“What does it take for a culture that has caused a lot of pain and suffering to have any chance at redemption… or any sense of justice?”

Tom Sykes’ riotous new book—a collision of a neon-powered 1980s Manila and a disaster-stricken barangay in the 1670s—attempts to answer the question… with many seedy side quests in between. How did he attempt to write his wild, genre-bending vision of the Philippines? And how does Back to the Future figure into it?

The Colonial Dept. Interview is a bonus show where I talk to researchers and authors who are shining a light on our past.

What a folk game can tell us about how a datu waged war. An interview with Micah Perez of the UP Diliman Department of History.

The Colonial Dept. Interview is a bonus show where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past. Know a historian or author I should talk to? Email me at thecolonialdept@gmail.com.

Thumbnail image: Usernameko/Wikimedia Commons

From the archives of Philippine history, meteorologist Fr. Manuel Selga makes a historical list of some deadly typhoons. (Listen to S7E13 before listening to this one!)

Ever since its founding in the 1860s, the Manila Observatory had stood watch against the typhoons and hurricanes that threatened to strike the Philippines. But decades later, they were unprepared for a different kind of approaching storm: the Second World War!

Cover photo from the Illustrated London News.

Additional audio from British Pathe.

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References:

Warren, James Francis (2024). Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Hidalgo, Angel (1967). “Miguel Selga, 1879-1956: Priest and Scientist.” Philippine Studies, 15(2), pp. 307-347.

Bocar, Efren Cyril (19 November 2024). “‘Signs of disaster’: How weather lore holds up against typhoons and science.” Rappler.

Biolong, Fr. Raymundus Rede, SVD (1996). “The Ivatan Cultural Adaptation to Typhoons: A Portrait of a Self-Reliant Community from the Indigenous Development Perspective.”

Ribera, Pedro; García-Herrera, Ricardo; Gimeno, Luis (2008). “Historical deadly typhoons in the Philippines.” Weather, 63(7), pp. 194-199.

One of the Philippines’ most important archaeological finds, this thin sheet of metal still contains many mysteries. (Listen to S7E12 before listening to this one!)

In the late 1500s, sultans, kings, and outlaws alike all wanted a little slice of Manila. And over two turbulent decades, everyone from faraway Spain to neighboring Brunei asserted their claims over the rajahs and datus that lived there. This is the turbulent origin story of the city that we know today.

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Cover photo from “Ataque de Li-ma-hong a Manila en 1574” by Juan Caro y Mora

References:

Patanne, E.P. (1993-1996). “Old Tondo and the Lakandula Revolt of 1574.”Historic Manila: Commemorative Lectures. Manila Historical Commission.

Majul, Cesar Adib (1999). Muslims in the Philippines (third edition). University of the Philippines Press.

Elsa Clavé, Arlo Griffiths (2022). “The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: Tenth-Century Luzon, Java, and the Malay World.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 70(2), pp.167-242.

Postma, Antoon (1992). “The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary.”

Philippine Studies, 40(2), pp. 183–203.

“Paghinumdom: Retrospection of the Hindu-Buddhist Cultural Influences Based on Tangible Finds in the Caraga Region.” (2022) https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/2022/09/30/paghinumdom-retrospection-of-the-hindu-buddhist-cultural-influences-based-on-tangible-finds-in-the-caraga-region/

Velez, Genesis (2020). “Chinese Merchants in Late Pre-Hispanic Cebu: Context, Issues, and Possibilities.” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, 48(3/4), pp. 125-155.

Shutz, J. Travis (2019). “Limahong’s Pirates, Ming Mariners, and Early Sino-Spanish Relations: The Pangasinan Campaign of 1575 and Global History From Below.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 67(3/4), pp. 315-342.

Born in Calcutta and in love with Philippine fashion, Rafael Daniel Baboom was a true partner in the creation of 19th-century Philippine art. (Listen to S7E11 before listening to this one!)

The nineteenth century—steamships, family names, world trade, foreign firms, liberal ideas. Great tides of change are roiling Manila. In the middle of the chaos, a new art trend captures the imagination of local elites. How are these letras y figuras holding a mirror to Philippine society?

Cover Photo from the Ayala Corporation Collection.

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References:

Blanco, John D. (2009). Frontier Constitutions: Christianity and Colonial Empire in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines. University of the Philippines Press.

Santiago, Luciano P.R. (December 1991). “Damian Domingo and the First Philippine Art Academy.” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, 19(4), pp. 264-280.

Flores, Patrick D. (17 November 2011). “Everyday, Elsewhere: Allegory in Philippine Art.” Contemporary Aesthetics, (0)3 (Special Issue).

“Lot 46. Jose Honorato Lozano, c. 1815-1885.” (2021) Salcedo Auctions.

Quirino, Carlos (1961) "Damian Domingo, Filipino Painter." Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 9(1), pp. 78-96.

“Jose Honorato Lozano (c. 1815-c. 1885).” (undated) Christie’s.

Sorilla IV, Franz (8 February 2021). “Letras y Figuras: The 19th Century Philippine Art Form’s Origins and Legacy.” Tatler Asia.

Buenconsejo, Jose S. (2018). “Keyboards in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 234-242.

Navarro, Raul Casantusan. (2018). “Opera in the Philippines, 1860s-1940s.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 234-242.

Mallat, Jean (1846). The Philippines: History, Geography, Customs, Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce of the Spanish Colonies in Oceania (Pura Santillan-Castrence, Trans.) (2021). National Historical Commission of the Philippines.