The Ethical Literary and Cultural Criticism Seminar-Workshop, spearheaded by the Office of the Scholar-in-Residence (SIR) and UNITAS Journal with Prof. Maria Luisa Reyes, Ph.D. as the Scholar-in-Residence and the editor-in-chief was conducted on November 23 and 24, 2023. The event was done in cooperation with the International Association of Ethical Literary Criticism (IAELC) and in partnership with the UST Graduate School.
This seminar-workshop is a lead-up activity to the establishment of Ethical, Literary, and Cultural Criticism Association of the Philippines (ELCCAP) to be launched in April 2024. It is in the spirit of promoting international academic exchange and encouraging scholarly collaboration in the field of literary and cultural criticism that SIR and UNITAS organized this event.
The said seminar-workshop had for its keynote speakers scholars from China’s Ivy League Universities called “C9”, Prof. Biwu Shang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Prof. Gexin Yang from Zhejiang University.
Workshop-lectures were given in the afternoon followed by an open forum moderated by Asst. Professor Ma. Eloisa D. Sevilla-Perez, the assistant editor of UNITAS. The workshop speakers were Prof. Joyce L. Arriola, Ph.D. of University of Santo Tomas, who delivered the lecture “Ethical Dimension of Historiographic Metafiction,” Assoc. Prof. Vincenz Serrano, Ph.D. of Ateneo de Manila University with his lecture, “‘People, Pieces, a Piece of Day, a Foreign Word’: Estrangement and Ethics in Raymond de Borja’s Image-Text Poetry,” Asst. Prof. Kathrine Ojano, Ph.D. of De La Salle University, who discussed “Of Maids and Tyrants, Or the Ethical (Im)Possibility of Martial Law Narrative in the Age of Post-Truth,” and Asst. Prof. Mikhail Mongaya, Ph.D. of University of the Philippines-Diliman with the topic, “Roger Felix Salditos’ Ang Hiwalaybay Ko: The Cultural Politics of Literary Practice in Emancipatory Struggles”.
The UST Rector Very Rev. Fr. Richard G. Ang, O.P. delivered the Welcome Remarks on the first day of the seminar-workshop while Rev. Fr. Jannel N. Abogado, O.P., the UST Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, delivered the Opening Remarks on the second day.
Prof. Maria Luisa Reyes, Ph.D. gave the introduction and background of the event. The UST Graduate School Dean Prof. Michael Anthony C. Vasco, Ph.D., delivered the Closing Remarks on the first day while Asst. Prof. Allen Dave B. Arboleda, Ed.D. graced the Closing Ceremonies in the afternoon of the second day.
The participants were faculty and students from UST, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines-Diliman, and University of Eastern Philippines.
One of the highlights of the program was the open forum after the keynote lectures and the workshop-lectures as these gave the members of the audience the opportunity to ask questions regarding the lecture, clarify or give a commentary.
