Discussion
Society, Politics, & Culture
Non-Fiction

Things Hidden Since 1521: Novel-Writing as Ethnography of Precolonial Philippines

Featuring Kahlil Corazo & Robin Sebolino

Philippine Stand Event

This talk explores the potential of novel-writing as a form of ethnographic practice, using my historical novel Rajah Versus Conquistador as case study. The novel reconstructs the precolonial Cebuano world at the time of Magellan, drawing on archival sources, linguistic evidence, and anthropological theory. By treating fiction as “thick description” in Clifford Geertz’s sense, the presentation shows how imagination, when disciplined by cultural logic and historical constraint, can help recover sensory and social dimensions erased in colonial chronicles—such as the role of bathing and smell in Cebuano culture, or the hidden political influence of women like the babaylan and binukot.

18 October 2025, Saturday 10:00

Hall 5.1 A95 & B95, Pilipinas Space, Messe Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main

Meet the Speakers:

Robin Sebolino

Robin Sebolino is currently an instructor at the University of Asia and the Pacific. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Literature from De La Salle University-Manila and his master’s in Writing and Performing and Publishing at the University of Leeds in England. He is a novelist and a textbook co-author.

In his more than a decade of service in the field of education, he has taught students in debate and public speaking organizations who have won championships in local and international tournaments. As a fictionist, he has written short stories published in foreign magazines and anthologies, in which he developed narratives inspired by Southeast Asian mythology. He won several awards and recognitions through his writing endeavors, including several honorable mention placements in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contests and earning a Seal of Approval from the Catholic Writer’s Guild for his historical novel Vassals of the Valley.

He currently leads Plaza Books in fulfilling a project to publish and promote manuscripts that advocate traditional Philippine values. In reference to such values, the organization specifically refers to the country’s mestizo (mixed) heritage, in which Hispanic, Chinese, and Austronesian cultures have merged—and continue to merge—in shaping Philippine society. Plaza Books will primarily publish works in English, but the organization hopes to have them translated into Spanish, Chinese, and other Southeast Asian languages to further communicate the multicultural ideas it aims to celebrate.