UNITAS Journal

The articles in this issue are as intra-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, transdisciplinary or multidisciplinary as might be possible, embracing important thematic and methodological currents of 21st century scholarship.

The almost four-decades-long experience of Filipinos working abroad has evolved into an emergent diaspora in the era of neoliberal capitalism. Reflexive critique of this ordeal has sharpened class/national consciousness coincident with the breakup of families and brutalization of female bodies. Initiated by the U.S.-sponsored Marcos dictatorship, the export of human labor has converted everyday life into a permanent emergency.

Malvarosa (Gregorio Fernandez, 1958) possesses a curious reputation in relation to other prestige productions of the so-called first “Golden Age of Philippine Cinema” (roughly the 1950s). Although sharing certain neorealist properties with the other serious outputs of LVN, its production company, it also partakes of the overreliance on coincidence and the mercurial performative style that characterize the then less-reputable undertakings of Philippine cinema.

In the field of Philippine music discourse, there has been an apparent marginalization of women throughout the country’s history. While, in general, this problem may be attributed to the dearth of historical accounts, in particular, it is due to the lack of source materials in music that could merit investigation from this perspective. Thus, the reemergence of the Manual-Cantoral para el uso de las Religiosas de Santa Clara de la Ciudad de Manila, a five-volume sacred music anthology published in Manila (1871-1874), is vital in a discussion of women in music and culture, especially the changing construction of religiosity, femininity, and identity in the context of the country’s Spanish colonial experience (1521-1898).