International Research Forum on the Philippines 2018
Becoming filipino
25 - 26 November 2018 | La Trobe University - City Campus, Melbourne, Australia
The International Research Forum on the Philippines (IRFP), previously known as the Philippine Research Forum, is a gathering of academics, scholars, and students interested about the Philippines. It is a coming together of people from different disciplines, locations, and cultural backgrounds to discuss about their recent scholarly work related to the Philippines, attend workshops, and engage in roundtable discussions about the annual theme.
FASTCO, in cooperation with the Philippines Australia Studies Network (PASN) of La Trobe University, hope to make IRFP an avenue to raise critical questions, engage with fellow scholars on the Philippines, and hopefully generate constructive ideas concerning issues, challenges, and potentials of Philippine research. With the vibrant Melbourne landscape and interesting papers as backdrop, this yearly forum is definitely something to look forward to.
​
2018: BECOMING FILIPINO
​
The question of becoming Filipino in the contemporary age calls for a thorough examination of the complexities of 21st century Philippine reality. The recent years have been marked by local and global phenomena like neoliberal globalization, rapid technologisation, climate change, diaspora, and the rise of various social movements and civil society discourses. These events dynamically mediate and reconfigure constructions of the Filipino (and its complex and hyphenated permutations like Filipino-Americans, Filipino-Australians, Filipino/a/x), and the Filipino nation. Relatedly, research projects in the social and natural sciences have addressed issues that continue to redesign Filipino knowledge production and intellectual practice, including sustainability, development, and disaster management.
​
This international research forum shall present papers from the arts and humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and engineering that illuminate upon the question of becoming Filipino in regional, national and transnational contexts, in the diaspora, in industries, in academic and non-academic contexts, and in times of neoliberalisation, globalization, climate change, and rapid technological development.
​
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Previous Research Fora
IRFP 2017: Interrogating Paradoxes in the Philippines
IRFP 2016: Anticipating Futures - Opportunities and Challenges for the Philippines
Philippine Research Forum 2015: Dialogues and Discourse in Strengthening Research Approaches
Melbourne Pinoy Students Research Forum 2014: Philippine Studies - Australia and Beyond
Melbourne Filipino International Students Research Forum and Art Exhibit 2013
Organisers:
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
DR. Kristine Aquino
Lecturer
Global Studies Program
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
University of Technology Sydney
​
Dr Kristine Aquino is a Lecturer in the Global Studies Program at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney. Her research is concerned with issues related to migration, multiculturalism, race and racism, and transnationalism. She explores these issues in the context of urban everyday life through the use of qualitative and ethnographic methods. She has published in international journals in the fields of migration studies and racial and ethnic studies and her first book titled 'Racism and Resistance among the Filipino Diaspora: Everyday Anti-Racism in Australia' was recently published by Routledge in 2018. She also has over ten years of experience in completing commissioned research for the government, NGO and community sectors which has delivered policy and program recommendations on issues related to inequality and diversity in Western Sydney. Her current work examines two areas - the different modes of lived multiculturalism in the suburban neighbourhoods of Sydney; and the leisure and sporting practices of migrant Filipino men living and working in global cities in the Asia-Pacific. She received her PhD in Sociology from Macquarie University and is currently co-convener of the Migration, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism Thematic Group of the Australian Sociological Association.
DR. WOLFRAM DRESSLER
ARC Future Fellow
School of Geography
University of Melbourne
​
Dr Wolfram Dressler is an ARC Future Fellow at the School of Geography, University of Melbourne. His research examines human-environment relations within the framework of critical political ecology in conservation and development. Ethnographic in nature, his research examines how regional political economic processes shape resource access and use, exchange relations and environmental change at different societal scales in Southeast Asia. Specifically, he examines the historical origins and contemporary consequences of changing conservation practices on the livelihoods and landscapes of rural, resource reliant peoples in insular Southeast Asia, focusing on the frontier island of Palawan, the Philippines. He uses this frame to critically examine the spread, impact and outcomes of neoliberalism on conservation, livelihoods, and landscapes, with a focus on protected areas, market-based mechanisms (REDD, PES etc.) and resource commodity chains.
​
His ARC Future Fellowship (2014-2018) examines local social responses to the convergence of transnational governance, major resource extraction/ investment (biofuels etc.) and climate change in the Philippines and Indonesia. As an entry point, he examines the process and outcomes of indigenous social movements engaging boom crop production and carbon governance in the context of agrarian political economies in southern Palawan. This work is in collaboration with the indigenous NGO, NATRIPAL, Palawan State University, and the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
USEFUL LINKS
VISA INFO
Australia Visitor Visa Online Application
ACCOMMODATION
Affordable accommodation in Melbourne
TRANSPORTATION
Get to know Melbourne's public transport system
MELBOURNE
Discover what the City of Melbourne has to offer
IRFP 2018 ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Co-convenors:
Neslie Carol C. Tan (The University of Melbourne)
Charles Irvin S. Siriban (The University of Melbourne)
​
Members:
Laurence Marvin Castillo (The University of Melbourne)
Elizer Jay de los Reyes (The University of Melbourne)
Maria Paula Domingo (The University of Melbourne)
Allen Espinosa (The University of Melbourne)
Katherine Fernandez (Monash University)
Jacky-Lou Maestre (Monash University)
Reagan Romero Maiquez
Ma. Carmela Otarra (Monash University)
Oscar T. Serquina (The University of Melbourne)
Brian Kerry Takata (The University of Melbourne)
Katrina Ross Tan (Monash University)
Perlie Velasco (RMIT University)
Ethel Villafranca (The University of Melbourne)