local studies centers

Last summer, when I first started my job, I met with Professor Damon Woods, a lecturer on Southeast Asia at UCLA. His research focus is the Philippines and he mentioned that local studies centers, or centers that focus on the history and culture of a specific locality or region, are becoming a big thing in the Philippines.

This spring, the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies sponsored a talk by Dr. Emmanuel Franco Calairo, Professor of History and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the De La Salle University-Dasmariñas. Entitled "Preserving Local Heritage: A Case Study from Cavite, Philippines," it was about the Cavite Studies Center (CSC), one of the bigger and most active local studies centers in the Philippines. During his talk, Dr. Calairo mentioned that he and the CSC have helped other localities to establish their own local studies centers and that they have even formed an association of local studies centers and have had meetings and training sessions. (I later find out that this organization is called KABANSA, or Kapisanan ng mga Bahay Saliksiking sa Bansa (National Association of Research Centers).)

So, when I was planning this trip, I wanted to include these local studies centers in the itinerary so that 1) I could find out about the this new research trend and 2) to find out about the sorts of materials coming out from these centers. As there are too many of them to visit, I only chose the ones in the more convenient (according to my schedule and funds, that is) locations.

As I was primarily based at my uncle's house in Quezon City, I chose the ones that were do-able in a day trip, as anything further would require overnight accommodations for me and the driver and additional days in the schedule. I decided that on one day I would go north and visit the Center for Bulacan Studies, the Center for Kapampangan Studies, and the Center for Tarlaqueño Studies. On another day, I could go south and visit the Cavite Studies Center and the Santa Rosa Studies Center (I ended up not going here, though, due to scheduling conflicts); I could combine this trip with a visit to the International Rice Research Institute, an internationally well-known institute. I also decided that I would include the Cebuano Studies Center, as Cebu City is the second biggest city in the Philippines and the center is actually the oldest one in the country.