Publications

Unraveling the Past: Readings in Philippine History © 2018 provides a glimpse of Philippine history through a selection of primary sources produced by the individuals and institutions that witnessed or took part in shaping the past. This volume includes documents and materials relating to different events from vital historical periods beginning with the early Philippine society of the precolonial times, the occurrence and termination of Spanish colonization, the struggle for sovereignty under the American and Japanese occupations, the multifaceted challenges faced by postwar administrations, up to the contemporary times which cover the Martial Law years. The book also incorporates sources that tackle important issues concerning agrarian reform, economic nationalism, independent foreign policy, national minorities, and the Philippine constitutions. This creates an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the complex past by reading materials which tackle the different aspects of history related to Philippine politics, economics, culture, society, and religion.

From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, Spanish missionaries collected, studied, and made records of Philippine medicinal plants and herbs that Filipino traditional medical practitioners or herbolarios had been prescribing since the precolonial period. Because the herbolarios left no writings about their practices, the missionaries’ works are our primary sources for studying Filipino traditional medicine.

Based on these works, Traditional Medicine in the Colonial Philippines, 16th to the 19th Century by Ma. Mercedes G. Planta gives us an intimate and dense portrait of a defined medical tradition, and so, documents an important component of ways of life and epistemologies that Filipinos can recuperate and benefit from. Today, when access to health and medical care remains beyond the reach of most Filipinos, Planta’s lively and scholarly invitation to reflect on a particular aspect of Philippine culture and harness its potential is a triumph of history as “usable past.”

This book received the Best Book in Science Award in the 37th National Book Awards by the National Book Development Board in 2018.