Research

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

01 Mar 2024

UP Diliman

The economic dynamism indices of cities and municipalities in metropolitan areas are spatially correlated, which suggests “complementation” rather than competition

The measurement of cities and municipalities competitiveness in the Philippines has been put in place by the Department of Trade...

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29 Feb 2024

UP Diliman

New research confirms the Philippines’ Last Glacial Maximum antiquity at 20,000 to 25,000 years ago based on oldest fossil remains which include the iconic tiger

Across the last 20,000 years, human societies adapted to significant climate and environmental change. One key region for investigating these...

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22 Feb 2024

UP Diliman

State suppression of human rights activism and civil society restrictions will hinder Indigenous languages from being “preserved, revitalized and promoted”

In 2019, the United Nations announced its intention to hold an International Decade of Indigenous Languages starting in 2022, in...

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20 Feb 2024

UP Los Baños

Study describes the expansion of three types of universe and the likelihood of having advanced civilizations among us

In this study, we investigate how life can spread from one planet to another in a simplified universe where planets...

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15 Feb 2024

UP Baguio

Wild sunflower, an invasive weed, can serve as a natural pesticide against the golden apple snail

This article focuses on investigating the molluscicidal properties of an invasive weed, Tithonia diversifolia (wild sunflower) against Pomacea canaliculata (golden kuhol) which has been considered...

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13 Feb 2024

UP Visayas

Oysters and mussels may contain high loads of bacteria by the time they reach consumers which makes them unsafe for raw consumption

Oysters and mussels are widely cultured shellfishes in the Philippines mostly intended for local consumption. After harvesting, they are transported...

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12 Feb 2024

UP Diliman, UP Mindanao

Davao City’s dual thoroughfares have good landform, light and color, and vegetation, and are relatively peaceful according to quantitative study

This study sought to assess the visual quality of dual thoroughfare streetscapes in Davao City, specifically identifying existing visual components...

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08 Feb 2024

UP Manila

Vaccination significantly reduces the chances of getting long-COVID and, in some cases, improves existing long-COVID symptoms

The emergence of COVID-19 brought about a global health crisis of unprecedented proportions. As vaccination campaigns were rolled out, researchers...

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07 Feb 2024

UP Los Baños

Higher education, marriage and abstaining from smoking lower risk of undernutrition whereas being female increases likelihood of overnutrition

Malnutrition in multiple forms is a public health crisis in many countries. The different forms of malnutrition affects numerous countries...

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06 Feb 2024

UP Diliman

Researchers modify the Friedmann equation and predict unique signs for the current era of the universe for the first time

Moments near the Big Bang, the universe underwent rapid and accelerated expansion called inflation. Any two objects that were 1...

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05 Feb 2024

UP Manila

Before intervening in SOGIE-based harassment, bystanders consider the type of harassment, risks to their safety and victim’s need for help

In the Philippines, there have been rising incidences of harassment directed at Filipinos who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans,...

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02 Feb 2024

UP Cebu

Filipino students value competence the most in business leaders whereas Finnish students prefer friendliness

This article sets out to examine cultural differences in perceiving leaders’ visual and non-verbal behavior. It examines and compares how...

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Research

Books go through a process of transformation from uniformity to uniqueness in the course of their survival. Some of these books—particularly rare old volumes––can even evolve from being a material object to becoming a cultural artifact, one that bears a special significance to a community, society, or country. Such volumes make for important study because they can deepen our comprehension of the survival of books and ultimately broaden our knowledge on the book, culture, and history in general. Rare old books that have become cultural artifacts can reveal much about
the publishing experiences and practices of their periods, the reception of books through the ages, and the culture of collecting in modern times. My study is on one of the rarest and oldest books of the Philippines, a Japanese-Spanish dictionary printed in Manila in 1630.

Books in the Philippines have had to contend with multiple forces––the humid tropical climate, typhoons, floods, fires, earthquakes, termites, the wars throughout the nation’s colonial history—in order to survive. This fact is often raised in studies on the history of the book in the Philippines, but how and why the book survives in spite of such conditions have hardly been given attention. Such a lack in Philippine book history is what this study seeks to address. It explores the survival of Philippine incunabula (books printed from 1593 to 1640), with a focus on the transformation from material object to cultural artifact that the book undergoes in the course of enduring throughout centuries. This study examines the case of the Vocabulario de Iapon (Japanese Vocabulary), with a particular interest in the copy of the Bernardo Mendel Collection of the Lilly Library of Indiana University. The Vocabulario de Iapon, which was printed in Manila in 1630, is a book that is both typical and unique among Philippine incunabula for the circumstances it saw from its publication to its survival. It has much to tell about publishing in the Philippines in the seventeenth century, the reception of books throughout the ages, and the culture of collecting in modern times.

Author: Patricia May Bantug Jurilla (Department of English and Comparative Literature, College of Arts and Letters University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2023/12/vol-12-no-3-patricia-may-bantug-jurilla/