Buenaventura Rodriguez is a Cebuano playwright whose works are often performed and discussed, not only of the twentieth century but more today due to the body of his work and the nature of their subjects. Given Rodriguez’s habitual concerns, this is unsurprising. He wrote, in prose and in drama, works that questioned social issues, although Salilang is the only one which is historically related to Cebu. The matter of interest directs the question as to how the "historical" play is actualized, how it acquires meaning, and how it can show its force as a work in the present or, somehow of the present. Having the power and ability to record implies having the power and ability to make “history” or to contest it. In the play, Salilang, on the battle of Mactan, Rodriguez brings together distinctly different strands of culturally diverse and even unrelated cultures in his text. It will come as no surprise that, in doing so, he was appropriating the history of others. In this paper I argue that historical texts “speak back” and have an independent power to allow people to look at themselves anew, in another way, vaguely alienated from themselves and their own times.

Authors:
Hope Yu, University of San Carlos, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Hope Yu is a University Professor/Principal Lecturer at University of San Carlos in Philippines

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