Publications

“Tener suerte y coger mucho pescado: masagal”. Diccionario Español-Ibatan [por varios PP. Dominicos missioneros de las islas Batanes] (1914, p.395) Ivatans would readily translate the word sagal as “suerte” (Spanish for ‘luck’) but also add that it is specifically in relation to catching fish, so a “masagal” person is ‘someone who catches a lot of fish’. This essay’s aim is to explore experiences, discourse, and practices linked to the notion of sagal, especially as shared among those using traditional hook and line fishing methods. Sagal is a cultural notion informed by specific experiences of direct engagement with the sea around Batanes. The personal ‘ability to catch fish’—or having ‘luckiness in fishing’—contained in the notion is not primarily about skill, experience, or technique but rather thought of as a quality of being that is innate to certain people.

This book examines the evolving landscape of media across Asia, offering critical insights into contemporary challenges facing journalism, digital communication, and media representation in the region. Drawing from six rigorous research studies, the volume explores diverse dimensions of Asian media systems, from authoritarian resistance strategies to digital platform dynamics.

The book provides empirical analysis of key media phenomena, including journalistic resistance in authoritarian contexts, public health communication framing in China, the emergence of podcasting in India, Japanese cosmetic brand strategies on Chinese social media, smart home technology adoption patterns, and gender representation in Indonesian digital news. This volume will serve as an essential resource for understanding contemporary media dynamics in Asia. It will particularly benefit those studying comparative media systems, digital communication strategies, and the intersection of technology, culture, and society in Asian contexts.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Media Asia.

This book explores the transformative impact of digital technology across diverse Asian communities and social contexts. From economic empowerment initiatives to environmental advocacy, the seven chapters provide critical analysis of how digital media shapes contemporary Asian societies.

This book explores key themes including digital economic empowerment of marginalised communities, environmental journalism and agenda-setting, content diversity in broadcasting, feminist discourse on social media, children's digital content ecology, youth engagement with reality television, and healthcare communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each chapter offers insights into how digital technologies are reshaping social structures, economic opportunities, and cultural practices across the region. The collection demonstrates both the democratising potential and the challenges of digital transformation in Asian contexts.

This volume will be essential reading for scholars and practitioners in media studies, digital sociology, Asian studies, and communication policy. It provides valuable insights for researchers examining digital transformation, policymakers developing technology strategies, and educators teaching about media and society in the digital age. This book was originally published as a special issue of Media Asia.

This comprehensive collection examines the complex relationship between media and conflict across diverse Asian contexts, offering critical insights into how news coverage shapes public understanding of violence, protest, and social tensions.

From domestic violence reporting in China to the framing of political upheaval in Iran, the six research studies reveal how media narratives both reflect and influence conflict dynamics across the region. The volume demonstrates how different media systems— from hyperlocal digital platforms in India to international news outlets covering Kazakhstan— employ distinct framing strategies that impact audience perceptions and policy responses. It analyses the role of technology in conflict reporting, examines accessibility challenges for persons with disabilities in media consumption, and explores how digital stressors affect contemporary news engagement. Each study employs rigorous methodological approaches including comparative content analysis and validation of measurement instruments.

This work is essential reading for postgraduate courses in media studies, international relations, and Asian studies programmes, providing both theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence for understanding media’s role in contemporary conflicts. This book was originally published as a special issue of Media Asia.

Porohanon (ISO 639-3 prh) spoken in the Municipality of Poro, Camotes, Cebu and Tacloban Waray (ISO 639-3 war) spoken in the Eastern Visayas Region are two members of the Central Bisayan branch of the Bisayan complex (Zorc 1977: 179). Previous descriptions of these speech varieties have tended to classify their common prenominal markers into nominative, genitive, and oblique case forms (“case marking particles” in Zorc’s terminology, p. 229). These forms are also pur-ported to encode distinctions of definite vs. indefinite and specific vs. nonspe-cific; notions which fall under what Balogh et al. (2020: 1) call “nominal anchoring”.

The current study reevaluates the functions of these common prenominal markers using naturalistic speech data from both languages. The syntactic alignments of Porohanon and Tacloban Waray are also reassessed considering more contempo-rary research on ergativity in Philippine languages.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped daily life and amplified mental health challenges worldwide, with university students identified as a particularly vulnerable group. To address this need, the present study evaluated the effectiveness of group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (GMBCT) as an evidence-based intervention for students receiving psychosocial services during the pandemic. Using a pretest–posttest design, data from 34 students randomly assigned to either GMBCT or individual treatment-as-usual (TAU) provided by a university-based clinic were analyzed. To evaluate treatment effects, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare post-treatment outcomes between the two groups while controlling for pre-treatment scores, treatment length, concurrent therapy, diagnosis, and medication management. Results indicated that both interventions led to improvements in depression, anxiety, and overall well-being, but students in the GMBCT group achieved significantly greater reductions in anxiety symptoms. Moderation analyses further demonstrated that the benefits of GMBCT in reducing anxiety and enhancing well-being were amplified among students with higher levels of self-compassion, self-efficacy, and emotion regulation. Conducted entirely online due to pandemic restrictions, the study provides preliminary evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of delivering GMBCT via telepsychotherapy. These findings suggest that GMBCT may be a cost-effective and scalable intervention for university-based mental health services, with potential to expand access and address the growing mental health needs of students in both crisis contexts and routine care.

While there is a long and varied history of research on urban density, there is little work examining how high-density urbanism (HDU) is perceived and experienced amongst marginalized residents. Yet, paying attention to how residents understand density offers important insight into what density is and to how it matters for cities. Drawing on research in one of the world’s densest and most unequal cities, Manila, we develop the concept of “density textures” to address this gap. We examine density textures through three key inter-related themes: negotiating space, the unruly crowd, and material substrates. We conclude with reflections for future research.

Low-rise concrete buildings in the Philippines have been frequently damaged in past earthquakes, underscoring the need for effective seismic risk assessment. As a preliminary step toward distinguishing buildings with high seismic risk, simplified screening tools that do not require users to be specialists or expert structural engineers are commonly used, reserving the time and expense associated with full structural engineering assessments. This paper proposes an improved scoring framework and a corresponding rapid tool for screening called SCREEN, based on the probable loss that estimates the seismic risk of damage in low-rise concrete buildings in the Philippines using parameters that can be conveniently gathered by screeners who are novices, i.e., not structural engineers but have backgrounds in building design or construction. The simplified SCREEN scores were derived to approximate the results of analysis of computational models of 128 buildings with variations in seven parameters including potential ground shaking intensity, type of occupancy, shape of structure, vintage of structure, builder of structure, main material whether CHB or reinforced concrete, and width of walls between supports. For validation, SCREEN was compared with two locally developed seismic screening tools using a sample set of six (6) concrete hollow block buildings and eleven (11) reinforced concrete buildings, demonstrating high sensitivity in identifyng buildings needing engineering assessment. Meanwhile, its specificity in excluding low-risk buildings has not yet been as good. To minimize the risk of overlooking buildings with high seismic risk, this study prioritizes high sensitivity. It is recommended to test SCREEN further on a larger, diverse set of low-rise concrete buildings with independently assessed seismic risk.

This paper examines the dramaturgical strategies employed in Sa Gitna ng Digmaan ng mga Mahiwagang Nilalang laban sa Sangkatauhan, a play presented as part of the eco-theatre project Mga Anak ng Unos in the Philippines. Sa Gitna ng Digmaan's connection to eco-dramaturgy is rooted in Indigenous knowledge and practices, especially in how Filipinos perceive and experience mythologies both physically and emotionally, since the myths of the Philippine archipelago inspire the play. Myths and similar stories are filled with metaphors and meaning. They show how cultural communities and Indigenous Peoples have historically managed the complexities of the Earth. These stories are powerful because they resonate within a cultural context and are considered sacred by the societies in which they are told. The dramaturgical strategies aim to show the audience that the current global environmental crisis is a pressing call for collective, positive action, emphasizing the importance of engaging with Indigenous Peoples. The paper envisions an eco-dramaturgy where theatre practitioners shift from viewing Indigenous Peoples as subjects to thinking with them. This idea is based on the belief that Indigenous knowledge and practices also shape climate-disaster preparedness and response strategies, given Indigenous communities' close relationship with the environment.

In the last decade, there has been a surge of linguistic landscape studies conducted in the Philippines using varying theoretical and methodological approaches. Local studies, for example, have intersected linguistic landscapes with gender and sexuality, political identity construction and positioning, heritage tourism, language politics and memory studies. While the sociolinguistic subdiscipline is still in its nascent stage, its breadth and diversity of study locales hint at a potentially fruitful field of interest in the country. However, what exactly are the recurrent themes in Philippine linguistic landscape studies? What are the methodological trends that underpin these? And, finally, how can linguistic landscape studies in the country better reflect Philippine social realities and experiences? In this article, I attempt to answer these questions by mapping out the current themes and trends in Philippine linguistic landscape studies.