Digital Commons Network^™

Editor’S Introduction, Michael D. Pante

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Fredric Jameson In Asia: Interpreting Korean Gothic Through Haunted Modernity, Eugene Kim

Kritika Kultura

Asian Gothic, particularly in its Korean manifestation, both embodies and unsettles postmodernism as theorized by Fredric Jameson. While sharing postmodern characteristics such as fragmented temporality and commodification, Korean Gothic resists being dismissed as pastiche by demonstrating historical trauma, the grotesque, and forms of the sublime that revise Western-centered accounts of postmodernity. This article engages with Park Chan-kyong’s concept of “Asian Gothic” and uses Goedam as a popular cultural example. It argues that Korean Gothic functions as an aesthetic response to compressed modernity, generating a horizontal sublime through the interplay of terror, spiritual affect, and non-linear temporalities.

Non-Violent Re-Articulation Of Masculinities: Art, Youths, And Peace Preservation In Post-Conflict Ambon Island, Wening Udasmoro, Leo Marai, Russell Soaba, Philip Aratiso, Jemmy Talakua

Kritika Kultura

Art as a mechanism for fostering peace in conflict resolution and peace maintenance can be found in different social experiences. The Ambon conflict that occurred in 1999 following the fall of Indonesia’s New Order government ended in 2002, but the potential for inter-religious and inter-ethnic conflicts is still a concern for many members of the Ambon community in Maluku Province. In an effort to maintain peace, various elements of the Ambon society continuously engage themselves in various activities to preserve peace. One consistent element in these peace preservation efforts is the youth of Ambon, who employ art as a means …

Building Ties, Connecting Islands: Api Kartini's Longing For An Affective Community During The Cold War, Asri Saraswati

Kritika Kultura

This article discusses the inter-class and cross-oceanic ties envisioned by socialist women’s organization Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women Movement or Gerwani) through an analysis of their magazine, Api Kartini (AK). The magazine published fiction and non-fiction writings that reveal their affective impulse to build connection as they shared their observations of the women’s movement and labor in Indonesia and abroad. The magazine addressed middle-class women and wives, connecting them emotionally with women of the working class and women organizations across the oceans in their rejection to colonialism and feudalism and their fight for equal rights. This article aims to understand …

The Violence Of Abstraction: Fredric Jameson, The “Asiatic Mode,” And The Problem Of Asia, Maria Luisa Torres Reyes, Alex Taek-Gwang Lee

Kritika Kultura

This forum introduction revisits Fredric Jameson’s engagement with Asia by focusing on a central tension in his work: the productive power of his world-historical method and the limitations of its reliance on the typological figure of the “Asiatic mode of production.” Rather than treating this tension as grounds for either dismissal or recuperation, the essay argues that Jameson’s categories become most useful precisely at the point where they encounter their limits, opening the possibility for alternative modes of theoretical practice. It proposes refunctioning and provincializing as complementary methodologies through which inherited concepts are displaced, reworked, and renewed in relation to …

Sari-Sari Stores As Community Pharmacies? A Qualitative Exploration Of Sari-Sari Stores Selling Medicines In The Philippines, Melissa Louise M. Prieto, Gamaliel P. Galigao, Ana Rica S. Navarra-Cruz, Louise Gabriel R. Jimenez, Gideon Lasco

Medical Anthropology

Background and Objective. Despite laws prohibiting the sale of pharmaceuticals outside licensed pharmacies, sari-sari stores continue to informally sell medicines, bridging access challenges especially in remote areas. The study explores the roles and perceptions of sari-sari stores as informal medicine providers. Methods. The study draws on ethnographic insights from key informant interviews with fourteen (14) sari-sari store owners or tinderas, probing into medicines sold in sari-sari stores and their perceived effectiveness. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results. Sari-sari stores serve as informal yet critical points of access to common medicines for everyday illnesses, especially in remote areas where …

Editor’S Introduction, Michael D. Pante

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Infinite Lives, Infinite Deaths, Jonathan Chua

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Insular Yet Global: Selected Essays Of Fernando Zialcita, Maria F. Mangahas

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Visual Culture In The Philippines, Josef Adriel O. De Guzman

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Taka, Dj Ellamil

Kritika Kultura

No abstract provided.

Landlocked: The Igorot Ili In The Cordillera Regional Autonomy Pageants, Jose Kervin Calabias

Kritika Kultura

The present essay intervenes in the resurgent discussions on Cordillera regional autonomy by relocating “autonomy” as it is showcased in the 2023 pageant “Search for Mr. and Ms. Cordillera Autonomy Youth Ambassador” (CAYA). This government-organized pageant simulates the simultaneously isolating and relational understanding of islands through the ili, an Indigenous form of self-governance, embodied by the youth “ambassadors” in the pageant. Through cultural analysis of the pageant space, contestant self-introductions, posters, and attires in the pageant, I argue that these minor agents of autonomy perform oratorical negotiations that uplift each of their ili’s alleged “self-sufficiency” to appeal to the government’s …

Co-Creating Korean Culture In Europe Through Digital Media: The Rise Of Transculturator, Éva Judit Gajzágó, Mária Keresztes

Kritika Kultura

Over the past decade, Korean pop culture (including K-pop and K-drama series) has conquered the world and left its mark on the European market. Today, the number of fans of Korean culture exceeds 225 million. This study examines this fan phenomenon through a European sample. It focuses on fans who are not only consumers but also content creators, producers, and shapers of culture in digital media. The study is based on a multi-country dataset from Europe. The authors’ primary survey, conducted in 2024, targeted fans of Korean culture in twelve European countries. The research explores fans’ interest in Korean entertainment …

Introduction: Homo Connectus And Fandom Activism: Fansumers As Cultural Transmitters, Soongbeum Ahn, Ratan Kumar Roy

Kritika Kultura

The transformation of fandom in the age of digital media and hyperconnectivity calls for renewed scholarly attention. Earlier studies of participatory culture highlighted the role of the “prosumer,” who blurs the boundary between production and consumption. This special section shifts the focus to the concept of the “fansumer,” which captures a more specific mode of engagement in which emotionally invested fans mobilize coordinated consumption and activities to shape cultural visibility, influence market outcomes, and practice fandom activism. Fans also actively generate new cultural forms and position themselves as agents of communication, thereby amplifying the dynamism of the global popular culture …

The Lithic Assemblage From The 700,000-Year-Old Butchery Site Of Kalinga (Luzon Island, Philippines): New Insights Into Technological Variability In The Early Paleolithic In Island Southeast Asia, Justin Guibert, Jean-Baptiste Lambard, Gerald John Palaya, Jackie Despriée, Alfred Pawlik, Xavier Gallet, John De Vos, Andrea Dominique Cosalan, Paul C.H. Albers, M. Gema Chacón, Thomas Ingicco, Marian C. Reyes

Sociology & Anthropology Department Faculty Publications

Abstract

Despite a long history of archaeological and paleoanthropological research, our understanding of the Early Paleolithic in Island Southeast Asia remains limited as only a few sites with clear stratigraphic contexts—Mata Menge (Flores Island), Ngebung 2 (Java Island), Calio and Talepu (Sulawesi Island)—have been documented. This scarcity of well-stratified assemblages has led to a poor characterization of technological variability and cultural sequences, which mainly rely on surface collections and early typological classifications/facies (e.g., Pacitanian, Cabengian, Cabalwanian, Liwanian, Arubian, etc.). These classifications, mostly based on a handful of cobble artifacts, have long obscured the technological diversity of early hominin settlements in …

Editor’S Introduction, Michael D. Pante

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Preface, Salvador G. Agualada Jr.

Landas

No abstract provided.

Book Review— Integral Ecology Ministry: Doing Ecological Theology And Advocacy In Light Of Laudato Si’, Norlan H. Julia

Landas

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Volume 38, Issue 2

Landas

No abstract provided.

Perception As Beholding: Theological Possibility And Moral Implication Of Merleau-Ponty's Notion Of Embodied Subject, Erickson L. Totanes

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

In this article, I argue that Merleau -Ponty’s concept of perception reveals a way of seeing where the subject is involved with the object in a dynamic, reversible, and expanding relationship. This notion challenges the traditional and Cartesian subject -object dichotomy by emphasizing the embodied and lived experience of perception which elicits a process, a way of looking, anticipating, and reflexively, a way of being itself. By aligning seeing with beholding, I attempt to show how as simple an act as seein g evokes a manner of being related to an object, other people, and the world. The emergence of …

The Mission And Ministry Of The East Asian Pastoral Institute For The Local Churches In Asia And Oceania, Paul B. Steffen, Svd

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

The EAPI is a typical international, interregional pastoral institute. It trains primarily multipliers in the ecclesial-pastoral ministry for the Asia-Pacific region. In 1986/87, 20 years after the first course, the institute had 14 resident members in the teaching staff. The novelty of the Pastoral Institute has been able to consolidate itself in this region and meet the existing needs. The EAPI is today a centre for the ecclesial-pastoral renewal of the Asian-Pacific local churches and it also contributes to the exchange of pastoral experiences with other local churches.

60 Years Of Eapi - Cum Ecclesia, John Chechon Chong, Sj

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Pastoral Ministry At The Intersections Of Life For A Synodal Church In Asia, Charles Bertille

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

This paper is condensed from the Keynote Address presented by the author at EAPI's 60th Anniversary. Pastoral ministry in Asia unfolds amid pluralism, migration, inequality, and shifting identities, requiring a vision beyond sacramental maintenance toward lived experience and communal struggle. Rooted in Vatican II, Asian theology, and the Synod on Synodality, ministry is participatory, dialogical, and mission-oriented. Synodality calls for conversion of spirit and structure: humility, discernment, and trust. Leadership must be missionary, interculturally competent, and committed to the poor and creation. Formation institutes such as EAPI and NIFSA serve as laboratories for synodal practice, fostering prophetic leadership. Ultimately, synodality …

From Missionary Apologetics To Mission Networking, Arthur Leger, Sj

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Remembering The First Ten Years, José M. Calle, Sj

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Volume 7, Issue 1

Loyola Papers

No abstract provided.

Editor's Preface, Leo-Martin Angelo R. Ocampo

Loyola Papers

No abstract provided.

Peace, Hope, And The Order Of Love: An Augustinian Perspective On Political Life, La Thi Thu Trang

Loyola Papers

This article examines the relevance of the political thought of Augustine of Hippo for contemporary social and political challenges. Focusing on Augustine’s concepts of peace, hope, and ordo amoris (the order of love), the study proposes a theological framework for responsible political engagement within the limitations of the earthly city. Engaging the interpretation of Michael Lamb, the paper highlights the dynamic relationship between hope and charity as guiding virtues that sustain civic responsibility while avoiding both despair and naïve optimism in political life.

The Place Of Touch In Greco-Roman Antiquity And In The Old Testament, Dom Joseph B. Bulan

Loyola Papers

This article examines the significance of touch in Greco-Roman Antiquity and the Old Testament. Through an interdisciplinary approach drawing from philosophy, law, medicine, religious practice, and biblical ritual, the study retrieves touch as a meaningful and performative medium that conveys power, holiness, and social order. It shows how touch functions to establish boundaries, mediate relationships, and regulate access to the sacred. By comparing Greco-Roman sensory hierarchies with Israel’s covenantal and purity-centered worldview, the article highlights key distinctions between holiness and purity and contributes to ongoing discussions in biblical theology, ritual theory, and theological anthropology.

The Human Person As Relatio In Joseph Ratzinger’S Logos-Dialogos Theology, Junmar Cris N. Caputolan

Loyola Papers

This article examines the concept of the human person as relatio in the theology of Joseph Ratzinger. Marking the twentieth anniversary of Ratzinger’s election as pope, the paper situates his Logos-Dialogos theology at the intersection of Christology and theological anthropology. It traces the development of personhood from Augustine of Hippo and Boethius to Richard of St. Victor, culminating in Ratzinger’s relational vision of the human person. The study highlights how faith, reason, and love converge in a dialogical understanding of personhood oriented toward communion with God and others.