ivan emil labayne

Using a Marxist framework, this paper looks at Nick Joaquin's conduct of history writing and uses this analysis to comment on the general practice of writing on history. The paper first assesses the extent by which a strand of dialectical thought operates in Discourses. Second, typical assertions of history as "narrativized" discourse are put into test. The ideas of Linda Hutcheon and Edel Garcellano are utilized to bring in the larger sociality where textual discourses take place, thereby shunning the supposed primacy of texts and positing the dynamic ties between history writing and society. Third, the relationship between oral and written discourses and how these types of sources figured in the book are examined. Following this, the potentials of oral sources for alternative practices of history writing and interpretation-more dispersed, refusing the singularity of the "official"-are hailed. Toward the end, a call for reflexivity is reaffirmed. This is done to counter both the pretentiously grand claims of History and the flirtations with liberal tendencies of history writing that opens itself to multiple sources. What is espoused is history writing that is open precisely because of its awareness of its location in the complexity of the societal whole.

Abstract

Ang Abanao Square ay maituturing na isa sa mga pangunahing pamilihan sa lungsod ng Baguio, bagamat isa rin ito sa mga pinaka-naapektuhan ng pagkakatayo ng malaking SM Baguio Mall noong 2004. Matatagpuan sa gitna ng Public City Market at ng Baguio City Hall, masasabing nakakatulong ang lokasyong ito sa pakikipagsabayan ng Abanao hindi lamang sa SM kung hindi pati na rin sa iba pang tulad nitong maliliit na shopping malls tulad ng Tiong San, Center Mall at Por ta Vaga. Nilalayon ng papel na ito na tingnan ang mga kulturang nagsa-sanga-sanga sa loob at labas ng Abanao Square -- isang pamilihan sa isang lungsod tulad ng Baguio na ranas na ranas ang paglaganap ng kapital sa global na sakop.Titingnan ng papel una, kung paano gumagana ang ideya ng “simultaneity of the non-simultaneous” ni Ernst Bloch hindi lang sa pagitan ng Abanao Square at iba pang pamilihan sa Baguio kung hindi pati na rin sa loob mismo ng Abanao Square. Pangalawa, uusisain rin kung ano-anong mga “tactics” (mula sa gamit ni Michel de Certeau) ang inilulunsad ng mga mamimili upang hindi ganap na masakop ng umiiral na batas ng paggawa at pagbili sa loob ng pamilihang ito at kung ano ang mga potensyal at limitasyon ng tactics na ito. Magtatapos ang papel gamit ang isang materyalistang lenteng mula kayTeresa Ebert na tutumbok kung paano mas produktibong mauunawaan ang mga kultural na kaganapan at entitad tulad ng Abanao Square at mga binabahay nito.



(Abanao Square can be considered as one of the primary malls in Baguio, although it is also one of the most affected when SM Baguio was built in 2004. Being ocated in the middle of the Public City Market and the City Hall has arguably Abanao Square in competing not just with SM Baguio but with other smaller and older malls such as Tiong San, Center Mall and Porta Vaga.This paper aims to look at the various cultures intersecting inside and surrounding Abanao Square – a shopping center in a city where the workings of global capital are very palpable.The paper will look mainly at the following: how Ernst Bloch’s idea of the “simultaneity of the non-simultaneous” can apply not just among the shopping centers in Baguio but also within Abanao itself; what are the “tactics” (as conceptualized by Michel de Certeau) launched by the consumers in order to evade the logic of production and consumption in Abanao and the potentials and limitations of these tactics.The paper will be wrapped up using a materialist framework mainly supplied by Teresa Ebert which will posit how we can more productively analyze cultural phenomena and entities such as Abanao Square.)

How can we characterize the politics of Kidlat Tahimik’s Perfumed Nightmare, a 1977 film exhibiting postmodern, if not avant-garde formal properties? What is the significance of the film’s pastiche-rich style in forwarding its content and its politics? What picture of globalization and the Filipino’s exposure to it is being painted in the protagonist’s journey to the West? Drawing from a variety of Marxist cultural theory, this paper seeks to answer the above questions towards locating Tahimik’s film in the progressive, if not radical tradition in Philippine cinema.

Nagsimula ang Maikling Imbestigasyon ng Isang Mahabang Pangungulilas sa isang pagtatakang nanghahamon: pagpapasalita sa isang “basag na salamin sa mata.” Susunod rito ang pagbanggit sa Aleph, sa “teolohiya ng Isa at Karamihan,” sa “istruktura ng DNA” at bago matapos ang unang pahina, kay Minerva.

May isang manunulat na tinawag ang nobela bilang isang “pilosopikal” na akda. Nais ng papel na ibahin nang kaunti ang bansag na ito at ipanukalang ang nobela ay ‘di lang pilosopikal kundi intelektwal. Nakasalalay ang pag-iibang ito sa pag-asang mas madaling ihayag ang sosyalidad ng panghuli. Mula rito, susuriin ang sala-salabid na kaisipang ipinasok sa akda at susubukang gagapin kung paano sila nag-uugnay-ugnay. Sisipatin rin ang istilo at pamamaraan ng pagkukwento ng nobela—hindi banayad, tahimik na nangugusap, malay sa ginagawa—at kung ano ang ambag nito sa kaisipang binubuo ng akda. Dalawang bagay kaugnay sa sinasabi at ginagawa ng nobela ang sisipatin: (1) ang estado at konstruksyon ng kwento/naratibo (mula sa nobela: “sa pinanlansi na ‘Fiction does not lie,’ kahit na ang kabaligtarang lohika nito ay ‘Fiction lies precisely because fiction is a lie.’” Ang sugal ko: higit sa katotohanan, kailangang usisain ang punsyon ng piksyon (ang baybay ay para sa alliterative effect); ano ang mga relasyong binubuhay nito) at (2) ang bisa ng pagsulat, ang silbi ng citation at ang kawalang-isahan ng may-akda (sa nobela, “siya’y isinasapapel din,” babarilin pa nga; “ang location/coordinates of the speaking voice”). Ang panimulang ideya na susubukin sa papel: ang naratibo ay background lang; tinutuntungan lamang ito upang ibida ang pagmumuni tungkol sa sosyalidad ng kaisipan, pagkukwento at pagsulat.


(Edel Garcellano’s Maikling Imbestigasyon ng Isang Mahabang Pangungulila commences with a challenging conundrum: making a broken eyeglass speak. After this, the following are mentioned: Aleph, the teleology of the One and Many, DNA structure, and, before the first page ends, Minerva.

One Filipino wrier described this novel as “philosophical.” This paper aims to slightly alter this designation and propose that the novel is not just philosophical but also intellectual—with the sociality of this second term easier to evince. The multifarious ideas permeating the novel will be discussed and their potential connections will be established.  Analysis will also be given to the novels’ narrative style—creasy, covertly conversing, conscious of its own act—and how this contributes to the ideas being built in the work. Two points of concern will be on what the novel is saying and what it is doing: (1) the status and construction of the narrative (from the novel, “sa panlalansi na ‘Fiction does not lie,’ kahit na ang kabaligtarang lohika nito ay ‘Fiction lies precisely because fiction is a lie.’” My wager: what must be interrogated more than the truth-value is the function of fiction); and the relations that this narrative activates (2) the efficacy of writing, the purpose of citations and the multiplicity/complexity of the author (from the novel, “siya’y isinasapapel din,” he is also being written, gunned even; the “location/coordinates of the speaking voice”). The preliminary idea this paper will test: the narrative merely serves as backdrop to the reflections on the sociality and materiality of thinking, of storytelling, and of writing.)