Influence, Pageantry, and Suffrage: Perspectives on Filipino Women
ISEAS-EMBASSY OF THE PHILIPPINES IN SINGAPORE JOINT WEBINAR
About the Webinar
As Filipino women’s representations in history and media have always been analyzed through the male perspective, there is a need for a more nuanced examination of Filipino women’s multifaceted roles and contributions throughout history and in contemporary society. By juxtaposing contemporary issues with historical narratives, this webinar hopes to provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolving influence of Filipino women in various social, political, and cultural arenas.
This webinar scrutinizes the varying portrayals of women in media, beauty, and politics in the Philippines. In particular, the speakers will examine the rhetoric of Filipina suffragists in the early 20th century through their public addresses such as speeches, essays, and articles published in women’s magazines by looking at metaphors and other textual realizations that formed particular conceptualizations utilized by suffragists to argue for the right to vote and found that homemaking serves as a battleground for definitions and recontextualizations. Another presentation investigates the historical and cultural significance of pageantry in Filipino society and critically examines beauty contests as media spectacles that serve as contested sites where women’s roles in Philippine society are crafted and recrafted. Finally, there will be a presentation about how Filipina Influencers relate to the evolution of the concept of ideal motherhood in the Philippines and how they also unintendedly create an idealized contemporary motherhood in the age of social media.
About the Speaker
Dr Mary Dorothy dL. Jose is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Manila. Her research delves into the nuanced representation of women in colonial photography. Currently, she is a Research Fellow at the Centre for English Language Communication, National University of Singapore, exploring the rhetoric of Filipina suffragists in the early 20th century. She holds a BA in History, an MA in Asian Studies, and a PhD in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Dr Gene S. Navera is Deputy Director and Senior Lecturer at Centre for English Language Communication and a Fellow at the Tembusu College in the University Town, National University of Singapore. He pursues research in the areas of rhetoric and public address, critical discourse studies, and writing and speech communication pedagogies. A pageant enthusiast, he has been involved in the public speaking and interview skills training of pageant contestants from the Philippines and Singapore. He holds a PhD in English Language Studies from NUS, an MA in Speech Communication from the University of the Philippines Diliman, and a BA in Communication Arts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Dr Veronica L. Gregorio is Lecturer at the College of Humanities and Sciences, National University of Singapore. Her research interests are gender and sexuality, family, agrarian change, and visual methods. She is also Associate of the Asia Research Institute (ARI) Food Politics and Society Cluster and Associate Fellow of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute Regional Social and Cultural Studies Program (RSCS). She received her BA (Development Studies) from the University of the Philippines Manila, her MA (Women and Development Studies) from the University of the Philippines Diliman, and her PhD (Sociology) from the NUS Department of Sociology.
Registration
This webinar will be delivered online entirely. To join us, please register here to receive your unique link.
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