Old Jolo and Zamboanga, 1268-1945

Old Jolo and Zamboanga, 1268-1945

Mark Francis Francisco

 

Old Jolo and Zamboanga, 1268–1945 is an ethnohistory of two of the most misunderstood sites in the Philippines, exploring the ethnic origins, languages, cultures, beliefs, and traditions that have shaped the people of this region since precolonial times. It narrates the conflicts between the colonizers and the natives and how Jolo and Zamboanga managed to remain the Sama core of the archipelago even through years of conquest, rebellion, cultural assimilation, and world war.

Mindanawon scholar Mark Francis Francisco weaves together a tale of these two vital cities from primary documents and accounts as well as perspectives from renowned historians and scholars, both local and foreign. With a multidisciplinary approach, Old Jolo and Zamboanga, 1268–1945 endeavors to widen the scope of scholarship about the southern Philippines and present thorough diverse accounts of the realities that exist within this cultural matrix, particularly in the Moro lands.

In laying out the key roles these two centers have played in the archipelago and in Southeast Asia, Old Jolo and Zamboanga, 1268–1945 clearly demonstrates to modern readers that the history of Mindanao is the history of the Philippines.

 

Mark Francis Francisco has written a valuable historical study of Jolo and Zamboanga, two connected spaces that are often neglected in the scholarly literature of the Philippines and, more broadly, island Southeast Asia. Old Jolo and Zamboanga, 1268–1945 centers cultural hybridization and regional exchange, demonstrating in vivid detail how we can think around and beyond colonial narratives by tending to local actors whose identities and affinities complicate standard historical binaries. The book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the poly-cultural peoples and places of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.

— Oliver Charbonneau
University of Glasgow

 

Wonderful achievement to help advance Mindanawon literature, especially in the fields of history, anthropology, and church history. It is such a good model for doing local history, not just focused on one particular region, but relating two regions as one entity that somehow interface with one another and which—for better or worse—have influenced each other’s historical timeline. The extent of this work being truly multi-disciplinary given the anthropological-ethnographic data, rich historical information, aspects of philosophy, theology, linguistics, and culture studies. The identification of key individuals and personalities among those who contributed to how history would unfold in this region, from the colonizers to the sultans, from the princesses to the guerrilla leaders, to groups and communities who need to be recognized, e.g., Bud Dajo men, women, and children, is excellent.

— Bro. Carlito M. Gaspar, CSSR
Mindanawon socio-anthropologist, theologian,
interfaith scholar, missionary, artist, and peace advocate

 

 

CONTENTS

Foreword by MATTHEW M. SANTAMARIA

Preface 

1  South Before Time 

2  The Origin Story of Jolo and Zamboanga 

3  The Rise of the Lupah Sug 

4  Zamboanga, The Hispanic South 

5  The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Sultan Azim ud-Din or Alimuddin 

6  The Golden Age of Jolo and the Sulu Sultanate 

7  Zamboanga, Leal y Valiente Villa 

8  The Further Decline of Jolo 

9  The Revolution Reaches the South 

10  The American Moroland

11  Orgullo de Zamboanga

12  The Lupah Sug Nation 

13  The War Reaches the South 

Afterword by KARL M. GASPAR, CSSR

Acknowledgments 
Bibliography 
Photo Credits
Index
About the Author 

 

About the Author 

MARK FRANCIS FRANCISCO is a development researcher and educator specializing in Mindanawon studies, particularly in Subanon people of Zamboanga and Sama-Badjao of Sulu. He graduated magna cum laude from the Ateneo de Zamboanga University with a bachelor of science in education (social studies) and earned his master’s degree in social development from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Francisco is an assistant professor and currently the chairperson of the Cultural Science Department of the College of Liberal Arts of Western Mindanao State University. He is also a research fellow of Access Bangsamoro, an online and social media portal for the effective implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and transition to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Francisco has previously served as the chairperson of the Humanities and Social Science (HUMSS) Department and as a faculty member of the Social Sciences Department of the School of Liberal Arts of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

 

Copyright © 2024
208 pages; 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm.