Findings to Sink Your Teeth Into: An Examination of the Dental Inlays of the Visayans

Body modifications are not uncommon in our modern society; within our respective pools of acquaintances, there would be at least a handful of people that have some sort of tattoo or piercing. However, when it comes to modifications as done by native Philippine populations throughout history, such as the blackening or filing of teeth, there …

Notions of Normalcy: The Lakambini Popularity Contest in 1944 Iloilo City

The Philippines has a long-standing involvement with and widely held enthusiasm for beauty contests. First gaining popularity in the American colonial period, participation in this tradition persisted—surprisingly, even while the country was occupied by Japan. In “The Kalibapi’s 1944 Lakambini Popularity Contest during the Japanese Occupation of Iloilo City”, an article published in our March …

The Hermeneutical Transformations of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente

Differences in Biblical interpretation is a common cause of debate among Christian churches. Moreover, a denomination may also change how it interprets scripture at different points in its history. The latter applies to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), as this church's hermeneutical position has continuously evolved since its establishment. Peter-Ben Smit’s “The Bible in the …

Appropriating Spanish Political Thought: The Scholastic Foundations of Emilio Jacinto’s Revolutionary Treatise

Stamp from 1963 featuring Emilio Jacinto. From the Philippine Postal Corporation. Remaining unpublished at the time of the Emilio Jacinto’s death at the young age of 23, his treatise Liwanag at Dilim (Light and Darkness) is “the most holistic account of Katipunero vernacular political theology,” describing the moral, social, and governing principles by which he …

LANDSCAPES OF THE DEAD: COLONIAL CATHOLIC CEMETERIES AND THE POLITICS OF BURIALS

Graves in Paco Park. Image from Fighting in the Philippines by Neely, Frank Tennyson. 1899. Digitized by the Boston Public Library. Undoubtedly, the entrance of the Spanish colonization in the Philippines reconfigured the social geography of the natives within the archipelago. For the ease of evangelization and colonization, the reducción policy physically relocated them into …