Isabelo's Archive

by Resil B. Mojares

Isabelo’s Archive reenacts El Folk-Lore Filipino (1889), Isabelo de los Reyes’s eccentric but groundbreaking attempt to build an archive of popular knowledge in the Philippines.

Inspired by Isabelo’s ghostly project, National Artist for Literature Resil Mojares has crafted an artful collection of essays, vignettes, extracts, and notes on Philippine history and culture. Following a non-thematic "encyclopedic" format, the writings showcase local perceptions of historical events and personalities as well as of mythical and legendary figures and illumine readers on the origin and evolution of identities, rituals, and cultural norms.

Wondrously diverse in its range, with many gems to offer inquisitive readers, the work reintroduces the concept of folklore as a "a science," a precursor to pop culture, and a resource for national formation.

Genres: History, Literature

468 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Trained in literature and anthropology, Resil B. Mojares won several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle for works in fields as diverse as literary criticism, urban and rural history, and political biography.

He has been a recipient of prizes for his short stories, a national fellowship in the Essay from the UP Creative Writing Center, and teaching and research fellowships from the Ford, Toyota, and Rockefeller foundations, Fulbright Program, and Social Science Research Council (New York).

He has served as visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, University of Hawaii, and University of Michigan.

He teaches at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.

Reviews

[John Ray Catingub · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent historical read that weaves together thoroughly researched facts with intriguing historical narratives and questions. Mojares' collection reads similarly to Ocampo's shorter essays in his "Looking Back" books but with more depth and academic language. One gripe, as a foreign Filipino who doesn't speak any local languages, is that translation is inconsistent: present in some essays and absent in others. Amending this in future editions would greatly aid non-local readers.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isabelo's Archive is a treasure trove of essays on Philippine history and culture. The topics are diverse: the international itinerary of Mariano Ponce seeking help for Philippine independence; the 'binukot' or women kept hidden in homes during ancient times; the relatively unknown great Filipinos like Bartolome Saguinsin, Rufino Baltazar, and Gabriel Beato Francisco; the staging of 'komedya' plays during Spanish times; and the culture of headhunting of the Ilongot tribe, among others.

This book is a testament to the richness of our culture and history and how sadly, many of these things are not taught in school and are unknown to the general public. This should be made mandatory reading not just for the information it holds but also for our general appreciation of how people lived then and how they were able to influence how we live now. My only caveat, if you may, is the denseness of some texts that gives off a textbook feel but that is a problem on my part. I hope to embark on a degree in social sciences soon so i guess I'll be reading this again for another round of appreciation.

P.S. Took me almost two months to finish this book. Not that it was totally dragging (although again, there were parts so dense and technical that I had to Google terms and allow myself to be enlightened) but I realized it is better to read one chapter at a time to better digest the scholarly information in this book.

[Veronica Sison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never did I think I would enjoy reading it before bed. It doesn't feel like I'm reading an academic book. It's incredibly light. I recall becoming truly frustrated with "Brains of the Nation" when I had to use it for a paper and was compelled to familiarize myself with its concepts. That one is a fav but heavy, literally heavy. But this book is reminiscent of the pink one (Interrogations), and if these two were combined, they would make for a splendid bedtime read yung chillax chillax lang!

Fav parts, Benedict and Rosaldo's anthropological notes.
Anything Paterno fancies HAHA.

[Camille Joyce L · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hotchpotch of Filipino folk tales with wishy-washy outline, this book contains dense texts containing historical information that could easily slip your mind if you lack sense-experience on the stories.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is dense, very informative, and will definitely stretch your mind.

[Jason Friedlander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm continuing to love going through Mojares' bibliography and he's still by far my favorite living Filipino historian.

[june · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Bomalabs · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I had a hard time finishing this, but maybe its something that wasn't meant to be finished in ine sitting. The closest that I could compare this with is Ambeth Ocampo's work, both of their works involving Curiosities about Philippine History, but that's about it. Mojares writes academically, and oftentimes I would jot down words and look them up online, it would probably take 1/4ths of the book to get used to the writing. What I appreciate though is that he asks the questions that rarely get asked - like how did the locals view time, geography, Arithmetic, Books, Art BEFORE the Spaniards came. And he also sheds light on the not-so-popular Intellectual Historical Figures during the day. I felt the passion that went into writing Mariano Ponce's biography. I wanted to give him a hug (him = Mariano Ponce) after finishing it. I loved it!