Council attends int’l historians’ conference

The CNMI joined other Asian nations’ historians and scholars for the 19th International Association of Historians of Asia Conference in the Philippines.

Two CNMI representatives—NMI Council for the Humanities officers Herman T. Guerrero and Scott Russell—are now in Manila for the four-day conference, which begins tomorrow, Nov. 22, and will end on Saturday, Nov. 25.

Guerrero said part of the reasons why they are attending this conference is to meet with historians in Manila who could be tapped for future forums on the island.

“To establish our contacts,” he said.

Guerrero said the Council is looking at expanding its lecture series, which is currently being held at the American Memorial Park Visitor Center.

Russell said he and Guerrero would also be attending the book launching of Carlos Madrid, a separate event that would be held in Manila this week. Russell said the book would also be launched in the CNMI soon.

The Philippine Social Science Council is currently hosting the 19th IAHA Conference. The IAHA is a network of historians and scholars whose geographic focus is Asia. The conference is held every two years. According to its website the IAHA conferences provide Asian specialists an opportunity to come together and share the fruits of their scholarship.

The first IAHA conference was also held in the Philippines in 1960. Two years ago it was held in Taiwan. Following tradition, the 19th IAHA Conference requested and welcomed paper and panel proposals submitted by different historians in Asia.

The topics cover a wide spectrum of interests in historical research themes: [I]Beyond Eurocentrism and Occidentalism: Asia-Europe Comparisons, Inter-civilizational Encounters: Religion, Language, Commerce, and Technology; Framing Asia in Global History: Labor, Culture, Commodities, and Ideology; Business Empires; Economic Networks: The Old and The New, the Past in Current Social Conflicts; Historicizing Gender Hierarchies, Continuity and Change in Political Histories; At the Margins, Borders and Interstices of Asian History, Coping with the Vicissitudes of Everyday Life: Health, Environment[/I] and [I]Culture; and Revisiting Classic Texts in Asian History.[/I]

Other topics were: [I]Literature as a Window to Asian History, Visuality, Orality, and Literacy in the Reconstruction of the Asian Past; Archaeological Illuminations on the Asian Past, and Heritage;[/I] and [I]Cultural Preservation: A Legacy for Future Generations, Education and the Historical Profession.
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