Research

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

23 Oct 2023

UP Baguio

Covid-19 caused more psychological distress on women and young people than older persons

The results of this study represent 14,133 participants across 6 continents, with data from 19 nations. The most consistent finding...

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19 Oct 2023

UP Diliman, UP System

Children as young as two months are exposed to digital media for an average of two hours every day

The dramatic increase in the touchscreen exposure of very young children has raised issues regarding the potentials and perils that...

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11 Oct 2023

UP

Caves require greater management as important, but seldom studied, nonrenewable resources

Caves are significant nonrenewable resources that provide a variety of ecosystem services with varying sensitivities to disturbance. In the Philippines,...

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10 Oct 2023

UP Los Baños, UP Open University

Small islands in Northern Samar are linked by political, economic and social reasons

The Philippines as an archipelago is made up of many islands. Most of these islands are characterized as small, isolated,...

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06 Oct 2023

UP Los Baños

Online learning had adverse effects on the well-being and mental health of STEM students

This research adds to the growing body of literature pertaining to the extent and consequences of fully online
learning to Science,...

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05 Oct 2023

UP Manila

Teachers are still hesitant to talk about sex education due to cultural and religious factors

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) enables children and young people to learn about the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social characteristics of...

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02 Oct 2023

UP Manila

Smart-city projects will not “reduce inequality, hold policymakers accountable or address the root causes of Manila’s problems”

The Philippines is said to fall behind when it comes to adopting digital technologies and urged to catch up with...

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14 Sep 2023

UP Diliman

The location and number of language areas in the brain differ among multilingual brain tumor patients

The location of the speech area in the brain may be different or located in several sites in patients who...

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05 Sep 2023

UP Los Baños

Agent-based model reveals a sustainable method of forest tree harvesting

The Philippines requires 6 million cubic meters of wood annually, based on its 2006–2014 average wood consumption. However, due to...

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29 Aug 2023

UP Diliman

Adjusting the rice cropping calendar can improve the production and income of rice farmers

The study assessed the impact of an adjusted cropping calendar on the welfare of rice farming households in the  Mekong...

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15 Aug 2023

UP System

Study reports the first cases of yaws, a chronic and highly contagious skin and bone infection, among the Aetas of Quezon

Yaws is a chronic, highly contagious skin and bone infection caused by a bacteria, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, usually affecting...

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09 Aug 2023

UP Los Baños

Villages with a large population of women, older persons and agricultural households are most exposed to drought risk

Islands are highly vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme weather events due to their physical size, remoteness, and limited resources....

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Research

This paper analyzes poetry written by self-identified Agi (Panayanon indigenous gay identity) using the concept of power called gahum as its critical framework. Gay criticism in the Philippines has been too focused on the discourse of kabaklaan in Manila and not much has been said about indigenous models of queerness in the regions. The paper traces the connection of the agi and the babaylan (precolonial Shaman), as contemporary agi writers in the West Visayan region continue to champion the image of the babaylan in their writings. The babaylan is a shaman, culture bearer and political leader that embodies physical and spiritual powers that go beyond the human realm. By exploring the concepts of kaagian, gahum and babaylanism, this study reveals that agi writers use the image of the babaylan to subvert sources of oppression like colonialism and patriarchy and to empower the agi identity.

This study is a welcome addition to a growing body of literature that seeks to articulate local experiences of gender and sexuality in the Philippines as rendered in poetic forms. Focusing on agi poetry, the study reveals the peculiarities of agi culture and the writing it produces, considering the Panayanon world view that informs both. Highlighted in the research is how the Panayanon’s animist worldview which includes the element of gahum, has continued to influence contemporary Panayanon culture. Also, such worldview as revealed in the poems analyzed, has shaped to a certain extent the agi persona’s selfhood and community life characterized by animism and supernatural elements.

Aside from historicizing the tradition of agi writing in the region, the study formulates a local framework to understand the peculiarities attuned with the Panayanon space. With the cultural grounding of the analytical framework used in reading the poems, the discussion presents a different articulation of queerness or kaagian in Western Visayas.

The study veers away from western theorizing to unpack an indigenous articulation of queerness. It interrogates modes of being (agi) and becoming (kaagian) from the poetic archive of Western Visayas to enrich our understanding of what can be termed “queerness” without its Western/Eurocentric baggage. This is crucial because the study posits the “agi” as a nativist, anti-colonial articulation of queer sexuality rooted in and enriched by its indigenous milieu.

Author: John Ray A. Hontanar (University of the Philippines Visayas)

Read the full paper: https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/humanitiesdiliman/article/view/9461/8361