Marcos, martial law, and the complexities of memory in the Philippines
Description
Monday, 24 August 2026, 17:30 to 19:00 Canberra time (AEST) / 15:30 to 17:00 Manila time (PST)
Marcos, martial law, and the complexities of memory in the Philippines
Four decades after the People Power Revolution ousted a dictatorship, the Philippines returned a Marcos to the presidency, a reversal that documented atrocities failed to prevent. This seminar presents Marcos, Martial Law, and the Complexities of Memory in the Philippines (Routledge, 2026), an edited volume that treats memory as the terrain on which this political rehabilitation was fought and won. Contributors trace the sites where memories of dictatorship are constructed and contested, from war memorials embedding fabricated heroism and museums preserving counter-narratives to textbooks sanitizing authoritarian violence and social media circulating nostalgic mythologies. Written entirely by scholars of the post-EDSA generation, including historians, heritage practitioners, sociologists, political scientists, and media scholars, the collection offers analytical tools for understanding authoritarian nostalgia at a moment when democracies worldwide confront the electoral afterlives of authoritarian pasts.
The ANU Philippines Institute Research Seminar Series is a recurring seminar series that showcases the work of scholars working on political, social and cultural issues in the Philippines and the wider region, with the goal of encouraging greater exchange, collaboration and networking amongst the research community.
If you require accessibility accommodations, please contact the event organiser.
Lineup
Dr John Lee Candelaria (Hiroshima University)
John Lee Candelaria is a historian and peace studies scholar with expertise in memory studies, heritage studies, and the memorialization of wars, conflicts, and disasters. His research centers on the Philippines and Southeast Asia, examining how societies remember and contend with their violent pasts.
Prof Kerby Alvarez (University of the Philippines)
KERBY C. ALVAREZ is a Professor at the Department of History, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. He finished a Bachelor of Arts in History (2010) and a Master of Arts in History (2014) at UP Diliman. He obtained a Doctorat en Histoire, Art, et Archeólogie (HISTAR) degree from the Université de Namur in Belgium (2019). The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) awarded him the Young Historian’s Prize 2015. His research interests include environmental history, history of science, history of hazards and disasters in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, development of Philippine nationalism, and the local history of his hometown, Malabon.
Dr Jamie Pring (Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding)
Jamie Pring is a regional peace and security scholar-practitioner with 17 years of policy and research experience working in international organizations, national governments, and non-governmental organizations. In addition to her academic publications, she is an author of practitioner guides and policy reports on peace mediation and the promotion of Transitional Justice / Dealing with the Past.
Dondy Ramos (Australian Catholic University/ UP Diliman)
Dondy Ramos (he/him/his) is a PhD student at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Melbourne under the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project called “Mobilising Dutch East India Company Collections for New Global Stories.” His PhD dissertation focuses on the memorialisation of the Spanish Empire in the Philippines and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Australia.
Ross Tugade (University of New South Wales / UP Diliman)
Ross Tugade is a PhD in Law candidate at the University of New South Wales Sydney, supported by an Australian Government Research and Training Program scholarship. She is licensed to practice law in the Philippines and the International Criminal Court, with years of field experience in the human rights space.
Athena Charanne Presto (Australian National University/UP Diliman)
Athena Charanne Presto (Ash Presto) is a PhD Candidate at the School of Sociology, The Australian National University, supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program fellowship. She is a Senior Lecturer in policy analysis and design at the University of the Philippines College of Law and holds a Masters in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore.
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