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THE PHILIPPINE STUDIES ASSOCIATION, INC.
A Brief History
The Philippine Studies Association, Inc., (PSA) was formed in 1984 with the following as charter members: Ofelia R. Angangco, Wilfredo Arce, Fe Arcinas, Isagani R. Cruz, Doreen G. Fernandez (+), Andrew Gonzalez, FSC (+), Milagros C. Guerrero, Carolina G. Hernandez, Florentino H. Hornedo, Elsa Perez-Jurado (+), Vivencio Jose, Antonio Ledesma, S.J., Patricia B. Licuanan, Aurora Roxas-Lim, Bienvenido Lumbera, Resil Mojares, Nicanor Tiongson, and Wilfrido V. Villacorta. In its first organizational meeting, the following were elected officers of the Board: Ofelia R. Angangco, President; Doreen G. Fernandez (+), Vice President; and Elsa P. Jurado (+), Secretary-Treasurer.
The impetus for the founding of the Philippine Studies Association in 1984 was the need to coordinate International Philippine Studies Conferences, the first one having been held in 1980 at Kalamazoo, Michigan, under the sponsorship of the Philippine Studies Group (PSG) affiliated with the Association for Asian Studies in the US, and the second in 1981 in Honolulu, Hawai'i, hosted by the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawai'i. A Philippine Coordinating Committee (PCC) was also formed in 1981, composed of the following: Prof. (subsequently Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, UP Diliman) Ofelia R. Angangco, Elsa P. Jurado (+), Bienvenido Lumbera, Marcelino A. Foronda, (+), and Doreen G. Fernandez (+). The PCC later became PSA in 1984.
In 1987, the PSA Board elected the following: Milagros C. Guerrero (President), Wilfrido V. Villacorta (Vice-President), Patricia B. Licuanan (Secretary), Fe R. Arcinas (Treasurer), Ofelia R. Angangco, Wilfrido Arce, Isagani R. Cruz, Doreen G. Fernandez, Andrew Gonzalez, FSC, Carolina G. Hernandez, Florentino H. Hornedo, Elsa Perez-Jurado, Vivencio R. Jose, Antonio Ledesma, S.J., Aurora Roxas Lim, Bienvenido Lumbera, Resil B. Morales, and Nicanor Tiongson.
In 1994, the PSA Board elected the following: Isagani R. Cruz (President), Ma. Cynthia Rose Banzon-Bautista (Vice-President), Jose M. Cruz, S.J. (Secretary-Treasurer), Jessica Carino, Emmanuel de Dios, Doreen G. Fernandez, Florentino H. Hornedo, Milagros C. Guerrero, Corazon B. Lamug, Priscelina Patajo-Legasto, Bienvenido Lumbera, Virginia A. Miralao, Elena Pernia, Wilfrido V. Villacorta, and Fernando N. Zialcita.
The main purpose of the association is "to promote study, criticism, and research in Philippine languages, literature, culture and society, and to further the common interests of teachers and scholars in these fields". (By-Laws, Article 1, Section 2). The PSA duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC Reg. No. 124621) on January 17, 1985.
To implement this goal, the association's first activity was the First National Philippine Studies Conference held at the Philippine Social Science Center in Quezon City from February 11-13, 1985. The conference brought together in fruitful interaction scholars engaged in the different fields of Philippine Studies. In an exchange of research methods, findings, and perspectives, there was interdisciplinary dialogue on Philippine matters and materials. Scholars outside Metro Manila, scholars new in the field or as yet unpublished, participated in this conference. As the 1st National Philippine Studies Conference on Philippine soil, it was an exploration of the extent, development, and needs of Philippine studies and an update on the breadth and depth of the field. It also affirmed Philippine Studies as a field of intellectual inquiry, interdisciplinarity as a mode of dialogue, and the examination of Philippine reality both micro- and macro- as an ongoing concern.
In 1986, the PSA convened a Regional Conference on "Manila: History, People, and Culture," at Barrio San Luis Complex, Intramuros, Manila, sponsored by De La Salle University. The papers from this conference were published by De La Salle University Press (1989), edited by Wilfrido V. Villacorta, Isagani R. Cruz, and Maria Lourdes Bautista.. On January 20, 1996, the PSA sponsored the 2nd National Philipine Studies Conference at the Philippine Social Science Center. The PSA also sponsored a Philippine Studies Conference at the Philippine Social Science Center on November 7, 1998.
The Philippine Studies Association, Inc., is linked with the Philippine Studies Group (PSG) of the Southeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies (USA) (The PSG was chaired until April 2006 by Susan Russell, of Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois; since April 2006, Benito M. Vergara, Jr., of San Francisco State University, has been serving as chair.); the International Philippine Studies Committee (organized in 1996 in Hawai'i), and subsequently became the International Board for Philippine Studies Conferences (ICOPHIL), chaired by Belinda A. Aquino, Director, Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa); and the European Philippine Studies Organizing Committee (EUROPHIL), which convened conferences in Amsterdam (1991), London (1994), Aix-en-Provence (1997), Alcala (2001), and Leiden (2004).
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