Edited by Maria Luisa T. Camagay
With a foreword by Carolyn Sobritchea
Having made great strides over the years, the modern Filipina tends to be viewed as an entirely new and liberated being, divorced from the tradition-bound woman of the past. Nevertheless, the Filipina of today exists in a continuing discourse with Maria Clara and Gabriela Silang, the factory worker and the hacendera, the housewife and the politician, the Muslim princess and the beata, the artist and the OFW, the dalagang bukid and the wild woman.
With these essays by leading scholars from a range of fields, we examine the Filipina through the lens of historiography, sociology, economics, religion, politics, art, literature, cinema, and more. This collection explores how even in the face of discrimination, objectification, colonialism, and social injustice, women have exerted their agency and shaped the world we live in. Who is the Filipina? Where has she been? Where is she going? There is a lot more to the picture than we admit.
A cursory review of mainstream writings in the sciences, literature, and humanities shows many instances of how women have been excluded fr om the inquiry and how they have been denied epistemic authority... [T]his book is part of the continuing project in women’s studies to provide alternative literature for use in classroom teaching, research and advocacy work. The articles included here not only provide new ways of interpreting and using historical data but also introduce topics of inquiry that best illustrate women’s agency and varied roles in history... I congratulate the authors for their passion and hardwork in advancing the frontiers of Philippine feminist scholarship.
—Carolyn Sobritchea, PhD
University of the Philippines Diliman
© 2010
376 pages
softbound