Forthcoming titles from the Ateneo University Press this March

We are excited to announce the forthcoming releases from the Ateneo University Press this March. We have curated a selection of titles that cover a range of topics from history and society to literary translation. These are written by esteemed scholars in their respective fields and promise to offer readers new insights and perspectives on the Philippines. 

Here are some of the titles hitting the shelves soon.

Abaca Frontier: The Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation of Davao, 1898–1941 by Patricia Irene N. Dacudao

Category: Nonfiction | History | Mindanao Studies | Labor Migration

Abaca Frontier: The Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation of Davao, 1898–1941 presents the story of how abaca, a crop processed for cordage, became itself the rope that tied Davao and its inhabitants to international networks of commerce, culture, and the colonial developmental project. Straddling transoceanic US history, while still firmly situated in Philippine studies, this book boldly incorporates global forces into the retelling of local history. The historical voices woven into its narrative are diverse—Bagobo traders, Spanish missionaries, American housewives, Filipino settlers, Japanese laborers, and so on—each of whom found themselves in the Davao region in the early twentieth century for different reasons, yet all shared some vision of its promise. Sympathetic of its historical subjects, this book shows how the frontier imaginaries of various actors mobilized multicultural collaboration and cohabitation in strikingly, perhaps uniquely, peaceful ways. Abaca Frontier thus tells a new and welcome story, standing apart from the narratives of conflict and dispossession that are familiar to scholars of plantation industries and of Mindanao.

Special pre-order price: P675 (retails at P795)

Pre-order here.

The Ravaged World: The Short Fiction of Rosario de Guzman Lingat translated from the Filipino by Soledad S. Reyes

Category: Fiction | Short Stories | Literary Translations | Women’s Writing

The Ravaged World follows up on translating the short fiction of Rosario de Guzman-Lingat since the groundbreaking The Locked Door and Other Stories (2017). Offering a glimpse into the varied experiences in a postwar society, this book further explores the author’s concerns in short-story form: the seemingly ordinariness of the characters’ lives as they forge into the everyday. A tormented veteran reduced to a peanut vendor questions the worth of the war he fought. A young activist puts his faith in people who take advantage of his patriotic fervor. Meanwhile, a jeepney driver’s decision challenges his notion of generosity and forgiveness.

Selected and translated by eminent Philippine-studies scholar Soledad S. Reyes, the stories here are a testament to the powerful place of women in Tagalog literature.

Special pre-order price: P420 (retails at 495)

Pre-order here.

Power from the Forest: The Politics of Logging Revised Edition by Marites Dañguilan Vitug

Category: Nonfiction | Politics & Society | Forests & Forestry

Power from the Forest is the story of logging in the Philippines, the story of the exercise of power—who wields it, who benefits from it, and how.

The dangerous intertwine of forests and politics was most glaring under Ferdinand Marcos. In bestowing upon himself the power to grant and revoke logging licenses, Marcos deftly used the forests as a political tool.

The insurgency war had bred new logging interests—the rebels and the military who have made the forests their battleground and their sources of income.

But amid this gloomy foreboding, there are shafts of light. The Indigenous peoples and rural folk who have lived in or around these forests are starting to stir, as well as a growing number of nongovernmental organizations and concerned individuals.

Marites Dañguilan Vitug harnesses her investigative skills to tell us the tragic story of the Philippine forests, the people who continue to plunder them and those who are trying to protect them. Revised and with a foreword by Antonio La Viña, this new edition reminds us that fight for the environment continues.

Special pre-order price: P340 (retails at 395)

Pre-order here.

Packaged Food, Packaged Life: Corporate Food in Metro Manila Slums by Heriberto Ruiz Tafoya

Category: Nonfiction | Politics & Society | Corporate Food

Packaged Food, Packaged Life argues that the abundant consumption of corporate brands in slums does not merely stem from individual lifestyle choices but also is the result of historical circumstances that preclude good living conditions and limit opportunities for people who resort to corporate packaged food. Drawing on his own fieldwork and exhaustive review of related literatures, Heriberto Ruiz Tafoya identifies the constraints that characterize a packaged life not as a definitive status but as an ongoing process. His perspective comes from his own experiences as urban poor in Mexico and from the eclectic amalgamation of the Latin American ethical and political approach of buen vivir (living well or life in fullness) and its Philippine counterpart ginhawa (vital spirit that animates our well-being).

The book is a pioneering work on packaged-food diets in the global south, serving as a reliable reference for readers interested in the retail and consumption of processed food, especially by marginalized communities.

Special pre-order price: P255 (retails at 300)

Pre-order here.

The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History, 1515–1903: Continuity and Change in a Traditional Realm in the Southern Philippines by Datu Michael Ong Mastura

Category: Nonfiction | History | Magindanao and Moro Studies

“How likely was it that the ancient Filipinos developed a concept of statehood at precolonial contact?” Thus begins the opening chapter of this book on the history of the Magindanao Sultanate. Drawing on various sources including the luwaran (code) and tarsila (genealogy) and combining ethnography with politics, Datu Michael Ong Mastura reconstructs a dynastic history of southern Philippines across 388 years and depicts a cosmopolitan society allied with the neighboring mandalas in Southeast Asia.

“With the publication of The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History, 1515–1903, there is no more reason for any Filipino or Moro scholar not to teach courses on Magindanao and Moro histories. The book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Mindanao, which, in turn, is essential in any attempt to write and teach the history of the island and its diverse peoples. This is exceptional, much-awaited work. It is a delight to reread it and an honor to write this homage to a much-respected Magindanao icon.” —from the foreword by Patricio N. Abinales, author of Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the Formation of the Philippine Nation-State

Special pre-order price: P620 (retails at 725)

Pre-order here.
 

For more information about forthcoming Ateneo University Press titles, book review proposals, bulk pre-orders, and collaborations send us an email at marketing.unipress@ateneo.edu.