Publications

Aquaculture presents a radically different way of producing fish that aims to transcend the limitations of capture fisheries but that in turn creates new forms of agrarian and ecological transformations. Using the case of Laguna Lake, the paper probes how aquaculture production and corresponding agrarian transformations are inextricably tied to dynamics in capture fisheries in multiple ways. It emphasizes the fundamentally ecological nature of the relations between aquaculture and capture fisheries through a discussion of three interrelated features of agrarian change: commodity widening through the production of a commodity frontier, aquaculture producer strategies of working with materiality of biophysical nature, and the attendant consequences of these processes for agrarian configurations. By examining the appropriation of nature in commodity frontiers and situating relations between aquaculture and capture fisheries as historical-geographical moments in commodity widening and deepening, the paper highlights the centrality of nature in agrarian change.

Generally, this book is a reflection of the relationship between religion and theater. Particularly, it looks at the relationship of Catholicism and performance or the embodied world of theater in opposition to the written text. In investigating this relationship, two inquiries are identified. First, it is proposed that performance may be looked at as an analogy for the understanding of Catholicism. Second, the link between Catholicism and performance is ontological. In other words, this book is an inquiry on Catholicism “as” a performance and an assertion that it “is” a performance. To illustrate the as/is in the relationship of Catholicism and performance, three Catholic rituals or cultural performances in the province of Pampanga are used as examples: pamamaku king krus, libad nang Apung Iru, and kuraldal nang Apung Lucia.

In this essay, entanglement is proposed as a conceptual idiom for the understanding of contemporary Manila theater where pista (fiesta) is used as model and Rizal X as example. Contemporary Manila theater via Rizal X is argued to be part of an intricate entanglement: representations, shared histories, relationships and genres, which are all activated during a pista. Rizal X is used as an example because it strategically puts entanglement in an affirmative position. More specifically, Rizal X is treated as a microcosm of the pista because it has entangled representations, histories, relationships, and genres in the same way that the pista performs such entanglement. Nonetheless, the idea of entanglement often carries a negative connotation. Despite the promise of entanglement as a possible idiom towards the identification of an ontology of contemporary Manila theater, entanglement has its own limitations, especially since many artists unintentionally overuse entanglement (i.e., pastiche, fragments) in their theater. Because of such complication, there is a tendency for theater works to unintentionally editorialize their chosen subjects. In conducting a close reading of Rizal X, it is envisioned to illustrate the limitations of entanglement as a discursive concept for the understanding of contemporary Manila theater.

Aquaculture, a modern scheme introduced by the Philippine state to improve fish production and livelihoods, has resulted in contradictory outcomes in its four-decade history in Laguna de Bay. This article examines the fate and trajectories of these modern schemes through the lens of hazards. It situates the place of typhoons and floods in the introduction and regulation of pen aquaculture technology, and in the practices of living with hazards among aquaculture producers in the lake. In both cases hazards are considered as intrinsic to their narratives rather than as external forces that occasionally disrupt human plans.

Using archival data from a national survey of N=8,891 young Filipina women ages 15 to 24, this paper aimed to examine links between sexual-minority status and thinking about and attempting suicide. Similar to previous results from young Filipino men and to findings in the global LGBT mental health literature, sexual-minority status was associated with both suicide ideation and suicide attempt across measures of same-sex attraction and same-sex romantic relationships. Sexual-minority Filipina youth had higher odds of having thought about suicide and having attempted suicide, compared to heterosexual peers. Following a minority stress framework, this paper explored a number of correlates of suicide ideation and attempt, including normative risk factors such as depression, recent suicide attempt of a friend, and experiences of threat and victimization.

A review of 'The Poverty of Television: The Mediation of Suffering in Class-Divided Philippines' by Jonathan Corpus Ong (2015), London & NY: Anthem Press

A spatiotemporal model with nested random effects is proposed for small area estimation where sample data are generated from a rotating panel survey. Two methods of estimation are introduced, integrating the backfitting algorithm and bootstrap procedure in two different approaches. Simulation study shows superior predictive ability of the fitted model. The small area estimation methods also produced efficient estimates of parameters in a wide class of population scenarios. The model-based small area estimation procedure is also better over the design-based approach in estimating unemployment rate from the Philippine Labor Force Survey.

Facebook, one of the many Web 2.0 tools, has been used by libraries as a channel to reach their respective communities. Its numerous features allow library managers to publicize and market services, share content, and interact with library users. The University Library of the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD Library), through the General Reference Section of the Main Library, provides marketing and reference service through its Facebook page by uploading photos and promotional materials on the site to disseminate information on library resources and services. The social networking site facilitates reference queries via messages sent to the page and via wall posts and comments, with the majority of queries related to library schedules and access policies. Facebook has also been useful in establishing connection and association with library users by soliciting and accepting feedback. Likes, comments and shares are the indicators of how users react to the activities of UPD Library at Facebook. Challenges encountered are non-engagement, negative feedback, problematic promotion practices, environment changes and the difficulty of achieving market saturation. Libraries are recommended to offer specific reference services such as answering queries, providing current awareness and conducting readers’ advisory through Facebook. It is recommended to promote information literacy activities and market library collections, services and events through advertisements, albums, status updates and event photos. Interaction, collaboration and feedback may also be done in the social networking site.

In this chapter, Benjamin Hanckel, Laurindo Garcia, Glenn-Milo Santos and Eric Julian Manalastas present work that confronts the sexual stigma, HIV-related stigma and isolation HIV-positive gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) experience when accessing information related to HIV. Their study presents the human face of HIV by exploring the technology use of HIV-positive MSM. Their research was part of a formative assessment undertaken at the initial stage of the development an information and communications technology (ICT) resource and peer- support web-app for HIV-positive MSM in Southeast Asia. Hanckel, et al.’s work tentatively illustrate how the capability deprivations experienced by HIV-positive men can be overcome by mobilising Amartya Sen’s capability approach to developing an ICT resource that addresses the deprivations and information deficiencies of HIV- positive MSM by enhancing peer support and increasing access to HIV-related information and resources.