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Plants that heal, plants that nourish 🌿

The Department of History, UP Diliman shares two essays by Dr. Ma. Mercedes G. Planta in Food and Ethnographic Paraphernalia (2025), released under the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubó imprint.

Food and Ethnographic Paraphernalia is a book about food—and the material culture that surrounds it. It brings together essays by academics and cultural professionals and pairs them with ethnographic objects held in trust by the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubó, inviting readers into a conversation about food, objects, and everyday life in the Philippines.

In “Interface: Plants that Heal, Plants that Nourish,” Dr. Planta examines the long-standing overlap between food and medicine in the Philippines—how everyday plants in the Filipino diet have also functioned as remedies, preventives, and sources of well-being across centuries. Drawing from historical records, missionary pharmacopoeias, and contemporary scientific research, the essay shows how Filipino plant knowledge consistently blurs the boundary between nourishment and healing. From bawang or garlic (Allium sativum), ampalaya or bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), and bayabas or guava (Psidium guajava), to malunggay or moringa (Moringa oleifera) and siling labuyo or Filipino bird’s eye chili (Capsicum frutescens), plants emerge not merely as ingredients or cures, but as part of the Filipinos’ way of life shaped by the Philippines’ rich biodiversity, environment, and experience.

The essay “Remarkable Three” turns to three of the Philippines’ most enduring plants—langka or jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), niyog or coconut (Cocos nucifera), and saging or banana (Musa × paradisiaca)—to show how these familiar staples have long sustained Filipino households as part of everyday food and medicine. Consumed regularly yet rich in therapeutic value, these plants reveal how nourishment, healing, and survival have always been closely intertwined.

The banana, in particular, later entered wider circuits of knowledge. Introduced to the Western world—particularly Europe—through the campaigns of Alexander the Great, it later captivated Carl Linnaeus, who formalized the binomial nomenclature system and, in the mid-18th century, became the first to successfully cultivate a fruit-bearing banana in a climate-controlled greenhouse in the Netherlands. Enamored of the plant, he named it Musa × paradisiaca, believing it to be the forbidden fruit of Eden.

Read together, the two essays invite readers to see plants, food, and material culture as interconnected forms of knowledge—rooted in biodiversity, history, and everyday practice, and made visible through ethnographic objects from the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubó.

📘 Food and Ethnographic Paraphernalia is now available and ready for orders.
For copies and inquiries, please email administrator@muskat.org

#PlantsThatHeal #PlantsThatNourish #FoodAndMedicine #FoodAsMedicine
#PhilippineHistory #HistoryOfMedicine #Ethnobotany #LocalKnowledge
#MaterialCulture #EverydayPractices #BiodiversityAndCulture #LivingHeritage #TraditionalMedicineInTheColonialPhilippines
#MuseoNgKaalamangKatutubó #UPDiliman #UPHistory #PhilippineStudies
@UPDilimanHistory @MuseoNgKaalamangKatutubó

Kapag tinatalakay ang kasaysayan ng mga Tsino sa kolonyal na Pilipinas, malimit na nakasentro ang diskusyon sa buhay at karanasan ng mga Tsinong negosyanteng mayaman at maimpluwensiya.' Hindi ito nakapagtataka dahil ang mga Tsinong ito ay nag-iwan ng maraming dokumentong maaaring pagbatayan ng mga historyador sa kanilang mga pananaliksik. Ilan sa mga dokumentong ito ang may kinalaman sa kanilang mga hanapbuhay sa loob at labas ng Pilipinas, mga dokumento tungkol sa kanilang buhay at buhay ng kanilang pamilya at iba pang lathalaing may kaugnayan sa komersyo. Sa kabilang banda, madalas namang hindi napagtutuunan ng pansin ang kasaysayan ng mga ordinaryong Tsino na siyang bumubuo ng mayorya ng kanilang populasyon sa buong panahong ang Pilipinas ay nasa ilalim ng pamumunong Español. Kaiba sa mga negosyanteng Tsino, kakaunti lamang ang mga dokumento tungkol sa mga manggagawang Tsino. Sa katunayan, sa pangkalahatan, lumalabas lamang ang mga manggagawang Tsino sa mga dokumentong may kaugnayan sa krimen at kriminalidad, at sa mga salaysay ng mga banyagang manlalakbay. Bagama't tila nga may kakulangan sa mga batis, hindi naman ito nangangahulugang walang kasaysayan ang mga pangkaraniwang manggagawang Tsino.

Layunin ng papel na itong talakayin ang kasaysayan ng mga Tsinong manggagawa sa Kamaynilaan noong ikalabingsiyam na siglo. Magtutuon ang pagtalakay sa Kamaynilaan dahil bagama't mayroon nang mga Tsino sa iba't ibang bahagi ng Pilipinas, ang kanilang populasyon ay nakasentro pa rin sa Maynila at sa mga karatig nitong mga kanugnog na bayan (arrabales). Pangunahing ginamit para sa papel ang mga dokumento mula sa Pambansang Sinupan ng Pilipinas,3 partikular na rito ang 148 bungkos (bundles) na may pamagat na "Chinos." Ang mga bungkos na ito ay naglalaman ng samu't saring dokumento tungkol sa mga Tsino sa Pilipinas mula huling bahagi ng ikalabingwalo hanggang sa unang dekada ng ika-dalawampung siglo. Kasama ring kinonsulta ang iba pang sinupan sa España. Mula sa mga dokumentong ito, papaksain ng papel (1) ang buhay at hanapbuhay ng mga Tsinong manggagawa sa Kamaynilaan noon ikalabingsiyam na siglo, (2) ang konteksto ng kanilang buhay at karanasan batay sa mga kaganapan sa Pilipinas, at (3) ang mga halimbawa ng mga manggagawang ito tulad mga Tsinong kargador, corredor, at pancitero. Ambag ng papel ang pagbibigay-puwang sa mga ordinaryong manggagawang Tsinong malimit na hindi nakikita sa mga pahina ng kasaysayan.

Sa Pilipinas, itinuturing na maagang Antropolohiya ang mga pagbabahaging ginawa ng mga kronistang Español (karamihan ay prayle) na nagtala ng mga paglalarawan tungkol sa mga gawain at paniniwala ng mga katutubo. Ang mga tala nina Antonio Pigafetta, Miguel de Loarca, Pedro Chirino, Juan de Medina, at iba pang kronista ang itinuturing na maagang patunay ng Etnograpiya sa bansa. Ang Kasaysayang Etnograpiko ay mahalaga upang mabigyang-linaw ang maraming aspekto sa kultura at kalinangang Pilipino na hindi pa ganap na nauunawaan ng marami. Mahalaga kung gayon na pagtuunan ng pansin ang mga maagang salaysay na ito upang makita kung papaanong binago ng kolonyal na salaysay at/o polisiya ang pamumuhay ng mga katutubo bago ang kolonyalismo at pagpasok ng mga impluwensiyang dayuhan.

Maliban sa mga kronistang Español, interesante ring masuri ang mga tala ng mga manlalakbay na Europeo sa Pilipinas upang makita ang kanilang mga salaysay tungkol sa kultura ng mga Pilipino sa panahong kolonyal. Kaiba sa mga kronista, masasabing hindi gaanong malakas ang impluwensiya ng Katolisismo sa kanilang mga naratibo. Maaaring ihambing kung gayon ang mga salaysay ng mga kronista at ng mga manlalakbay upang makita kung anu-ano ang mga pagbabagong naipasok sa proseso ng kolonyalismo.

Ang papel na ito ay isang pagtatangkang suriin ang mga paglalarawan ng mga Europeong manlalakbay sa mga katutubong babae sa panahon ng kolonyalismong Español. Bagama't masasabing hindi estruktural na etnograpiya' ang kanilang naging gawain, maituturing pa rin itong Etnograpiya at/o Antropolohiya dahil ipinakita ng mga talang ito ang obserbasyon ng mga manlalakbay sa kulturang kanilang nasaksihan—paglalarawan ng mga katutubo at ng babae sa partikular. Pagtutuunan ng pansin ang mga aspektong may kinalaman sa pagiging babae at seksuwalidad at kung papaano ito nakapaloob sa isang partikular na kultura. Layunin ng papel na ito na makapag-ambag sa kasaysayan ng maagang etnograpiya at mga kaugnay na pag-aaral sa Antropolohiya sa bansa.

The year 2024 marked the establishment of Philippine-Indian diplomatic relations. This chapter is a celebration of the recorded historical ties between the two countries as far as ancient times, like the affinity of the Philippine ancient scripts, such as baybayin and kulitan, to Emperor Ashoka's Brahmic script, and the Indianized Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900 CE, which serves as the country's oldest written historical document. This ties defied colonialism and transcended, even in the awakening of the Filipino nation, the first democracy and constitutional republic in Asia, with an Indian-blooded general from Batangas, Juan Cailles, among the Filipino freedom fighters.

The Diorama Experience of Philippine History. Ayala Museum opened to the public in 1974 with the goal of presenting the story of the Philippine nation under one roof, told in a selection of 60 handcrafted vignettes that made history come alive for generations of museum visitors. Today, the story is retold through the voices of 29 scholars from various fields of expertise in order to evoke to complexity of the stories of our archipelagic nation. The Diorama Experience of Philippine History is edited by Prof. Michael D. Pante of the Department of History, ADMU.

Four faculty members of the UP Department of History contributed chapters to this book. Prof. Jely A. Galang wrote the chapters "Trade with Chinese", "Massacre of the Chinese", and "Parian Scene." Asst. Prof. Rhodalyn C. Wani-Obias wrote the chapters "Pact of Biak-na-Bato" and "Court Martial of Andres Bonifacio." Asst. Prof. Janet S. Reguindin-Estella wrote "The Battle of Quingua," "Assassination of General Antonio Luna," and "Inauguration of Quezon." Asst. Prof. Francisco Jayme Paolo A. Guiang wrote "The Return of General Macarthur" and "Recognition of Philippine Independence by the United States."

The Trial of Galileo (n.d., 58.5 x 105 cm, oil on canvas) is one of the works of Filipino painter Juan Luna (1857-1899), currently housed in the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. It depicts the last part of the trial of the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): on his knees, he reads the statement of abjuration, which renounced heliocentrism before the Roman Inquisition at the Convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, Italy, in 1633. Using Trial of Galileo, this article aims to settle “the relation between what we see and what we know” (Berger). Such attempt to clarify, in this case, is through “locating art in the context of time and space”—therefore, through art history, which “investigates the changes in the language of art, the structures of the art world, the ways of making and appreciating art” (Flores & De la Paz). Due to the lack of clear provenance of the painting, Trial of Galileo can be situated in how the ilustrados (Filipino intelligentsia) received modern science developed in Europe and how this history of science could be used by the Propaganda Movement in advancing political reforms. By linking Trial of Galileo to the scientific knowledge and political movement of the ilustrado propagandists, we can identify the “emancipative effects of scientific knowledge” in the so-called “Filipino Enlightenment” (Mojares).

This chapter reexamines the American photojournalistic documentation of the soldiers of Macabebe, Pampanga, in 1899 as an early form of disinformation about the Filipinos. These photos appeared in Jose de Olivares’ book, Our Islands and Their People as Seen with Camera and Pencil (1899), whose outright agenda was introducing the “Macabebes” to his American readers. Alongside these images were fictitious claims about the history of Macabebe and the townspeople’s motivation in supporting the Americans. At least four photographs of them in loincloths and with long hair were miscaptioned images of Tinguian warriors of the Cordillera. These Macabebe soldiers served the Spanish and American armies against the Philippine Revolutionary Forces from 1897 until the capture of First Philippine Republic President Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901. The townspeople of Macabebe were mistreated during the Aguinaldo administration, and this led the residents to ally themselves with the Americans. The photographs of the alleged Macabebes with garbled information were typical cases of distorting information by mislabeling photographs. The continuous proliferation of these images affects our understanding of Philippine history.

This article examines how the American colonial government in the Philippines implemented public health reforms as part of its so-called “civilizing mission” during the early 20th century. Dr. Planta explores the role of education, Filipino schoolchildren, and local medical professionals in advancing sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition—and how these efforts, while framed as preparation for independence, also exposed the inequities of colonial rule.

Highlighting the agency of Filipino health workers and the growing frustrations under American administration, this work offers important insights into the intersections of medicine and public health, governance, and the Filipino struggle for self-rule.

The extant work on Spain’s empire in Asia does not take distinctions between freedom and enslavement for granted. But while authors have recognized the existence of slaveries by other names, this chapter examines a case wherein Indigenous agents sought to narrowly call a slave a slave (an alipin an esclavo). At the seventeenth-century’s end, Indigenous elites from the island of Luzon (in today’s Philippine archipelago) argued for enslavement’s necessity in response to an imperial prohibition. They deployed fictional genealogies and murmurs of unrest to play up the crown’s anxieties at this westernmost reach of Spain’s India Occidental. Through overlaid guises of familial intimacy and colonial duty, they conflated ideas of race, religion, and enslavement for themselves and for their audiences. By the century’s end, colonial reducciones had disrupted settlement patterns key to local life cycles of dependence and autonomy, and Indigenous leaders now deployed violence, rather than benignity, to recover escapees. In opposition to the extant literature’s static understandings of the equivalence or inequivalence of the concept esclavo and the Indigenous concept alipin, this chapter examines the role that these Indigenous participants played in narrowing local asymmetrical dependencies into enslavement.

This study was the result of a grant funded by the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS) in 1996. Materials used for the red tide research included journal articles, technical papers, and media reports. Fieldwork was done in nine (9) coastal municipalities of Bataan and other coastal provinces of Manila Bay by conducting interviews and focused group discussions (FGDs) with fisherfolks, NGOs, scientists, and national and local government agency officials. This paper’s aims are four-fold: 1. Trace and narrate the events that transpired during the first occurrence of the red tide episode in Manila Bay. 2. Describe the reaction and response of the fisherfolk who were directly affected by the red tide ban, while the government and marine scientists were finding answers to the “new” hazard. 3. Narrate the scientists’ and government’s assessment and response to the 1988 Manila Bay red tide episode. 4. Discuss and analyze how the scientists, local government, and the public eventually bridged the disconnect in knowledge and the gap in communication during red tide outbreaks. The study concludes with recommendations on how best to reach and communicate to the public disaster terms couched in academic/scientific jargon and proposes steps on how to be inclusive in solving and mitigating disaster risk and response. Keywords: red tide, Bataan, Manila Bay, disasters, local knowledge/perception