Humanities Diliman (Jun 2000)

Ilonggos, Igorrottes, Merchants, and Jews: Shakespeare and American Colonial Education in the Philippines

  • Judy Celine Ick

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 1, no. 1
pp. 110 – 130

Abstract

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I begin with a story of bewilderment. Shortly after my return to the Philippines from graduate school in 1994, I found myself an accidental speaker on things Shakespearean at a small, very exclusive Opus Dei-run high school in a converted Lopez mansion in the outskirts of Iloilo. The speaking engagement was unplanned and rather spontaneous. The school authorities, though, did a splendid job of putting a program together for the occasion. Aside from my talk, the impromptu program also featured performances by two of the winners of a recently concluded declamation contest. Quite fortuitously (or would that be unsurprisingly?), the winning declaimers both did pieces from Shakespeare.

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