Philippine Studies Forum on Nationalism, Literature and Labor

Philippine Studies Forum on Nationalism, Literature and Labor

Panel Discussion
Thursday, November 20 4:30-6:30 p.m. Institute of East Asian Studies (2223 Fulton St.), 6F Conference Room

Speakers:
* Virgilio Almario, Dean, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines
* Elmer Labog, Chairperson, May 1st Labor Movement (Philippines)

The two special guest speakers will present their perspectives on how language and literature have served as weapons of protest in the labor and nationalist movements in the Philippines. Prof. Almario will discuss strategies of resistance during the American colonial period (1899-1942) while Mr. Labog will talk about the creative responses of labor to globalization and militarization.

Professor Almario is the author of more than a dozen poetry collections, including the landmark "Doktrinang Anakpawis" (The Doctrine of Peasants and Workers). As a literary scholar and critic, among his published studies are "Balagtasismo" and Modernismo" and "Pantiikan ng Rebolusyon" (The Literature of Revolution). He has won numerous awards, including the SEA Write Award, and was one of the 100 writers and artists honored during the centennial of Philippine independence.

Elmer Labog was a student activist at the University of the Philippines Los Banos in the early 1970s. Upon transferring to UP Diliman, he began organizing hotel workers and was elected to the National Council of the National Union of Workers in Hotel, Restaurant and Allied Industries. He has worked full-time for the Kilusang Mayo Uno, the largest and most activist labor center in the Philippines, for the past 25 years, and became its chairperson in 2003.

Sponsor: Center for Southeast Asia Studies, U.C. Berkeley
Phone: 510-642-3609

http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/cseas.html?event_ID=12767