Ateneo, CUHK conduct academic exchange on role of archiving in literary and cultural studies

On 8 May 2024, Ateneo de Manila University hosted an academic exchange with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Titled "Archive as Method in Literary and Cultural Studies" the event saw scholars and educators from both schools share stories and discuss insights on the role that archiving plays in literary and cultural studies.

Dr Vincenz Serrano, Associate Chairperson for Literature of Ateneo's Department of English and Editor in Chief, Kritika Kultura, opened the event with an address, welcoming the participants from both schools.

This was followed by some welcoming remakers from Dr Anne Lan K Candelaria, Ateneo's Assistant Vice President for Graduate Education.

The keynote lecture for the event was provided by Dr Ramon Guillermo, Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman. In his lecture, Dr Guillermo reflected upon the fire that struck the UP Faculty Center on 1 April 2016. 

At the time of the fire, the UP Faculty Center contained multi-generational libraries and collections of unpublished manuscripts, books, artworks, cultural artifacts, personal memorabilia, academic records, and irreplaceable documents. The loss of these was widely mourned all throughout the country, not just in UP. To this day, UP faculty and students perform rituals of grief and mourning on social media every 1 April.

In his lecture, Dr Guillermo talked about how the fire can serve as a starting point for reflecting on the role of archives and the effects of their loss. 

The panels and presentations that followed did pick up on this, with people from both universities discussing how archiving has affected a series or subgenre of work as well as the people curating, studying and even just consuming those works.

The first panel featured the presentations “Visualizing Horror: Aswang ‘Sightings’ in Komiks (1950-2021)” by Arianne de Asis from Ateneo; “The Ghosts in the Archives,” Mia Tetangco from Ateneo; and “What is lost in the process of archiving and mediating literary objects?” by Luo Yiyang, Guo Hui, Xi Tianhui, Yuan Xi, and Wei Yi from CUHK.

The second panel's presentations were “Tales of the Home Towards the Sky: A Textual Analysis on the Portrayal of the Family and Religion in Three Waray Folktales” by Judah Krista Reign R Batulan from Ateneo;  “Unburying Tropes in Ifugao’s ‘Walun Hathat ni Alim’: An Archiving of Epics as Enculturative Function” by Amado G Japsay, Jr from Ateneo; and “Suzhou Tourism Souvenir Seals, a Modern Interpretation of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Taohuawu Wood-block New Year Picture)” by Li Yacai, Leung Ho Lam, Qiu Kai, Chan Xavier I Chun, and Zha Yunzhi from CUHK.

Paner three featured “Protean Narratives, Archival Imaginations: Fanfiction, the Nation, and Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere” by Thomas Leonard Shaw, Ateneo de Manila University; “Social Media as Archives—Taking WeChat as an Example” by Wang Shuqi, Zhao Nihan, Yin Xiang, Lu Yan, and Li Zuyuan from CUHK; and “The Digital Archive: Catalyst for Memory or Tool for Oblivion?” by Mark Joseph H Nusug from Ateneo.

The final panel featured “Hugot as Remembrance and Reckoning” by Genesis R Cordero from Ateneo de Manila University; “UP-ON Performance Art Archive (UP-ON PAA)” by Wang Xiaoya, Qi Shiyi, Tang Lihan, and Feng Xinning from CUHK; and “On Archival Exhibitions in China” by Lyu Huiying, Yu Ziqing, Zhang Zhongyang, and Tang Xiaoyi from CUHK.

Following the panels, the attendees visited the Ateneo de Manila University Archives and the Ateneo Art Museum.