The Philippine Studies Association, Inc., largest organization of Filipinologist and Philippine Studies scholars, together with the University of the Philippines Diliman and Visayas, is now accepting papers for the 2021 academic conference to be held online on August 25-27.

This year’s conference will zero in on the impact and significance of Christianity in the Philippines and in the surrounding regions of the Pacific, Southeast Asia and East Asia endure.

“When Spain eventually established its presence in the late 16th century in the archipelago that would later become the Philippines, the Catholic Church’s reach extended throughout the world for the first time in history. The arrival of Christianity was accompanied by Spanish aims of imperial expansion, and indigenous populations met the political and cultural challenges with the assimilation and appropriation of Christian tenets and practices, as well as outright resistances. The negotiation and contestation with various facets of Spanish colonialism have come to define, in large part, the process of Filipino historical becoming,” PSA explained.

The suggested sub-themes for individual and panel presentations for the ‘500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines’ PSA National Conference are:

• Catholicism and diaspora: exporting Christianity from the Philippines
• Christianity and architecture
• Christianity and nationalism
• Christianity and the Philippine political landscape
• Christianity and the visual arts
• Colonial imprint on urban planning
• Cultural politics of language and colonization
• Environment and ecocriticism
• European fashion invasion, 17th-19th c.
• History of the basic Ecclesiastical communities
• Indigeneity and colonization
• Indigenous peoples’ reactions to colonization
• Intellectuals and book history
• Islam in the time of Spanish colonization
• Liberation theology in the Philippines
• Missionary writings on native groups
• Popular religions
• Postcolonial (post-Hispanic) histories
• Revisiting the press during the Spanish period
• Spanish colonial influences on the performing arts
• Spanish Philippines in the early colonial era (16th and 17th centuries)
• Spanish-Philippine literature
• The Basques who came to the colony
• The Galleon Trade economy
• The geography of evangelization
• The Mexican connections
• The roots and routes of Filipino cuisine
• Understanding Spanish names

Papers written in either Filipino or English may be accepted. However, these must not have been published, submitted for publication, presented at another conference, or submitted for presentation at another conference. Meanwhile, panels must have panel abstracts as well as an abstract for each paper in the panel.

Abstract proposals (250 – 300 words) should be submitted in doc format to [email protected], cc to Clement C. Camposano ([email protected]) and Elizabeth L. Enriquez ([email protected]). Submissions will be peer-reviewed by a group of renowned scholars all over the world.

Deadline of abstracts is on January 31. Notification of acceptance will be sent on or before March 15.

Visit https://www.philstudies.com/ for more updates.