern Philippine (especially the Bangsa Moro) society to engage in interdisciplinary discussions regarding the local history and contemporary social- and/or cultural situations there.
Jointly organized by UP Asian Center, Core project Anthropology, KKLO, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), and the Japan Foundation Manila, this symposium serves as a commemorative event for the 70 th founding anniversary of the UP Asian Center, honoring the late Professor Asiri Abubakar, who conducted research on the Bangsa Moro community in the southern Philippines for decades with great dedication and enthusiasm.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
MIDORI KAWASHIMA
Professor Emeritus, Sophia University, Japan
Professor Midori Kawashima specializes in the history of religious, political, and social movements of Muslims in the southern Philippines and their connections with other parts of the Philippines and the rest of the world. Until her retirement in 2019, she was a member of the Faculty of Global Studies at Sophia University, where she is now a Professor Emeritus. Her current research focuses on the study of intellectual activities of Mindanao Muslims from the 19th to the mid-20th century and the Islamic manuscripts and books they used and wrote, discussing these materials in a broader Southeast Asian context.
ARIEL C. LOPEZ, Ph.D.
Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman
Dr. Ariel C. Lopez is an Associate Professor at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he also serves as the Assistant to the Dean for Research, Publications, and Information. He earned his Ph.D. in History from Leiden University, the Netherlands. He specializes in Indonesian Studies, colonial and maritime History, Philippine History, and Southeast Asian History. His most recent publication is "Christian Conversions and Dutch Colonialism in Minahasa in the nineteenth century" published in Archipel: Études interdisciplinaires sur le monde insulindien.
ASUNA YOSHIZAWA, Ph.D.
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
Dr. Asuna Yoshizawa is a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, specializing in cultural anthropology and Philippine studies. She received her Ph.D. in Area Studies from Kyoto University, based on long-term fieldwork in Mindanao. Her research focuses on interreligious and interethnic relations and everyday practices of cultivating peace in the southern Philippines. Her recent publications include an article on the identity and religious practices of Balik-Islam (Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations) and a forthcoming article on women’s narratives of polygyny and interreligious marriages (Feminist Anthropology). Her current book project, "Living with Shifting Voices," examines everyday negotiations of intimacy and violence in Muslim–Christian and settler–indigenous relations in Mindanao, exploring how these shifting voices challenge colonial binaries and illuminate possibilities for cohabitation.
PROF. JULKIPLI M. WADI
Dean, Institute of Islamic Studies, UP Diliman
Prof. Julkipli M. Wadi has been teaching for more than 20 years and is a known scholar of Islamic studies and political thought. He specializes in history of Muslim Filipinos, Bangsamoro struggle, Mindanao conflict, Islamic spirituality, and political thought in Islam. He authored publications on Islamic studies; among them are “Challenge and Responsibility of Philippine Muslim Community” (2014) and “Braving Muslim–Christian Dialogue in the Philippines” (2005). He also wrote “BBL: Sovereignty versus Substate” in Integrated Bar of the Philippines Journal: Special Issue on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (2015) and “The Philippines and Bangsamoro Polity: Breaking the Sisyphean Ordeal” in Asian Studies Journal (2012). Wadi who has a master’s degree (Islamic studies) from UPD will serve until 2025.
IKUYA TOKORO, Ph.D.
ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Dr. Ikuya TOKORO is a Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies(TUFS). He obtained Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo. His main research field includes Islam in the maritime world of Southeast Asia (especially in Malaysia and the Philippines), migration studies, material culture studies, and so on. His publications include Islam and Cultural Diversity in Southeast Asia (Vol. 3), co-edited with Hisao TOMIZAWA, and published by the ILCAA in 2021; Islam and Cultural Diversity in Southeast Asia, also published by the ILCAA in 2015; and "'Center/Periphery’ Flow Reversed? －Twenty Years of Cross-border Marriages between Philippine Women and Japanese Men”, in Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States published by the NUS Press and the Kyoto University Press.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS
This activity is organized by the UP Asian Center in collaboration with Core Project Anthropology, KKLO, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), and the Japan Foundation Manila through the following proponents:
Jocelyn O. Celero, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. She took her Doctor of Philosophy in International Studies from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests include Contemporary Japa, Japan-Philippine Relations, Filipino Migration to Japan, Japan and Southeast Asia, Family and Youth Studies.
Ikuya TOKORO, Ph.D. is a professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies(TUFS). He obtained Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo. His main research field includes Islam in the maritime world of Southeast Asia (especially in Malaysia and the Philippines), migration studies, material culture studies.
DEDICATION TO ASIRI ABUBAKAR
The Symposium/Research forum is organized as a commemorative event for the 70th founding anniversary of the UP Asian Center, honoring the late Professor Asiri Abubakar, who conducted research on the Bangsa Moro community in the southern Philippines.
For inquiries, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 891-8500 loc. 3586.
