Organizer: Southeast Asia Initiative at Harvard University Asia Center, Harvard University Filipino Language Program, Harvard University Indonesian Language Program, and Harvard University Thai Language Program

Type/Location: In Person / Cambridge, MA

Description:

Both bodies of water and the forests are reminiscent of many kinds of life's journeys-those of searching, finding, wandering, longing, and living among others. This is why they have become a fictional element in storybooks for children that want to show the affinity of places and the search for home, such as Charming Cha-cherng-sao by Kancahala Navanugraha from Thailand; Can We Drink the Ocean by Gidget Jimenez and Isabel Roxas, and Lauan, the Seed That Wanted to Fly (Si Lauan, Ang Butong Nais Makalipad) by Rhandee Garlitos and Hubert Balonso Fucio from the Philippines; and Where is My Home? (Di Mana Rumah Saya?) by Nur-El-Hudaa Jaffar and Lim Leei Leei from Singapore (with Bahasa translation).

Meanwhile, the experience is similar for expatriates who are entangled between the back and-forths and the cultural negotiation between the two aforementioned countries. In this lecture, the narratives of water- and forest-themed storybooks are analyzed vis-à-vis the discourses of exile among selected Filipinos, Thai, and Indonesian citizens who have been staying long term in other countries.

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.