Philippines: History, Literature, Performance

Course Catalog Description:

The course focuses on Philippine history through literature and performance. Among the texts to be discussed are: traditional forms (rituals, poetry, songs, dances) that give insights to belief systems and economic, political, and social life during the indigenous or precolonial period; performance and literary forms that were instruments both of colonial conquest and anti-colonial movements; and theater and literature that participated in discourse on agrarian issues, labor, martial law and militarism, gender rights, academic freedom, and human rights. 

Class Description:

This course is a cultural history of modern Philippines, from the birth of the nation in the nineteenth century to the present. It outlines the major events in Philippine history through cultural texts that reflect the salient attitudes and ideas of key periods. Not only will this course cover canonical works, it will also examine popular texts. Expect to discuss everything from anti-colonial novels, Tagalog garage rock, third world brutalism, Manila disco, power ballads, protest songs, romantic comedies, to contemporary crime dramas.