10 U.P. Newsletter
april 2012
Southeast Asia as the place of power To understand Southeast Asia, there is a need to reexamine the concept of power in Southeast Asian culture. This was the gist of the public lecture “The Place of Power: Understanding Southeast Asia” organized by the UP Center for International Studies (CIS) last January 30 at UP Diliman’s Rizal Hall. Historian Damon L. Woods of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), explained what the Dutch scholar J. C. Van Leur wrote in 1934: “the sheen of the world religions and foreign cultural forms is a thin and flaking glaze; underneath
it the whole of the old indigenous forms has continued to exist.” Woods said that while the surface values of Southeast Asians may come from external cultural influences, the core values pertaining to the animist idea of power still prevail in the people’s day to day affairs. He cites as examples the Filipino people’s understanding of various manifestations of power in the context of folk revolts led by amulet-wielding messianic figures during the Spanish colonial era, the accumulation and dissipation of political power of various national leaders, the celebration of Holy Week as an occasion
Photo from facultycommons.macewan.ca
FICS holds seminar on technology-enhanced pedagogy
Dr. Bonk
In celebration of the UP Open University’s (UPOU) 17th anniversary, the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) organized “Seminar on Technolog y-Enhanced Teaching and Learning” last February 28 at the AudioVisual Room of the UPOU Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna. Dr. Curtis J. Bonk, professor of Instructional Systems at Indiana University, served as the speaker. Bonk lectured on topics titled “Where are You R2D2?: Addressing Diverse Online Learner Needs
CSWCD hosts conference on disaster readiness (Continued from page 7)
manpower needed for DRR. The group on gender responsive initiatives said, “Women are very vulnerable in disasters and in evacuation centers. They have specific needs.” To address patriarchy, which enhances the vulnerability of women, the group said that women’s participation in DRR should become a policy or law. The women’s movement should be tapped for DRR. Nongovernment organization (NGO) workers concerned with children and the elderly saw the need to improve capacity in case management in evacuation centers, develop disaster prevention and post-disaster mechanisms, and mainstream assistance to the elderly and people with disability. The group on migrant community initiatives emphasized the Japanese culture of discipline as model. DRR in Japan prioritized children, the elderly, and mothers. Equal treatment between locals and migrants was noted. The community was organized. People were ready to assume leadership and organize themselves in evacuation areas. Community members knew each other and shared their limited resources until they received relief goods. Individual initiatives in the disaster area and evacuation centers were given value. Everybody was relatively prepared and carried with them an emergency kit with a flashlight, whistle, first aid materials, and batteries. The conference participants were encouraged to for m a network of institutions, organizations and individuals involved in DRR, collaboration being vital in the promotion and sustainability of disaster preparedness.
with the Read, Reflect, Display, and Do Model,” “Hyper-Engaging Instructional Strategies for Any Class Size: LowRisk, Low-Cost, Low Time,” and “Going Mobile Around the Global.” In her welcome remarks, UPOU Chancellor Grace Alfonso emphasized that “this conscious effort [of having an academic activity as part of the anniversary celebration] is also a renewal of [UPOU’s] commitment to academic excellence.” Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Administration Melinda Lumanta said that “the breadth and depth of [Bonk’s] presentation showed us the changing scenario in the teaching and learning environment of today.” Lumanta concluded that “teaching and learning has never been as exciting as it is now with its many possibilities.” The seminar was attended by UPOU officials, faculty, affiliates, and staff. Other attendees were faculty and students from UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, and UP Rural High School. (Emely M. Amoloza, FICS)
COMMENTARY
Fred Dabu
to “recharge”, the flagellation and crucifixion rituals of penitents for them to get close to their perceived source of power, and the existence of indigenous folk practices despite the Southeast Asian region’s conversion to “modern” Christianity or Islam. According to Woods, Southeast Asians view power as something real: that power exists, can be accumulated, held on to, dissipated, transferred and concentrated again to another leader. But he added that the possession of power is not permanent. UP Assistant Vice-President for Public Affairs Jose Wendell Capili reminded the
audience to be conscious of their identity not only as Filipinos but as Southeast Asians as well. Southeast Asian nations, he said, share similar colonial experiences and cultural influences from China, India and Japan. Woods grew up in Baguio City and received his Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from UCLA. He teaches Philippine History, Philippine Radical Tradition, Missionaries and Southeast Asia, Religion and Society in Southeast Asia, and Religion, Revolution and Nationalism in Asia. He is one of the few scholars who researched documents written by Tagalogs in the 16th to 18th centuries.
UPV exhibit features UPOU celebrates 17 years, awards faculty women weathering (Continued from page 6) climate change Anna Razel Ramirez
In celebration of the Women’s Month, UP Visayas (UPV) through the Gender and Development Program Office (GDPO) opened a photo exhibit titled “Women: Weathering climate change” at the Graduate and Continuing Education Building Lobby in Iloilo City last March 9. Through the works of Juhn Chris Espia, Bryan Sapinosa, Jonathan Jurilla and Ramon Ramirez, the University celebrated women’s ability to transform themselves and adapt to the changing environment. Shown in different settings, the women in the photographs demonstrate their endurance and resiliency in accomplishing many things despite the odds; their ability to appreciate what can be had despite the circumstances; and their capacity to weather different conditions at all times. Remedios Rikken, chair of the Philippine Commission on Women, formally opened the exhibit. The exhibit was coordinated by the UPV Women’s Month Exhibit Committee. It ran from March 9 to 31, 2012.
private sector are necessary because UPOU “cannot proceed in isolation.” The program then honored UPOU partners such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Intel Philippines, the University of Batangas, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, and Vibal Publishing. Apart from its partners, three faculty members were recognized. Prof. Ricardo Bagarinao was awarded the UPOUFI Professorial Chair in Open and Distance Learning for his work, “Graph Theoretic Approach in Analyzing the Navigation Paths of Online Learners.” The same award was given to Faculty of Information and Communication Studies Dean Melinda Bandalaria for her study “Learner and Faculty Support Services in Open ad Distance e-Learning: A Search for New Framework Based on New Context and Old Theories and Assumptions.” Finally, Prof. Jean Saludadez received the UPAADCMDVA Faculty Grant for “Agency as Framework for the Study of Distance Education.”
need to be briefly discussed about the use of the disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary approaches in the GEP. These approaches/ strategies in course delivery is never a matter of teaching preference and/or style but a matter of educational principle. First, the offering of the GE courses through the disciplinary approach to undergraduate students should be a collegiate categorical decision, precisely because this approach will equip them with the fundamental facts, concepts, and principles along with the skills endemic to the discipline. It is during this period when the student being yet more of a practical and literal thinker could suffer confusion, may be overwhelmed, and is intellectually insecure. The student, however, does begin to strive, survive, and finally triumph at this time, although this may not be true of everyone. The interdisciplinary approach pertains to certain concerns common to two or three fields; it is used in two ways. One kind of use is in a case where some concerns are common to both fields/area of study. The other use is in a case where the perspective or point of view of a given discipline is applied to another. Educational psychology Psychological Economics, and Sociobiology are examples of these approaches. A student must have studied the two fields in their pure disciplinary forms. Otherwise, a student who has not taken any or both of the courses cannot perform as effectively as those who finished the courses prior to taking the interdisciplinary approach. The multidisciplinary study is formally construed here to be a study of issues or
problems the solution of which better requires different disciplines and/ or perspectives. For instance, the old problem of poverty, or the issue of criminality is more adequately understood and addressed through the synergy of such relevant disciplines as political science, economics, psychology, anthropology, history, and sociology. Where do adoption, adaptation, creation/ generation, and change come in, in the context of the GEP issue of retention or rejection? Adoption is the acceptance and use/employment, totally or partially, of an object, method, system, principle, or condition by direct choice as the solution to a problem, or, in the absence of a vital matter at the moment. Adaptation, on the other hand, is the act of making fit or usable by means of modification or improvement, while creation as well as generation is the act of forming or generating something new and original. Change is any form of difference that occurs or is made on something, whether qualitative or quantitative. With respect to the GEP, what is fundamental for lifetime learning and purpose is imperative for adoption; what is relevant and instrumental only is contingent and advisable for adaptation. What has become necessary in the course of time but is not available needs to be created and/or constructed. The UP student as a GEP product and beneficiary of fundamental and general knowledge, skills, and values learned on a liberal and free inquiry basis can decide in later years whether to adopt, adapt, or create, both with respect to the program and the new times and with the eventualities waiting to be addressed.
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paper. To the three criteria, however, the present writer would add the synthesis/ synergy requirement. Unity of purpose is meant by Prof. Poblador to be evidenced by results. On the other hand, I construed his criteria of order as order in diversity of reality as known by way of experience and theory, and order in substantiality and complexity. The interrelationship among the six areas is meant to enable the student to perceive meaning and relevance of those areas to his or her life and intentions, to community interest, and to society as a whole. The last, synthesis or synergy, applies to the coordination, complementation, integration, or convergence of, or among the area/ discipline-based knowledge, skills, and values. Having affirmed the fitness of the four criteria, this writer believes that rather than training UP students for the approaches of unqualified adaptation, adoption, and change, what should be done is to educate them on the fundamental substance of human knowledge by means of the six areas; on creativity/ constructivity; and on the seeds of leadership. Let us not cater to the uninformed liberty of students to choose between courses of personal interest and courses which are generally fundamental and universal in character. Should this happen, we would be short-changing the development and nurturance of the youth into future leaders and professionals with empowered goodwill, substantial decision-making, balanced judgment, broad perspectives, critical tolerance, and courageous action. Finally, some points of importance