Chongqing-Based Filipinos revisit roots of their culture in Dr. Anton Juan’s Will. Memory. Action.
12 December 2021 –. Dr. Anton Juan conducted today a hybrid Lecture-Workshop on Philippine cultural history entitled Will. Memory. Action. which the Philippine Consulate General in Chongqing hosted offline at the Radisson Hotel and online via Zoom for Filipino communities in its consular jurisdiction.
In her opening message, Consul General Flerida Ann Camille P. Mayo likened the afternoon’s lecture to a journey to the Filipino core with the eminent Dr. Juan guiding the participants “to forgotten places in our people’s distant past and deep within our own selves.”
In his stimulating presentation, Dr. Juan utilized semiotics to bring to the fore the nexus of signs, symbols and language in the shaping of the Filipino identity. From ancient communities to the modern Filipino, he shone a light on the significance of verbal and nonverbal language as expressed in cave and stone etchings, native clothes, weaves, and accessories, musical instruments and art works, among other tools. He posited that all culture begins with language whose meanings have been assigned and accepted by a community. He opined that the issues of national identity could be traced to ruptures in Philippine history which created a “colonized culture.”
Dr. Juan also illustrated gender equality in early Filipinos with both women and men contributing to the survival and growth of the societies by performing complementary roles. He urged the participants to remember their roots and celebrate their heroic spirit lest the Filipino nation lose its collective memory and direction. “Each one has their memory and looking back to the past is essential to act and move forward,” he explained.
Following the lecture, Dr. Juan conducted a workshop where participants were made to remember a forgotten object or place, let the object or place speak to them, and deliver the object’s message as a monologue. Various objects and places – from forgotten diaries to an improvised maracas for Christmas caroling, flat irons and oil lamps, paper dolls, turbans and kawayan, as well as an old mango tree in Batangas, the Farmer’s Market food court in Cubao and a Benedictine monastery in Bukidnon – cried out for remembrance of their worth.
Dr. Juan appreciated the monologues as threads in a tapestry that tells the vibrant story of the Filipino people. The program culminated in a a music video of Pilipinas Kong Mahal directed by Dr. Juan which prompted participants sing along to a love song to their country and people.
Dr. Juan is a tenured professor at Notre Dame University, Illinois, USA, and a continuing visiting professor of the University of the Philippines. He has reaped various accolades and awards, including the Alexander Onassis International Award for Theatre and the Special Jury Prize for Screenplay from the CineManila International Film Festival, for his body of works. He completed his Ph.D. in Semiotics at the Kapodistrian and Panhellenic University of Athens with the mark of ARISTA (Excellence). Dr. Juan is also an accomplished playwright, as well as film and stage director. END