Research

As the national university, we champion and support innovative research that addresses the country’s most pressing challenges.

18 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

The Vocabulario de Iapon (Japanese Vocabulary) is both typical and unique among books first printed in the Philippines from 1593 to 1640

Books go through a process of transformation from uniformity to uniqueness in the course of their survival. Some of these...

Read More

13 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

The lack of a consistent Southeast Asian values system may explain the ongoing sexual prejudice toward lesbian women and gay men in the region

Homonegativity or negative attitudes towards lesbian women and gay men still persist in Southeast Asian countries. Such attitudes not only...

Read More

11 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

Research investigates how crowdsourcing, digital co-production and collaborative governance can modernize local public transport services

The SafeTravelPH Public Transport Crowdsourcing App, which was designed as part of a bigger research, is a platform that actively...

Read More

04 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

Intrinsic goal orientation or motivation varies among students from different cultural backgrounds

This study investigates the motivation of university students in Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and China for online learning. It analyzes how...

Read More

03 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

Filipina labor migrants in Hong Kong reject stereotypes by embracing their own identity and way of life

The study is mainly concerned with giving an opportunity to Filipina labor migrants in Hong Kong to voice out their...

Read More

30 May 2024

UP Diliman

Agricultural expansion and migrations over the last 10,000 years significantly influenced genetic, cultural and linguistic diversity across the globe

This review delves into the expansive journey of human history over the last 10,000 years, a period known as the...

Read More

27 May 2024

UP Diliman

The classical guitarist’s plucking techniques can be accurately classified using multimedia signal processing

In classical guitar performances, various plucking gestures can be employed to evoke different tonal qualities in the produced sound. To...

Read More

22 May 2024

UP Diliman

Both parental and peer attachments are important to a student’s life at university but they play different roles

This research explores a vital aspect of a student’s life during their first year at university. It examines how the...

Read More

16 May 2024

UP Diliman

Philippine museums use Filipino and English more often, putting aside minority and marginalized languages

The study looks at how Filipino, English, and multilingual signs are displayed in select Philippine museums. It analyzes not only...

Read More

15 May 2024

UP Manila

Digital health initiatives helped transgender Filipinos access sexual and reproductive healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic

Stringent lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and the systemic exclusion of transgender (trans) experiences and narratives in sexual and reproductive...

Read More

10 May 2024

UP Cebu

A combination of uncertainty and alliance-building may be the Philippines’ best approach to the South China Sea disputes

The research delves into the complexities of the South China Sea issues, proposing a fresh approach for countries like the...

Read More

02 May 2024

UP Diliman

Mussels cultivated in Manila Bay are contaminated with feces from sewage, agricultural, and diffuse sources

Manila Bay, a multipurpose body of water located around Metro Manila, Philippines, is continuously degrading because of pollution. Reports have...

Read More

Research

“The Churning of the Sea of Milk” is a story of a young Filipino scholar who is backpacking in Siem Reap in 2012 but the memory is recollected in 2023. In his journey, he meets a Khmer scholar who is visiting the Angkor Wat to pray. Their encounter enables the persona to learn about the deep knowledge of ancient Khmer people regarding irrigation which was responsible in sustaining their farming, making them one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The persona also learns about their sophisticated skills in architecture and the centrality of their spirituality in the configuration of their temples. But all these vanished because of long droughts and civil wars that destroyed the waterways and the Angkor temples. The encounter serves as a metaphorical reconstruction of the ruins, a study of the past which is also a journey in the reconstitution of the self in the present. The Filipino scholar and the Khmer scholar parts ways in the end but the persona’s memory of the encounter continues to persist in his present, enriches it, and melds it with his cinematic inner life.

The “Churning of the Sea of Milk” merges memory studies, film studies, and film techniques to perform an elucidation of the Khmers’ deep knowledge of hydraulics intertwined with their politics, their architectural ambitions that altered landscapes and waterscapes in Siem Reap which were necessary to ensure their survival as a people. It offers a reading of the ruins of the Angkor Wat to reveal their dark traumatic past in the hands of Pol Pot, the erosion of ecosystems through a changing climate, and their massive effort to reconstruct and save the Angkor Wat as their architectural and cultural heritage. On a personal level, it is an analysis of healing of the traveler-persona who will be saved by the memory of his encounter with a Khmer scholar few years later. The essay is framed by In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai but provides a narrative inflection by infusing it with queer subjects. The narrative is a churning of the present, past, not-so-distant past, and the future into one extended filmic reading of the Siem Reap River.

Author: Elio Garcia (UP Film Intitute)

Read the full paper: https://archium.ateneo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2085&context=kk

Image by Sharon Ang from Pixabay