Critiquing a critic (Part 2)

The chapter on “What sayeth the margins?” is perhaps the most “academic” part of Patricio “Jojo” Nunez Abinales’ latest book compared to the rest of its chapters, delving into mostly academic outputs of what he calls Mindanao “intelligentsia” who wrote about Mindanao in their graduate dissertations. Ordinarily, I would have been bored wading through this academic chapter—as a retiree from an academic institution, I wouldn’t have bothered. But Jojo’s sharp, straightforward but empathetic writing style made me appreciate his painstaking efforts of analyzing both the “productivity” and quality of dissertations written about Mindanao over four decades.

Abinales examined the topics of 532 dissertations on Mindanao, completed in Mindanao, and outside Mindanao from 1964 to 2003. Writers are also a mixed bag of both Mindanao and outside Mindanao-based academics. Perhaps this can be picked up by the younger generation of researchers in Mindanao universities to do an updated stocktaking of Mindanao studies at this time?

Abinales noted that most of the advanced degree papers were on education and assessment of teaching-learning processes with social sciences following next in terms of quantity and quite very few on the so-called hard sciences—general science, chemistry, physics, and the like. The editors of the “Annotated Bibliography of Mindanao Studies,” Jesuit priest Fr. Alberto Alejo and Dr. Sophremiano Antipolo, both Mindanao scholars, lamented the “limited scope” of the papers they included in it. Abinales argues that on the contrary, the papers were not limited in scope, but were practical applications of the discipline of the writers (education) since they are largely school-based, and that aside from being familiar with their subject, the writers were just practical—studies in education were the “most accessible” and “politically safe” to pursue in many parts of Mindanao that are in constant armed conflict.

Mindanao narratives are rarely made a significant part of national ones, which is why there is always a strong push to “strengthen Mindanao studies,” or as he says in the concluding part of the chapter, the state of Mindanao studies and of Mindanao intelligentsia is as underdeveloped as Mindanao itself. Perhaps this could be disputed at this time, since there has been an upsurge of books and articles written on Mindanao, especially on the fledgling Bangsamoro region.

But going back to the margins. While Mindanao might be considered a “margin” from the center of national political power in Metro Manila, somebody from this margin became the cynosure of national and even international attention before the 2016 elections and right after he won as the very first Mindanawan president, Rodrigo Duterte. The chapter on “Pisting Yawa: Rodrigo Duterte and the Language of the Crowd” is perhaps one of the reasons for being of this book and its enticing title: “Presidents and Pests, Cosmopolitans and Communists.” As a Cebuano-Visayan speaker like Jojo, I could hardly verbalize the first two words in the chapter title. From my childhood years in Bohol, these two words were among the most eardrum-breaking cuss words I used to hear from someone whose anger was beyond the boiling point. And this is the part of the book that will make both academics and nonacademics alike do what Generation Zs refer to as ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing). Just to tease your interest, pay attention to the transcriptions, both in Cebuano-Visayan and English, of one episode among Duterte’s many diatribes on national television where he chastised his former political rival, Manuel “Mar” Roxas. Duterte ended up challenging Roxas for both of them to take off their pants and expose their genitals to determine who was the “more endowed” in size!

The next sections are equally appealing, especially for those who would like to see political science writing that provides not only food for thought but also something that feeds our need to burst into hearty laughter. Somebody once told me that one’s intellectual capacities are manifested not in their high-sounding treatises, but more so in their abilities to tease us with their deep sense of humor when they speak and write. Consider the sections on “Let them eat rats: The politics of rodent infestation” or in the chapter “Can communists laugh?”

For these and everything inside this 236-page collection of Abinales at his most enticing and wisecracking way to do political science analysis of anything—from rogues to rodents, rebels, and their wives, to Moro women entrepreneurs and how they make sense of the many contradictions in their businesses and way of life—go, get this book. You will lose only a few hundred pesos but gain long, priceless days and months of laughter, always the best medicine!

READ: Critiquing a critic (Part 1)

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