A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: Mirahan – A Zamboanga gathering of book lovers

(An excerpt from the talk Brother Karl Gaspar delivered  at the Books Zamboanga Fair held at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University last July 29, 2022)

The over-all context that is determining the current state of knowledge production, appropriation, dissemination and popularization  – which for so long was dominated by the availability of books and other publications usually accessed through the classroom and libraries – have shifted to other platforms, thanks to the rise of the information age and the computer technology. In this post-colonial and post-modern times, radical shifts have taken place in this field with their impact on our approaches to acquiring knowledge.

Everyone knows that today the distribution of knowledge has drastically changed. Owing to the major technological changes, the forms and ways that information is distributed and communicated have consequently been revolutionized.  Just consider the shifts taking place through the centuries, from oral tradition to the invention of the press, to the rise of telephones, radios, movies and television, and – in the past few decades – the explosion of the use of the internet, all these extended our ways of communication, as well as knowledge distribution.

These processes have shifted following the four stages of the Industrial Revolution (from the first – with the rise of the usage of coal transforming the economy from agricultural to industrial in 1760s, the second with gas and oil in 1870s,  the third with electronics and nuclear in late 1960s and lastly with the internet and its digital platforms and renewable energy in the new millennium. With the rise of a new industrial age constituted by the digital revolution, knowledge has become the driver of most modern economies.

Two social theorists have commented on this reality.  According to Manuel Castelles knowledge is a series of networks and flows and that today there is  more emphasis on knowledge as product rather than process, which arise not just in the minds of peoples but in their inter-actions with each other. For Jean-Francois  Lyotard, what used to be the traditional way of knowledge acquisition which trained the mind is also becoming obsolete and with it, the idea of knowledge as a set of universal truths. For him there are many truths, many knowledge and many forms of reason leading to the dissolution of the boundaries between traditional disciplines. 

While there is no question that humanity has benefited from the blessings that came with the internet (for example: imagine if there was no internet during the two-year period of our isolation because of COVID-19), there are those who also warn us of its shadows and its ugly features. But no matter where we stand on this debate, for those with critical minds, there is no question as to how the internet shadow has polluted our democratic framework especially in relation to the manner we have conducted our electoral processes. 

Still there is a need to hold on to traditional forms of knowledge production and popularization. We cannot just give up on what used to be the main source of knowledge that helped us to nurture our sense of humanity helping us grow in age, grace and wisdom. Books and publications will always have a place in humanity’s quest for peace, freedom and justice. Which is why society will always need authors and writers who in turn need all the institutions that help to disseminate their works from publishers to libraries. In a country like the Philippines with limited spaces for such dissemination, holding a book fair is one way to draw both writers and readers together.

From July 27 t0 29, the ADZU’s Center for Culture and Arts and Aklat Alamid with the assistance of the National Book Development Board organized Books Zamboanga  with the theme – “Mirahan: Kitaan at Palitan ng mga Salaysay ng Paglikha at Pagtaguyod ng Panitikan sa Mindanao.” The organizers managed to gather creators and advocates of books, reading, and literature from the Zamboanga Peninsula and other regions of Mindanao to encourage the production and promotion of original content from the regions of the Philippines. 

It goes without saying that this kind of event is so important for those of us who wish that there could be more encouragement for our writers and everyone else connected to this field especially those of the millennial and GenZ generations. Such an event also helps to encourage writing at the periphery of the nation, as there is a need for more authors of our regions to be visible across the country.

Why should we in the regions across Mindanao-Sulu assert our visibility and voices within the landscape of Philippine publications and literature? Because, unless you have been schooled only in the colonial times, the post-colonial era has shifted its focus from the global to the local, the center to the periphery, the Western to the indigenous, the dominant to the dominated. For years now, these dualities have been challenged by those constructing and/or promoting post-colonial as well as decolonial theories both in the social sciences and literature circles. Authors, writers and journalists are naturally the most vociferous in the appropriation of these theories as they are the most assertive in speaking their voices through the written word! 

Fernand Braudel has theorized this in his book – The View of the Periphery (Out of Italy, Europa, 2019): “it is sometimes said that the light shed from the margin is the best, that a complex whole may best be apprehended from its outer limits.”  In a situation in which “every fact, every event has been minutely studied by generations of devoted historians, the vantage point of the periphery, of the diaspora, can provide new clarity to developments in the core.”

The region constituted by Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu archipelago and Basilan through the years have been a major source of interest for researchers, writers and authors. As early as the Yuan dynasty (1268-1638), Chinese sources indicate tributary missions from Sulu to China, and in 1417 such a mission reached the celestial court as recorded in the Ming Annals. It would not be until the eighteenth century that the Sulu-China got connected again through diplomatic activity and trade.  As recorded in the Ching Annal, five separate tribute-bearing missions  were sent by the Sultans of Sulu (between 1727 and 1763). This trade has been extensively documented in James F. Warren’s book – The Sulu Zone: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State, 1768-1898.

The Western Mindanao region’s strategic location in Southeast Asia – located along the route from Davao Gulf to Celebes Sea going towards the Indian Ocean via the Strait of Malacca – made this region visible as galleons traversed the seas in search of the fabled Spice Islands.  Portugal and Spain in the sixteenth century were on competition to be the first to control the fort in Malacca to monopolize the spice trade which then was driving the world economy, apart from their desire to suppress Islam. 

Thus armed encounters with the Muslims that included military expeditions to Borneo and Mindanao led to the Moro Wars from the mid-1500s to the late 1800s. Unfortunately, these wars persisted even after we gained independence, worsened during the Marcos regime starting with the burning of Jolo in 1974 and to remain turbulent until only recently.  

From the perspective of geography and history, this region is a minefield for research and publications. This apart from the richness of its cultural legacy, considering the rich mixture of nationalities, ethnicities, cultural traditions and religious systems. This accounts for the presence of the Tausugs, Yakan, Jama Mapun, and the various Samas who cover a diverse groupings of Sama-Bajau-speaking peoples found across a vast maritime zone. Bajau is the most common term used, but in some cases the name is used pejoratively which is why it is much better to refer to them as Sama- or Orang –Dilaut.  

There are also the Sama or Samal Banguingui.  Along with the Iranun, they were said to constitute the bulk  of the Sultan’s navy, engaged in raiding the settlements in the northern Philippines, as well as the coasts of neighboring Borneo and were also involved in piracy and slave trade during the 18^th/19^thcenturies. With their garay and laong warships, they could easily out-run the Spaniards in the high seas. 

Through the years there have also been migrations from other parts of the world including the Chinese which accounts for the presence of Chinese ancestry among Sulu citizens today. Between 1770 and 1800, 18,000 Chinese came from South China to trade and many of them stayed. Visayan settlers also eventually arrived in the archipelago which accounts for the presence of Christians.

With all these nationalities and ethnicities, there were bound to be a mixture of different languages and many of those living this region – especially those engaged in trading – needed to be able to communicate in different languages. With the establishment of a settlement of Spaniards and Mexicans along with the arrival of the laborers from Manila and the Visayas to help build Fort Pilar, a pidgin Spanish eventually developed into a full-fledged creole language for Zamboangeňos, known as Chavacano. 

This remains our hope – that the voices from below will continue to assert among Zamboanguenos and other peoples in this region who – although at the periphery of our nation – could further attest to why the margins are as important as the center!  

At the same time we hope that institutions like the National Book Development Board, other government agencies that are supposed to encourage more research and publications such as CHED, NCCA and DOST can allocate more funds that will make possible our young scholars to move into publications. 

Same challenge goes to our higher educational institutions in the region who should push more faculty members and graduate students to publish not just through words but through budgets!  

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is a professor at St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and until recently, a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. Gaspar is Mindanao’s most prolific book author. He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw). Gaspar is a Datu Bago 2018 awardee, the highest honor the Davao City government bestows on its constituents.]