The Philippines in the 19th Century: New Contributions

The Philippines, this year's Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, looks back on more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, which ended in 1898, followed by 50 years of U.S. colonialism – or, as is often said in the Philippines: “300 years in a Spanish monastery and 50 years in Hollywood”. Accordingly, contemporary Philippine culture presents itself as decidedly decolonial.

Against this backdrop, the event revisits the late Spanish colonial period of the 19th century, when a complex coexistence of cultural discourses emerged in the Philippines, reflecting social realities. In Spanish, this includes texts by Spanish travellers and representatives of the colonial system (officials, missionaries, soldiers), but alongside them are authors of non-European, indigenous origin such as José Rizal and Isabelo de los Reyes, who belonged to the generation of ilustrados and received their formal education within the Spanish-language education systems of Manila and Madrid.

The event presents new findings from research, editorial work, and translation that shed light on this period in Philippine cultural history:    

Stephanie Coo (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) examines José Rizal's novel Noli me tangere with regard to textile symbolism, uncovering its subversive potential.

Annette Hug (Bern) speaks about her translation of Ang diablo sa Filipinas, a cultural-historical study written in Tagalog by a Filipino ilustrado and religious founder, translated into German for the first time.

Roger Friedlein and Katharina Pohl (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) present an anthology of reports by Spanish travellers to the Philippines since the 19th century.

Ricarda Musser (Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut) gives an overview of the holdings on the Philippines in 19th century in the library of the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut.