Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Joshua Samuel Gedacht, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Studies of migration in the Philippines have often, if not always, tended to emphasize the drawing power of the global labor market and the Philippine response to these labor demands. While these studies have obvious value to systematic investigations of global processes, there is definite merit to explore migration within the context of a qualitatively different globalization, an “earlier globalization”, according to Janet Abu-Lughod, which occurred roughly in the late 13th century until the arrival of the Spanish colonial powers towards the latter half of the 16th century. In later years, particularly during the American colonial period, waves of Christian Arabs of Syro-Lebanese and Palestinian backgrounds complemented the arrival of Muslim traders and missionaries — an often overlooked historical phenomenon occasioned by a Muslim-centric reading of the southern Philippines. What emerges is a movement of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula towards many parts of Southeast Asia including the Philippines, establishing settlements and laying the foundation for institutions that have been entrenched and sustained during the Spanish and American colonial periods. Drawing from secondary sources as well as archival research, this paper seeks to investigate more deeply the waves of migrations to the Philippines. A historical approach to the study of migration is an effort to offer a counter-narrative to the more dominant Spanish-Christian-American account of Philippine history and reveals the forces that have shaped a pluralistic Philippine culture despite the insistence of Christian hegemony. Finally, the paper promotes a historical perspective to migration studies that foregrounds transnational connections through local and regional connections, which, in the Philippine case, illustrates the enduring transnational connections between the Middle East and the southern sultanates in the Philippine archipelago. Employing this perspective avoids “methodological nationalism (by allowing) multiple entry points and pathways of local and transnational incorporation” (Schiller).

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Teresita Cruz-del Rosario has a background in Sociology, Social Anthropology and Public Policy from Boston College, Harvard University and New York University. Her research interests are on social movements, development and underdevelopment, and migration. Her book “Scripted Clashes: Dramaturgical Approach to Philippine Uprisings” (DM Verlag 2009) utilizes a Goffmanian framework to explain the quasi-religious character of people power in the Philippines. Her second book “The State and the Advocate: Development Policy in Asia” (UK Routledge 2014) is a series of country case studies that illustrate the roles of the developmental state and policy coalitions in the pursuit of development outcomes. Her more current research interests include comparative regional studies between Southeast Asia and the Middle East, of which historical research between these two regions is a necessary and indispensable component.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you RSVP to Ms Tay Minghua via email: minghua.tay@nus.edu.sg.