2007 Nakem International Conference, Announcement

2007 NAKEM International Conference
University of Hawaii at Manoa-
Ilokano Language and Literature Program
&
Mariano Marcos State University System

PANAGPANAW KEN PANAGINDEG—
EXILE AND SETTLING IN ILOKANO &
AMIANAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

Host
Mariano Marcos State University
Batac, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines
May 22-25, 2007

Rationale

The Nakem Conferences, under the auspices of the Ilokano and Philippine Drama and Film Program, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai`i, is a collaborative program with other higher institutions of learning in the United States, the Philippines, and other countries. Commencing with the 2006 Nakem Centennial Conference participated in by hundreds of scholars, cultural workers, creative writers, academics, civic and political leaders from the State of Hawai`i, the United States Mainland, the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Canada, and New Zealand, the Nakem Conference aims to:

• Bring into focus the various critical practices of the Ilokanos and the people of Amianan and abroad;
• Reflect on these critical practices under the prism of the nexus of global cultures;
• Reflect on the urgent need to affirm minority cultural and linguistic rights in the face of the hegemonic positioning of dominant cultures, languages, and critical practices; and
• Draw up a dynamic discourse on the need to articulate the silences in the narratives of struggle and survival of the Ilokanos and the people of Amianan.

Host, Venue, and Date of 2007 Nakem Conference

While Nakem Conference is under the auspices of the Ilokano and Philippine Drama and Film Program of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, its holding is always in partnership and collaboration with other organizations, individuals, and higher institutions of learning in the United States and abroad.

For the 2007 Nakem Conference, the host will be the Mariano Marcos State University System and the venue will be at this University’s main campus in Batac, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines.

The date of the 2007 Nakem Conference is May 22-25 as approved and scheduled by the joint technical panel of the MMSU headed by Dr. Miriam Pascua and UH-M’s IPDFP headed by Dr. Aurelio Agcaoili. In the same technical panel, Dr. Alegria Tan Visaya will chair the Philippine technical panel while Dr. Agcaoili will chair the United States technical panel. A joint panel from these two panels will administer the 2007 Nakem Conference.

It is proper and fitting that the Nakem Conference will go back to its roots in consciousness, culture, and creative potential—the Ilocos and Amianan as both territorial and psychic spaces—and its going back to the Philippines is a semiotic gesture demanded by the obligation to remembrance, memory, and memory-making and their power to instill in our cultures and communities—virtual and physical—to keep the creative collaborative anito alive.

Call for Collaborators, Partners, Volunteers, and Sponsors

Invitations have been sent to various organizations, academic institutions, individuals, and cultural leaders to take part as collaborators, partners, volunteers, and/or sponsors in the holding of this historic 2007 Nakem Conference—it is going to be the first time that it will be held in the Philippines after its inauguration in the United States as a gathering of scholars, academics, and cultural and community leaders.

Those interested to join as collaborators, partners, volunteers, and/or sponsors, in their individual and organizational capacity, should contact the respective chair of each country’s technical panel:

• Philippine panel: Dr. Alegria Tan Visaya, chair, atvisaya@yahoo.com, &/or
• United States panel: Dr. Aurelio S. Agcaoili, chair, aurelioa@hawaii.edu, nakemconference@yahoo.com.


Call for Papers

Beginning January 1, 2007, the joint technical panel will accept abstracts for presentation at the conference proper. All abstracts should deal on the theme, “Panagpanaw ken Panagindeg—Exile and Settling in Ilokano and Amianan History and Culture.”

Abstracts in Ilokano are welcome provided that each is accompanied by an English translation. Presentations in Ilokano and other Amianan languages are also welcome provided that such presentations, or the key aspects of such presentations, are translated in English.

While we encourage full and active participation from each one, the joint technical panel reserves the right to exclude abstracts and presentations that are deemed not in keeping with the conference theme or not in keeping with certain standards set forth by the same 2007 Nakem Conference Steering Committee and technical panel. This is to ensure quality discourses and scholarship in the Nakem Conference.

Topics and/or Themes

The following topics, themes, and researches are deemed of prior importance in the pursuit of the objectives of the 2007 Nakem Conference:

• Ilokano and Amianan Studies and the Question of Exile and Settling
• Ilokano and Amianan Studies and Migration Studies
• IAS and the Literatures of Exile and Diaspora
• The Ilocos and Amianan as Tropes of the Nation/Global Nation
• Critical Perspectives in Ilokano and Amianan Studies
• Ilokano and Amianan Studies in the Regions
• Ilokano and Amianan Studies and Philippine Diaspora Studies
• Cultural and Linguistic Democracy and IAS
• Approaches and Methodologies in the Promotion, Preservation and Production of Cultures from the Ilocos and Amianan
• The Critical Tradition in Literatures and Cultures from the Regions
• Ilokano as Lingua Franca and Basic Education
• Ilokano as Lingua Franca and the Question of Governance
• Ilokano and Amianan Languages and Liberation Pedagogy
• Theatrical and Performance Arts: Preservation and Appreciation
• The Visual Arts of Exile and Settling
• Balikbayan as Settling Again: Narratives and Counter-Narratives
• Ilokano and Amianan OFW Experience: Gender, Sexuality, and Freedom
• Ethno-philosophical Excursus from the Ilocos and Amianan
• Liberation Linguistics, the Ilocos, and the Cordilleras
• The Amianan Languages and Cultural Practices: the Search for Connections

Postings for Updates

As in the 2006 Nakem Centennial Conference, we are going to maintain the Nakem website administered by Dr. Raymund Liongson, Coordinator of the Philippine Studies Program, Leeward Community College, University of Hawai`i: philippinesonline.org/nakem.

Other postings and updates could be found at the MMSU website, the Timpuyog, and other sites dedicated to Ilokano and Amianan cultures, languages, and histories.

Conference Costs

The actual cost of the conference, to include registration, kits, lodging, and other incidentals, will be determined by the joint technical panel and will be posted in the appropriate various Nakem websites. A user-friendly registration form detailing technical requirements for registration will also be made available in these websites.

(PR001: 12-26-06/asa/rev 01-04-07asa)