Plug: The Medieval Studies Society of the Philippines

Mr. Ralfy Acuña left a comment at my blog talking about his organization, the Medieval Studies Society of the Philippines (MSSP). For those who may be interested in joining, here’s Mr. Acuña’s announcement:

Greetings!

We are in the process of forming a Medieval Studies Society of the Philippines (Mediaevalis Studii Philippinarum Insularum Societas). The core members are professors and researchers in philosophy, literature, theology, history, and political science from the Ateneo de Manila University, San Beda College, University of Asia and the Pacific, and the University of the Philippines (Cebu, Diliman, and Manila campuses). The goal of the Society is to foster the study of medieval cultures from different parts of the world.

Planned activities include tours of local sites such as churches, academic lectures and conventions, exhibitions, educational outreach programs, and publications.

We would like to work with various local groups interested in topics connected to medieval culture, including C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, fantasy fiction, the Gothic, and others.

We would like to invite you to subscribe to our low-volume announcement mailing list, which you can join by sending e-mail to

mspis-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

or by visiting

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mspis/.

We’ll send updates to the list once a month, including updates to the website. (The current website of the Society is located at http://mssp.kritikon.net, but it only contains a banner. I’ll try to update it during the next few days.)

Finally, you have any questions or comments, you may write to medievalph at gmail dot com. Feel free to offer suggestions on what you want the Society to exhibit or discuss in the future.

Regards,

Ralfy Acuna

I confess I’m curious about how “medieval” Philippines will be represented here. Wikipedia says “The Middle Ages are commonly dated from the 5th century fall of the Western Roman Empire until the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 15th century,” although this is still disputed. But if we’re going by the general time frame, this would be pre-Spanish era, yes? The Spanish explorers and colonizers came sometime during the 16th century, IIRC.

Writers who lean toward a specific subgenre of speculative fiction (alternate history) could learn a lot from the group discussions. Also, history is fun!