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.

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