The cycle of Philippines events at LaGuardia ended in May 2005.
These events took place during April and May, during the Spring I semester, at LaGuardia Community College. They consisted of: this website on the region's indigenous black peoples; a poetry event with award-winning poet Eileen Tabios; a display on LaGuardia's "Filipiniana" (a collection which has doubled in size since the recent arrival of several volumes of literature, poetry and history); and the two chief events, the Textiles of the Southern Philippines exhibit and the Living Traditions symposium. (Schedule, see below)The strategy of these events was manifold:
- To bring scholarly and general attention to a region of the world regarded as important in other areas but not in art and culture
- To bring attention to the Philippines as an area so culturally complex that it challenges even the most ambitious models of Diversity as conceived by most American universities (see my article in LiveWire Magazine Issue 41: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/livewire/41/Default.aspx )
- To bring attention to the southern portion of the archipelago as an important region of the Philippines, one that links the area to the greater part of Malay Southeast Asia (rather than to the prevailing Spanish and American influences in Manila and the rest of metropolitan Philippines) in a pre-colonial family of languages, customs and arts.
- To underscore the ironies in Philippine selfhood as evinced in the arts and letters of the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora after colonialism (see Chatelaines Poetics: "Transcending and Transgressing Costumbrismo":
http://chatelaine-poet.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_chatelaine-poet_archive.html
- To highlight the absence of Southeast Asia in the curricula of the City University of New York (C.U.N.Y.) and most art history textbooks in the United States. This situation necessitates writing new courses, texts and the adjustment of curricula across multiple disciplines.
- To address the common mistakes, oversights and misclassifications disaffecting any focused study of the Philippines and other many parts of Southeast Asia (see "Why the Philippines Was Left Out of Art History" at http://faculty.lagcc.cuny.edu/lwaldron/symposium.htm)
- To bring special attention to the indigenous animist and other traditional cultures in the Philippines (see LiveWire Issue 44: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/livewire/44/Default.aspx)
It is my intention to choose a different culture yearly or bi-annually that finds itself neglected by the textbooks and to launch some manner of exploration of that culture
Philippines Events at C.U.N.Y. LaGuardia in April and May, 2005.
31-10 Thomson Avenue,
Long Island City , New York
11101
Poetry Panel
The Borrowed Tongue/The Borrowed Eye
Imagining ourselves with the conquerors' mind
A Poetry Reading and Panel with special guest EILEEN TABIOS
Thursday May 5th 12 noon to 2pm
Room: M106Living Traditions
Exploring the Arts and Culture of Mindanao
and the issues affecting them
May 19, 2005 11am-6pm
Room E-500
Philippine Weaving:
History and present situation of the weaversOral Tradition:
Folklore and its significance to the indigenous peoples' struggleRenaissance and Reclamation:
Indigenous tradition as empowerment and identityIndigenous Diaspora:
Music and dance in the continuing struggle of Filipinos outside the PhilippinesPARTICIPANTS:
Nagasura Madale, Ph.D./Maranaw, Professor of Anthropology, Mindanao State University, Marawi campus, (Keynote Speaker)
Cherubim Quizon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Seton Hall University
Dan Bacalzo, Ph.D., Professor of Performance Studies, New York University
Nonilon Queano, Ph.D., Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and Creative Writing, Department of English and Comparative Literature, University of the Philippines,Diliman, Quezon City
Kenneth Bauzon, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science St. Joseph University
Andrea Assaf, Artistic Director, New World Theater, University of Massachusetts
Lawrence Waldron, Assistant Professor of Art History, La GuardiaSPONSORS:
Humanities Department: Art, La Guardia Community College
Social Sciences: Anthropology division, La Guardia Community College
Kinding SindawCONTACT for further details:
Prof. Lawrence Waldron: lwaldron@lagcc.cuny.edu
Exhibit:
April 1st through May 31st, 2005
Textiles of the Southern Philippines :
Living Traditions from the Muslims and Lumads of MindanaoAtrium Gallery
LaGuardia Community College
31-10 Thomson Avenue,
Long Island City, New York
11101
Monday to Friday 10am-6pm
T'nalak (abaca textile):
T'boli culture, Lake Sebu, Mindanao
go back up
