Organizer: The Filipino Program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Type/Location: Virtual
Description:
As a writer of storybooks for children in the Philippines, I have always been fascinated with writing about our culture.
While I have published The Magic Bahag and The Missing Blanket, which are both attempts to represent the Kalinga tribe in the Cordillera region, as well as Sayaw ni Dayaw (Dayaw's Dance), which focuses on cultural dances, there has always been a struggle to writing culture as an outsider, given that I was born in a different region. In many literary spaces where voices are important, issues of representation, authenticity, and voice are always a subject of debate. Who has the right to tell a story? Whose culture should one write about?
This presentation is two-fold. The first part is a survey of storybooks about indigenous communities. This includes five storybooks published by Museo Kordilyera of the University of the Philippines Baguio, along with other storybooks published by national, regional, and nongovernment organization (NGO) publications. Language use, cultural representation, and portrayal of Indigenous children's experiences will be discussed
In the second part, I share my experiences within the writing climate of the Philippines and how the issue of cultural representation is viewed by Filipino writers. I also discuss the creation process of my storybooks about a specific Indigenous group, the feedback that I received, and the issues of representation that arise from writing about culture. In addition, I also share the different production dynamics of creating and distributing stories that tackle the experiences of cultural minorities in the Philippines.
Through personal recollections, analysis of published stories about the indigenous communities, and critiquing of this specific niche in the children's literature industry in the Philippines recently, I offer suggestions on how writing about culture in the case of the Philippines can be effective. I also discuss the tensions that arise from such practice, hoping that this can open discussions on how producing content for children becomes instrumental in the representation and preservation of the rich indigenous heritages in the country.
About the Speaker:
Cheeno Marlo M. Sayuno, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an Associate Professor of Communication, Research, and Children's Literature from the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños. He has received recognition from the prestigious Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippine Board on Books for Young People's Salanga Prize (honorable mention), and the Normal Awards for Gender-Inclusive Literature by Philippine Normal University for his stories for children. He has published storybooks with Adarna House, Lampara Books, Anvil Publishing, Chikiting Books, and Save the Children Philippines, as well as various textbooks and research work in communication, media, and related fields.
Registration Link:
To attend the event online, please register here.