For the months of July to September 2015, the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) welcomes six new Visiting Research Associates (VRAs) from Japan, USA, Australia, and France, namely:
Dr. Hiroyuki Yamamoto Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Ph.D. is from the Center for Integrated Area Studies of Kyoto University, Japan. His study, entitled “The Contributions of Local Knowledge to Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines,” aims to explore how information is gathered and disseminated in communities experiencing “rapid social change.” His research areas are Samar and Leyte, both provinces struck by Typhoon Haiyan last November 2013. (Photo credits: Osaka Asian Film Festival website)
Earl Perez-Foust
Earl Perez-Foust is a Ph.D. student (Comparative Literature) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research (“Novel Beliefs: Politics of Belonging in the Philippine Rizalista Movement”) focuses on the Iglesia ng Watawat ng Lahi, or more commonly known as the Rizalista movement. His study analyzes how Rizal and his literary works are seen in the context of divinity, and the historical shifts and tensions within the Rizalista movement.
Nicole Elizabeth del Rosario CuUnjieng
A 2014 IPC International Summer School Fellow, Nicole CuUnjieng is a Ph.D. Candidate in Southeast Asian and International History from Yale University. Her doctoral dissertation, “Pan-Asianism and the Philippine Revolution,” locates the Philippine Revolution (specifically rural movements) within the broader Southeast Asian context, where imperial resistance was also evident.
Caroline Compton
Caroline Compton is a Ph.D. student of the Australian National University College of Law, and a 2015 IPC International Summer School Fellow. Her study, “Scale and the Epistemology of Rights and Property in Post Disaster and Climate Adaptive Relocation,” is concerned with human displacement due to climate change-related disasters. Her research examines how displacement caused by Typhoon Haiyan can clarify how rights are interpreted and relayed between regulatory institutions.

Michael Rubin
Michael Rubin is a VRA currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. His doctoral dissertation, entitled “Accountability in Rebel Regimes,” explores how rebel organizations “govern” territories under their control during intrastate conflict.
Morgan Mouton
Morgan Mouton is a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics from Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (LATTS), Université Paris-Est. His study (“Powering Up Urban Change: A Political Economy of the Energy Sector in the Context of Metro Manila”) looks into the energy issues in the National Capital Region, and how this is tied up to urban change, specifically to the economic growth that the region is experiencing.
The Visiting Research Associates Program of the IPC encourages studies on the Philippines by scholars from different parts of the world. Through this program, the IPC assists non-Filipino scholars from any discipline to conduct their fieldwork in the Philippines.
For more information on the VRA program, please visit <http://www.ipc-ateneo.org/vra>. Inquiries regarding the program can be sent to the Institute of Philippine Culture <ipc.soss@ateneo.edu>.