Empathic Projections: Performance and Countermapping of Sitio San Roque, Quezon City, and University of the Philippines

Abstract

This article argues that empathy, as a crucial component of a feminist geographic research practice, binds different people across different sociopolitical and spatial divides. I situate empathy and reflect on the ways it could be felt and be made to operate differently in the specific context of Quezon City, Philippines, and the neoliberalizing public state university from which the project emerged. It argues that empathy can be mobilized as an affective mode of countermapping, specifically by creating different itineraries into places and connecting spaces to forge new solidarities.

本文主张，移情作为女权主义地理学研究实践中的关键元素，连结了来自不同社会政治的各种人们及空间分隔。我将移情置于菲律宾奎松市的特定脉络中，以及该计画所源自的国立大学的新自由主义化，反思它可被感知与创造，以进行不同的操作之方法。本文主张，移情能够被动员作为反抗製图的有效模式，特别是将不同的旅程创造为地方，以及连结空间来打造崭新的团结

Este artículo sostiene que la empatía, como componente crucial de una práctica de investigación geográfica feminista, amarra diferentes pueblos a través de diferentes divisorias sociopolíticas y espaciales. Sitúo la empatía y reflexiono sobre las maneras como ésta puede sentirse y habilitarse para operar diferentemente en el contexto específico de Ciudad Quezón, Filipinas, y la universidad estatal pública en proceso neoliberalización desde donde emergió el proyecto. Se arguye que la empatía puede movilizarse como modo afectivo de “contramapeo”, específicamente creando diferentes itinerarios en lugares y espacios conectados para forjar nuevas solidaridades.

Key Words:

• countermapping
• empathy
• Manila
• performance

• 反抗製图
• 移情
• 马尼拉
• 展演

• contramapeo
• empatía
• Manila
• representación

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank the anonymous reviewers, the editors of this journal, and Geraldine Pratt for their helpful feedback and editorial guidance. Thank you to KADAMAY–San Roque, our geography and theater students, colleagues from UP, and other cultural workers who helped us with this project.

Notes

1. Sitio is a defined territory, part of the barangay, the smallest administrative unit of the Philippines. Sitio therefore does not have independent administration.

2. Hindi po batayan ang pera para makaahon kami sa kahirapan. Sabi nila, mahirap ka ayaw mo pa tanggapin ang pera? Sabi ko hindi porke’t mahirap ako, pera ang tinitignan ko. Ang tinitignan ko pangkaramihan. … May pera ka nga, wala ka naman bahay? Kaya paninindigan lang ang tapat para sa amin. Paano po kami mabibigyan ng gobyerno ng programang pabahay?

3. Maswerte po tayo na may nakakapag aral, mga professional na kagaya niyo. Maswerte kayo na kayo ay nakakapagaral, wala kayong inaalala. Sana po sa kabila noon, pagnapapadaan kayo sa mga iskwater area, sana maisip niyo rin kung ano ba yung kalagayan ng mga mamamayan diyan sa loob ng araw ng araw, maswerte po yung mga may trabaho.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vanessa Banta

VANESSA BANTA is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include labor migration and development, the return of overseas Filipino workers, and the state programs designed for their reintegration in the Philippines.