THE ATENEO de Manila University Press in cooperation with the Rizal Library presented “Harvest 2016: The Ateneo de Manila University Press Grand Launch,” at the Rizal Library on November 8. The launch unveiled a total of 2o titles, with themes ranging from History, Theology, and Science, to children’s plays, short stories, banking, and birdwatching.
Villarin and University Press Director Ms. Karina Bolasco led the ceremonial presentation of the first copies to the authors, many of whom were present to receive them.
Twenty titles unveiled
The twenty titles are as follows:
- Imagining the Creator God by George de Schrijver, SJ
- Lilok ng Lilo: Mga Tula by Lamberto Antonio
- Kritikal na Espasyo ng Kulturang Popular, edited by Gary Devilles and Rolando Tolentino
- The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines: Quo Vadis?, edited by Eric Marcelo Genilo, Agnes Brazal, and Daniel Franklin Pilario
- Batang Rizal at iba pang dula by Christine Bellen
- Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language amid Wars of Translation by Vicente Rafael
- The Philippines: A Natural History by Colin Rees
- Susumaton: Oral Narratives of Leyte, edited by Merlie Alunan
- Central Banking as State Building: Policymakers and Their Nationalism in the Philippines, 1933–1964 by Yusuke Takagi
- Sibod: Ideology and Expressivity in Binanog Dance, Music, and Folkways of the Panay Bukidnon by Maria Christine Muyco
- For the Chosen Few: A Guide to Classroom Supervision by James O’Donnell SJ
- Sulyap sa aking pinanggalingan (Glimpses into my beginnings) by Roque Ferriols, SJ; edited by Leovino Ma. Garcia and translated into English by Soledad Reyes
- Sangkatauhan, Sangkahayupan: Mga Kuwento by Alvin Yapan
- Out of the Shadows: Violent Conflict and the Real Economy of Mindanao, edited by Francisco Lara and Steven Schoofs
- The Politics of Clan Reunions: Ritual, Kinship, and Cultural Transformation among Kankanaeys of Northern Luzon by Gaston Kibiten
- Colonial Manila, 1909-1912: Three Dutch Travel Accounts, edited and translated by Otto Van den Muijzenberg
- A Visit to Manila and Its Environs by J.A.B Wiselius, translated by Geert Van Der Linden, with an introduction by Otto Van den Muijzenberg
- Outsourceable Selves: An Ethnography of Call Center Work in a Global Economy of Signs and Selves by Alinaya Fabros
- A Field Guide to Flight: Identifying Birds on Three School Grounds by Amado Bajarias
- Keywords: Essays in Philippine Media Cultures and Neocolonialisms by Rolando Tolentino.
Life experienced through stories
This year marks the 44th year of publishing “well written and extensively researched” books for the Ateneo Press, Bolasco said.
“[Academic and scholarly] books ask the big questions which take a painstakingly long time to answer and sometimes are not even conclusive but only lead to more questions,” said Bolasco.
She emphasized that this is the kind of natural curiosity for knowledge and learning that every person should never outgrow. Bolasco said that scholars must now, more than ever, inform and enrich the public on urgent issues, and be consistent in their duty of vigorous intellectual understanding.
“These 20 works were all created by that spirit and getting them out there, were people can read them is what completes the mission [of the Ateneo Press],” she added.
“Our public life in the country has never run out of stories,” she said. She said that they have multiplied, as technology immensely encourages communication. However, they are not necessarily “plural in value.”
She explained that although communication has become more rampant, the value of its words and stories have not grown in value and significance. More than ever, it is the present time in this world that is experienced through stories and history. “We who are in the business of words must continue to wager under truth,” she said.
