Australian university to host research forum on Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — An Australian university based in Melbourne will host an international research forum on contemporary issues about the Philippines later this year.

 

The Filipino-Australian Student Council of Victoria (FASTCO), in partnership with La Trobe University’s Philippine Australia Studies Centre, will hold the 5th International Research Forum on the Philippines (IRFP) on November 23 to 24 at La Trobe University.

 

This year’s theme, “Interrogating Paradoxes in the Philippines,” will look into the limitations of understanding Philippine territories, cultures, politics, institutions and identities.

 

“The 21st century has been constituted and is constituted by conditions where the Filipino people’s ways of belonging to the nation, the region, and the world have become more fractal and less predictable than before,” said the organizers.

 

Students, scholars, professionals and other individuals may take part by submitting papers that reconsider totalistic perspectives about Philippine or Filipino life and discuss interconnected issues on contemporary Philippines.

 

Submissions may fall under broad themes such as Globalisation and Localisation, Nation and Diaspora, Materiality and Intangibility, Mobility and Stasis, Innovation and Convention, People and Environment, Power and Susceptibility, Progress and Poverty, Secularity and Sacredness and Sustainability and Loss.

 

The IRFP is FASTCO’s flagship academic program that aims to encourage Philippine studies in Australia as well as collaboration among research scholars.

 

Deadline for submissions will be on September 15. Interested participants must submit online a 250-word abstract along with other requirements (title, five keywords and 100-word bio). Selected participants will be notified of their acceptance to the forum a week after the submission of their abstract.

 

Details are available at the FASTCO’s official Facebook page at www.fb.com/fastcoVic.