Dr.Noelle Rodriguez
FORT Pilar, the key historical landmark in Zamboanga City, shimmered one recent afternoon as the hues of sunset washed over it with gusto. Against such dramatic light, young people assembled by Ateneo de Zamboanga president Fr. William Kreutz, S.J. tread their way across the ruins to perform long-forgotten dances celebrating the city’s cherished traditions and values.
How it all flowed cheerfully—food, drinks, and animated conversation, led no less by Mayor Ma. Clara Lobregat herself, who cut the ribbon, even as the venerated image of the Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Zarragoza glowed in the ambiguous putter of candles nearby.
This was how Zamboanga City, which had been in the frenzy of merry-making for Dia de Zamboanga, welcomed a much-awaited exhibit, "Zamboanga: A World Between Worlds, Cradle of an Emerging Civilization."
It was an impressive visual evocation of the dynamics of Zamboanga’s founding—a project of Zamboanga’s very own Dr. Noelle Rodriguez. She chairs the history department at the Ateneo de Manila University, where the exhibit was previewed recently at the Rizal Library.
"Even while I was in school, I found it strange that I knew more about, say, Manila than about my hometown," rues the young and beautiful Zamboangueña. "There was nowhere to turn to if I wanted to know more about the place I grew up in."
She changed all that. After graduating with an A.B. Interdisciplinary Studies degree from the Ateneo de Manila University, she lost no time in pursuing her master’s degree in history at the University of the Philippines. Her masteral thesis? The reduction process in Zamboanga—or how settlements created by religious orders in Zamboanga in the 19th century evolved into the towns (and city) of present-day Zamboanga.
Founding
The exhibit that opens today at Fort Pilar goes back further. "Zamboanga: A World Between Worlds" explores the social interactions and interventions that made possible, or even necessary, the forging and founding of Zamboanga—as concept, construct and even consolidated community—from the very beginning.
Which means 1597, when the Spaniards built a palisaded structure called La Caldera along the seacoast of the Zamboanga peninsula. So meticulous and exhaustive is Dr. Rodriguez’s research that the exhibit even has a visual rendition of La Caldera, which was unfortunately abandoned in 1599 when the Spanish troops had to rush to Cebu due to rumors of a British attack of the Visayan capital.
This see-sawing of Spanish presence (now you see it, now you don’t) along with the intermittent Moro slave-raiding sprees generated much of the dynamics of the establishment of Zamboanga society: slaves from Sulu escaped to the peninsula, where there was febrile interaction between and among the runaway slaves, Spanish troops and friars, indio Christian families, Tausug traders and the first peoples there, the Lutaos and the Subanuns.
The exhibit captures these dynamics in its own dynamic way, too—the impressive research is matched by breathtaking visuals. Dr. Rodriguez teamed up with graphics artist Felix Miguel to translate the research into 11 panels of tarpaulin framed in collapsible aluminum frames—the better for this traveling exhibit to, well, travel.
Hard-to-find photographs, art works, even postcards from Dr. Rodriguez’s personal collection clinch each tarpaulin, which are then peppered with accompanying short, snappy text.
The result? A provocative swing through the social, economic, cultural and political discourses that inform the dynamics of Zamboanga as a psychological reality.
Spanish funding
The research—which took Dr. Rodriguez through the Ateneo archives, particularly the American Historical Collection, and the Filipinas Heritage Library, as well as personal collections of her family and those of fellow Zamboanguenos—was made possible by a grant from a special program called "Toward a common future: a program for cultural cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain and Philippine universities."
Fundacion Santiago, an NGO that provides support for cultural work, has provided funding for the traveling exhibit.
Says Dr. Rodriguez, "This exhibit is just a starting point so that the folks back home, especially grade school and high school students in Zamboanga City, will be familiar with images of Zamboanga and from there be drawn into the discourse of the city’s history and present dynamics. From visual appreciation to conceptual challenges—that’s what I want to foster through this exhibit."
Dr. Rodriguez’s previous exhibits include "La Solidaridad" (1996), "Biak Na Bato" (1997), "Birth of a Nation" (1998; a Spanish edition of this exhibit traveled to Spain) and "Captions of a Captured Time" (1999, Ayala Museum).
She also collaborated with Doreen Fernandez in the much-talked-about historical happening, "World of 1896," which resulted in a collectors’ item coffee-table book. Incidentally, it was also designed by Dr. Rodriguez’s current exhibit artist Miguel.
From Here
How it all flowed cheerfully—food, drinks, and animated conversation, led no less by Mayor Ma. Clara Lobregat herself, who cut the ribbon, even as the venerated image of the Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Zarragoza glowed in the ambiguous putter of candles nearby.
This was how Zamboanga City, which had been in the frenzy of merry-making for Dia de Zamboanga, welcomed a much-awaited exhibit, "Zamboanga: A World Between Worlds, Cradle of an Emerging Civilization."
It was an impressive visual evocation of the dynamics of Zamboanga’s founding—a project of Zamboanga’s very own Dr. Noelle Rodriguez. She chairs the history department at the Ateneo de Manila University, where the exhibit was previewed recently at the Rizal Library.
"Even while I was in school, I found it strange that I knew more about, say, Manila than about my hometown," rues the young and beautiful Zamboangueña. "There was nowhere to turn to if I wanted to know more about the place I grew up in."
She changed all that. After graduating with an A.B. Interdisciplinary Studies degree from the Ateneo de Manila University, she lost no time in pursuing her master’s degree in history at the University of the Philippines. Her masteral thesis? The reduction process in Zamboanga—or how settlements created by religious orders in Zamboanga in the 19th century evolved into the towns (and city) of present-day Zamboanga.
Founding
The exhibit that opens today at Fort Pilar goes back further. "Zamboanga: A World Between Worlds" explores the social interactions and interventions that made possible, or even necessary, the forging and founding of Zamboanga—as concept, construct and even consolidated community—from the very beginning.
Which means 1597, when the Spaniards built a palisaded structure called La Caldera along the seacoast of the Zamboanga peninsula. So meticulous and exhaustive is Dr. Rodriguez’s research that the exhibit even has a visual rendition of La Caldera, which was unfortunately abandoned in 1599 when the Spanish troops had to rush to Cebu due to rumors of a British attack of the Visayan capital.
This see-sawing of Spanish presence (now you see it, now you don’t) along with the intermittent Moro slave-raiding sprees generated much of the dynamics of the establishment of Zamboanga society: slaves from Sulu escaped to the peninsula, where there was febrile interaction between and among the runaway slaves, Spanish troops and friars, indio Christian families, Tausug traders and the first peoples there, the Lutaos and the Subanuns.
The exhibit captures these dynamics in its own dynamic way, too—the impressive research is matched by breathtaking visuals. Dr. Rodriguez teamed up with graphics artist Felix Miguel to translate the research into 11 panels of tarpaulin framed in collapsible aluminum frames—the better for this traveling exhibit to, well, travel.
Hard-to-find photographs, art works, even postcards from Dr. Rodriguez’s personal collection clinch each tarpaulin, which are then peppered with accompanying short, snappy text.
The result? A provocative swing through the social, economic, cultural and political discourses that inform the dynamics of Zamboanga as a psychological reality.
Spanish funding
The research—which took Dr. Rodriguez through the Ateneo archives, particularly the American Historical Collection, and the Filipinas Heritage Library, as well as personal collections of her family and those of fellow Zamboanguenos—was made possible by a grant from a special program called "Toward a common future: a program for cultural cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain and Philippine universities."
Fundacion Santiago, an NGO that provides support for cultural work, has provided funding for the traveling exhibit.
Says Dr. Rodriguez, "This exhibit is just a starting point so that the folks back home, especially grade school and high school students in Zamboanga City, will be familiar with images of Zamboanga and from there be drawn into the discourse of the city’s history and present dynamics. From visual appreciation to conceptual challenges—that’s what I want to foster through this exhibit."
Dr. Rodriguez’s previous exhibits include "La Solidaridad" (1996), "Biak Na Bato" (1997), "Birth of a Nation" (1998; a Spanish edition of this exhibit traveled to Spain) and "Captions of a Captured Time" (1999, Ayala Museum).
She also collaborated with Doreen Fernandez in the much-talked-about historical happening, "World of 1896," which resulted in a collectors’ item coffee-table book. Incidentally, it was also designed by Dr. Rodriguez’s current exhibit artist Miguel.
From Here
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