UNITAS to feature a special issue on Philippine Literature in Spanish by noted international scholars

The study of Philippine Literature in Spanish has been experiencing a sudden and necessary upsurge in the last few years. Scholarly monographs and annotated re-editions are being published, international conferences are being held, doctoral dissertations are being defended and peer-reviewed journals are welcoming special issues on this area of research which had seemed neglected not too long ago. Despite these very welcome developments, there is still a need to study Philippine Literature in Spanish not as an isolated, odd and peripheral phenomenon; rather, it needs to be appreciated as a rich literary system that holds deep connections with other fields, especially Latin American Literature, at least from the last third of 19th Century to World War II. In particular, both before and after 1898, Literature in the Spanish language worldwide, with its trends and controversies, was a point of reference and important influence for Philippine authors. In this special issue, a group of international scholars fills the gap by using a comparative approach in order to provide a better understanding of the important literary influences and overlooked intellectual exchanges that took place on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Dr. Jorge Mojarro Romero will be the issue’s Guest Editor.

About the Guest Editor

Jorge Mojarro Romero (Huelva, 1980) holds a Master’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature (Universidad de Sevilla, 2003) and a PhD in Spanish and Latin American Literature (Universidad de Salamanca, 2016). He has been a full-time professor at the Instituto Cervantes de Manila since 2009 and a faculty member of the Department of Literature at the University of Santo Tomás, Manila. He has published an annotated edition of Teodoro Kalaw’s Hacia la Tierra del Zar (Renacimiento, Sevilla, 2014) and Dominican Father Campa’s journeys to Mayoyao and the Sierra Madre, Entre las Tribus del Luzón Central (Renacimiento, Sevilla, 2016). Apart from guest-editing for UNITAS, he is also coordinating a special issue on Philippine Literature in Spanish for the peer-reviewed Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana.