Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo

profile picture of Rosa Cordillera Castillo

  

Prof. Dr. Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo

SFG 4280
0421 218-67610
ro_ca[at]uni-bremen.de

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Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo is a socio-cultural and public anthropologist, curator, and musician working on social justice issues through interdisciplinary research, teaching, and multi-media knowledge transfer and praxis. Straddling academic, artistic, and activist practices, her work spans critical areas of memory, imagination, media and politics, political emotions, solidarity, ethics, and decoloniality. Through an interdisciplinary lens, she explores the intersections of these fields, seeking innovative approaches to investigate, theorize, and address pressing social issues, with a particular focus on processes and dynamics of dehumanization and rehumanization that underlie violence, inequalities, and resistance.

She has taught at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin's Institute of Asian and African Studies (HU-IAAW), Freie Universität Berlin's Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, and the University of the Philippines' Department of Anthropology and Department of Behavioral Sciences. Rosa was also a curator at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and an indigenous rights advocate for the NGO Anthropology Watch, Inc.

Her current research focuses on media and politics, with an emphasis on developing a political and ethical ontology of photographs that depict suffering and resistance, particularly in relation to the Philippine drug war. She delves into the relationality inherent in these images, their production, and (trans)national physical and online circulation, reception, and their potential and limits for rehumanization. Relatedly, she investigates the role of social media in fostering solidarity and exacerbating polarization as well as social media-specific ethical dilemmas of research. Through this lens, she seeks to illuminate the evolving landscape of mediated communication and its implications for subjectivity and constituting the political community.

This project builds on her previous work and book project on Being and Becoming: Imagination, Memory, and Violence in Muslim Mindanaowhere she explores the productive force of imagination, entwined with memory, emotions, and temporality in individual and collective becoming amidst a backdrop of coloniality, Islamophobia, political turmoil, and the Bangsamoro struggle for the right to self-determination. This is based on her PhD dissertation, which received a summa cum laude distinction from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at Freie Universität Berlin.

Rosa was born and raised in the Philippines where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Masters in Anthropology at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She previously conducted research on the life world of compressor fishers, indigenous peoples’ rights, and gender-based barriers to access to healthcare and medicine in India and China, among others. She also does engaged research for NGOs and communities. Prior to moving to Berlin for her PhD studies, Rosa was a lecturer, instructor, and assistant professor in anthropology at the University of the Philippines Diliman and Manila campuses from 2005 to 2011.  

She created and curates the Philippine Studies Series Berlin, a platform for lectures, discussions, and art and film events regarding the Philippines, Filipina/o/x, and the diaspora. Rosa leads the Philippine Studies program at HU-IAAW where she also co-established the Negotiating Research Ethics initiative with PD. Dr. Andrea Fleschenberg dos Ramos Pinéu and Dr. Sarah Holz, and is a principal investigator of the Berlin University Alliance-funded project Co2Libri - Conceptual Collaboration: Living Borderless Research Interaction. And together with Dr. Jonas Bens, Dr. Fabian Bernhardt, Dr. Débora Medeiros, and Dr. Verena Straub, she co-created and co-leads the  "Affect and Colonialism Web Lab," winner of the Ideas Competition for International Research Marketing Prize of the German Research Foundation. It is based at and co-funded by the Collaborative Research Center Affective Societies at Freie Universität Berlin.

Rosa is an inaugural editorial board member of Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies based at the University of California Davis, and a board member of the Philippine Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies.  

 

  • Social justice
  • Decoloniality
  • Media and politics
  • Political emotions
  • Memory
  • Imagination 
  • Resistance
  • Solidarity
  • Ethics
  • Indigenous studies
  • Feminist approaches
  • Engaged scholarship
  • Public anthropology

 

Book and Special Issue

 

2023

 

Fleschenberg, Andrea, Kai Kresse, and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo (editors). Thinking with the South: Reframing Research Collaboration Amid Decolonial Imperatives and Challenges. Berlin: DeGruyter (book)

 

2023

Special Issue editor (with Andrea Fleschenberg, Abida Bano, and Sarah Holz), "Negotiating Research Ethics in Volatile Contexts." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 54(1). (double special issue)

 

2022

Special Issue editor (with Andrea Fleschenberg, Abida Bano, and Sarah Holz), "Negotiating Research Ethics in Volatile Contexts." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 53(4). (double special issue)

 

 

Article and Book Chapter

 

2023

 

Fleschenberg, Andrea, Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo, and Kai Kresse. Introduction: Reframing, Re-enacting Research and Collaboration. In Thinking with the South: Reframing Research Collaboration Amid Decolonial Imperatives and Challenges, Fleschenberg, Kresse, and Castillo (eds). Berlin: DeGruyter (book chapter)

 

2023

 

 

 

 

2023

 

"Zerrissene  Beziehungen: Affekte und Sozialität in Zeiten Dutertes." In Rechtspopulismen der Gegenwart. Kulturwissen- schaftliche Irritationen. Stefan Wellgraf and Christine Hentschel, editors. Berlin: Spector Books (book chapter)

 

"The Bangsamoro as imagined future." In Emerging Perspectives in Philippine Studies: A Reader. Stephen Acabado, Clement Camposano, and Dada Docot, editors. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press. (book chapter)

 

2023

Critical research ethics as decolonial praxis. Debating section. International Quarterly of Asian Studies 54(1https://doi.org/10.11588/iqas.2023.1.21746. (article in journal)

 

2023

Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Raffy Lerma. “Regime-made disaster in Metro Manila: Beyond an aesthetics reading of photographs of Duterte’s 'drug war'.” In Beauty and Brutality: Manila and Its Global Discontents, Martin Manalansan IV, Robert G. Diaz, and Rolando B. Tolentino, editors. Pennsylvania: Temple University Press (book chapter)

 

2022

Fleschenberg, Andrea and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo. "Negotiating Research Ethics in Volatile Contexts." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 53(4): 495-503. (article in journal)

 

2022

Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Hansjörg Dilger. "Ethics as embodied practice: reflexivity, dialogue, and collaboration – Rosa Castillo in conversation with Hansjörg Dilger." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 53(4): 505-518. (interview piece in journal)

 

2022

 

"The past, present, and future entangled: Memory-work as decolonial praxis."In The Decolonial Enactments of Community Psychology,Shose Kessi, Shahnaaz Suffla, and Mohammed Seedat, editors. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International. (book chapter)

 

2022

 

Yambao, Clod Marlan Krister, Sarah, Wright, Noah Theriault, and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo. “I am the land and I am their witness”: placemaking amid displacement among Lumads in the Philippines. Critical Asian Studies, 54(2): 259-281. DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2022.2059771 (article in journal)

 

2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

Castillo, Rosa Cordillera, Kay Abaño, Bui Kim Dinh, Henry Tan, Ferdiansyah Thajib, and Clod Yambao. "Southeast Asian artists and academics unsettling borders, power, and authority through collaborative works."In Local Responses to Global Challenges in Southeast Asia - A Transregional Studies Reader, Claudia Derichs, Andrea Fleschenberg, Sumrin Kalia, and Lina Knorr, editors. World Scientific Press. (book chapter)

 

2021

"A politics and ethics of viewing photographs of Duterte's 'drug war:' Towards reconceptualizing the political community," Akda: Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, and Performance, 1(2): 54-70. https://doi.org/10.59588/2782-8875.1015 (article in journal)

 

2021

 

"When Facebook is the Internet: A halfie anthropologist grapples with evolving social media connectivity," Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology, 65(1): 143-150. https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2020.650110

 (article in journal)

 

2020

"Stories and voices from Southeast Asia: EuroSEAS 2019 Film Program."  HU-IAAW Newsletter, Issue #6. (article in newsletter)

 

 

2020

“Being young and Muslim in the Philippines: Changing the present, shaping the future.” In Rethinking Filipino Millennials: Alternative Perspectives on a Misunderstood Generation, Jayeel Cornelio, editor. Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. (book chapter)

 

 

2019

 

"Mediated politics and the populist political style: Introduction to the Focus Section (guest editor)." HU-IAAW Newsletter, Issue #5. (article and guest editor of newsletter)

 

 

2018

“Unpacking 'youth' and 'religiosity' in J. Cornelio's Being Catholic. Journal of World Christianity, Vol. 8, No. 2. DOI: 10.5325/jworlchri.8.2.0165

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jworlchri.8.2.0165 (article in journal)

 

 

2018

“Subverting ‘formalized’ ethics through mainstreaming critical research ethics and a responsive review process.” Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 26:3. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1469-8676.12526

(article in journal)

 

2017

Being and Becoming: Imagination, Memory, and Violence in the Southern Philippines [dissertation on microfilm]. [Berlin]: Freie Universität Berlin. 377 p.

 

 

2015

“The emotional, political, and analytical labor of engaged anthropology amidst violent political conflict.” Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, Vol. 34(1). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01459740.2014.960564   (article in journal) 

 

2014

“Perspectives on truth, justice, reparation, and reconciliation in Central Mindanao.” In Dealing with the Past in Mindanao: Perspectives and Entry Points for Transitional Justice, Manuel Domes and Daniel Jaeger, editors. Davao City: ForumZFD. http://www.forumzfd.de/sites/default/files/downloads/forumZFD-Moving_Beyond_Towards_Transitional_Justice_Bangsamoro_Peace_Process.pdf (book chapter)

 

2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alvarez-Castillo, Fatima and Rosa Cordillera Castillo. "Gender-based barriers to access to health care and medicine: the case of India and China." In The Living Tree: Traditional Medicine and Public Health in China and India,  Chaturvedi, S., Ladikas, M. and Guo, L., editors. New Delhi: The Academic Foundation and Research and Information System for Developing Countries. http://academicfoundation.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=173 (book chapter)

 

2011

"When fishing is no longer viable: Environmental change, unfair market relations and livelihood in a small fishing community in the Philippines.COMCAD Arbeitspapiere – Working Paper, No. 105, 2011. 
Online - https://www.unibielefeld.de/tdrc/ag_comcad/downloads/workingpaper_105_castillo.pdf (working paper)

 

 

2009

Alvarez-Castillo, Fatima, Julie Marianne Lucas, and Rosa Cordillera Castillo. “Gender and vulnerable populations in benefit sharing: an exploration of conceptual and contextual points.Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 18:130-137. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-quarterly-of-healthcare-ethics/article/gender-and-vulnerable-populations-in-benefit-sharing-an-exploration-of-conceptual-and-contextual-points/C871236621BA012813FC8DA8457FE1C4 (article in journal)

 

2009

Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Fatima Alvarez-Castillo. “The law is not enough: free and prior informed consent issues raised by the mining of Philippine indigenous peoples’ lands; with insights from the San-hoodia case.” In Indigenous Peoples, Consent and Benefit Sharing: Lessons from the San-Hoodia Case, Wynberg R, Vermeylen S, Chennels R., editors. South Africa: Springer. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789048131228 (book chapter)

 

2008

 “The Tasaday twenty four years after: Insights on ethnicity and the rights framework.AghamTao: Journalof the Anthropological Association of the Philippines, Vol. 17:75-83. (article in journal)

 

2006

Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Erika Rey. "Social capital, morality and the politics of urbanidad: The case of sidewalk clearing operations in an urban space." AghamTao: Journal of the Anthropological Association of the Philippines, Vol. 15. (article in journal)

Opinion Editorial, NGO and Policy Studies, Research Report

 

 

2023

Castillo, Rosa Cordillera A., Rachelle Bascara, Jasmine Grace Wenzel, Kate Lim, and Analie Neiteler . "Diasporic solidarity: Filipino migrants' Covid-19 initiatives between Europe and the Philippines." In Global Solidarity Series - Lessons learned from Covid-19: Transforming a Global Crisis into Global Solidarity?

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung-Southeast Asia-Manila (research report)

 

 

19 January 2019

 

“Bangsamoro hopes,” Rappler.https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/221291-bangsamoro-plebiscite-hopes

August 2018

“The Mamasapano clash, memories of violence, and the politics of Muslim belonging in the Philippines.New Mandala. http://www.newmandala.org/mamasapano-memories-muslim-belonging-philippines/

 

February 2015

 

 

 

 

"Who do we condemn? Whose lives matter?" Rappler. http://www.rappler.com/views/imho/83885-mamasapano-lives-matter

 

2011

Gender-Based Inequities in Access to Medicines: The Case of India and China (with co-author Fatima Alvarez-Castillo), submitted to Innova-P2 Project, University of Central Lancashire. (research report)

 

2009

Automated Election System Policy Study (co-author Center for People's Empowerment and Governance), submitted to the Dean’s Office, College of Law, University of the Philippines Diliman. (policy report)

 

2008

Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Research – Ati and Tagbanua Case Studies, submitted to the Commission on Higher Education of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. (research report)

 

2006

Ethnography of Indigenous Molbog Communities in Bataraza and Balabac, Palawan, Philippines ( co-author Portia Villarante), submitted to SAMBILOG and Palawan NGO Network Inc. (research report)

 

 

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SoSe 2023

  • Violence and Protest: The Interrelated Role of Media, Language, and Aesthetics (MA Seminar)
  • Political Emotions: Between Solidarity and Polarization (BA Seminar)
  • Decolonial Storytelling: Dismantling Hierarchies of Knowing-Being (BA Seminar)

WiSe 2023/24

  • Post-/Decolonial Perspectives in Transcultural Studies (MA Lecture and Seminar)
  • Research Ethics: Critical Approaches (BA Seminar)
  • Introduction to Qualitative Methods of Cultural Research and Ethnology (BA Research Seminar)