Workshop in Philippine Literature in Spanish, Digital Humanities, and Distance Learning

On 27 July 2023, Ateneo de Manila University hosts the workshop “Old Wine, New Skin: Digital Humanities, Distance Learning, and Philippine Literature in Spanish” at the JJ Atencio Lighthouse at Areté, on the Loyola Heights campus of the University.

As its name suggests, the workshop shows the intersection of three fields. How can one approach Philippine literature in Spanish, a branch of Philippine literature some consider moribund, in the digital age? What materials and resources are available to teachers outside of the physical classroom in the learning of literature in general? What insights can digital tools yield to researchers about a literature? These and similar questions are the stuff of the one-day workshop, which includes the presentation of a MOOC in development.

The speakers are professors Jorge Mojarro of the University of Santo Tomas and Emmanuelle Sinardet of Université Paris Nanterre. Mojarro’s presentation covers the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, specifically the parallel developments of Spanish-language literature in the Philippines and the Americas. Sinardet’s focuses on the construction of national imaginaries in the Hispanofilipino writings in the early twentieth century—how was, for instance, Maria Clara, reinterpreted as a symbol of the nation in the American colonial context? Both research works are products of the application of digital humanities methods.

The application goes beyond research in Philippine literature in Spanish. The afternoon session will suggest how materials and tools can be used in teaching and how digital humanities can be used in other literatures. In all, the workshop promises to show that old wine and new skin can mix without spoiling either.

“Old Wine, New Skin: Digital Humanities, Distance Learning, and Philippine Literature in Spanish” is one output of DigiPhiLIt, a project funded by Erasmus+ and undertaken in collaboration with five universities: the Universiteit Antwerpen, Ateneo de Manila University,  the Université Clermont-Auvergne, the Université Paris Nanterre, the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. 

The workshop is free. Interested parties may register through this link: https://sites.google.com/ateneo.edu/digimooc/registration. Ateneo de Manila University has a no-registration-no-entry policy; to apply for a pass to enter campus, please submit the form found at this link: https://bluepassdb.ateneo.edu/CAR/apply/9