Ambeth R. Ocampo's Blog, page 76

My Inquirer column today looks back on the value of 12 units of college Spanish that did not encourage me to speak, but equipped...

My Inquirer column today looks back on the value of 12 units of college Spanish that did not encourage me to speak, but equipped me for a career in Philippine history.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/162484/s...



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A Conversation with Ambeth Ocampo, author of Rizal Without the Overcoat

Princeton University on Friday, sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Thanks to Christina Lee and Jonathan Baldoza for the invite.
https://spo.princeton.edu/events/conv...


Ambeth Ocampo is the Horacio de la Costa Professor of History and the Humanities at the Ateneo de Manila University. He has authored numerous books on Philippine history, culture, and art, in...

The title-page of this 1897 book on the Katipunan has an image of the instrument used to make an incision on the arm of a Katipu...

The title-page of this 1897 book on the Katipunan has an image of the instrument used to make an incision on the arm of a Katipunero and draw blood. Katipunan oaths were usually written out in ink and signed in blood. Some enthusiastic Katipuneros wrote out their entire oath in blood.
If a keloid scar developed after initiation, that would have been a badge of courage, but wouldn't that scar mark one out for arrest by the Guardia Civil?



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My dad would have been 98 today. While he left us four years ago I am grateful a lifelong love for art, books, and canvasses. He...

My dad would have been 98 today. While he left us four years ago I am grateful a lifelong love for art, books, and canvasses. He was and remains the Reader-Over-My-Shoulder. I write with him in mind. Every post, every lecture is always a conversation on the past I hope he will enjoy and learn from.



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Rizal's Selfie, 1887.One of two selfies Rizal made. The other was posted last February https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...

Rizal's Selfie, 1887.
One of two selfies Rizal made. The other was posted last February https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...
Drawn in 1887, this was sent to Ferdinand Blumentritt ahead of their first meeting in the train station at Litomerice in the present Czech Republic. Rizal had ran out of photographs and drew himself, assuring Blumentritt that it was a faithful likeness, that he did not make himself look better than he is in per...

BAYBAYIN is our pre-Spanish writing system, not "alibata" that are the first three letters in Arabic: alif (A), baa (B), and ta...

BAYBAYIN is our pre-Spanish writing system, not "alibata" that are the first three letters in Arabic: alif (A), baa (B), and taa (T). This illustration from a 1950's baybayin book teaches the Tagalog names for parts of the body in baybayin. Modesty dictated that one part is left without translation.
Students in my Philippine history class learn to write their baybayin name. Journalist Howie Severino also teaches baybayin, and even distributes a baybayin font for computers. I have friends who h...

My Inquirer column resumes after a Holy Week break with a look back into Emilio Aguinaldo's election protest against Manuel Luis...

My Inquirer column resumes after a Holy Week break with a look back into Emilio Aguinaldo's election protest against Manuel Luis Quezon winning the presidency of the Philippine Commonwealth. There seems to be nothing new in both past and present.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/162294/p...



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Yesterday, April 10, BenCab turned 81. Going over pics that span the years before and after he was proclaimed National Artist ma...

Yesterday, April 10, BenCab turned 81. Going over pics that span the years before and after he was proclaimed National Artist made me wish he remains healthy and creative till he is 100. Belated Happy birthday!



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Thanks to Sentro Rizal at the Philippine Consulate General in New York and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, my ...

Thanks to Sentro Rizal at the Philippine Consulate General in New York and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, my lecture at the Philippine Center is free and open to the public.



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Is it possible to do the Stations of the Cross in the National Museum? One of the halls has a complete set of 19th century Stati...

Is it possible to do the Stations of the Cross in the National Museum? One of the halls has a complete set of 19th century Stations of the Cross from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Collection. These were painted on Philippine hardwood by a Boholano artist whose name is lost to history. If you look closely at the background of some panels you will be pleasantly surprised that the artist inserted the famous "Chocolate Hills" into the passion story.



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