Religion, Disaster, and Colonial Power in the Spanish Philippines in the Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries

Authors

  • Alvin Almendrala Camba University College London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i2.215

Keywords:

historical disaster studies, environmental history, religion in Southeast Asia

Abstract

In the ?eld of disaster studies, scholars have focused on the social construction of disasters in various historical periods, but they have not attended to the ways in which these social constructions were differentiated within the same period. During the Spanish colonization of the Philippines in the sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries, two types of disaster discourses existed. In ‘internal cases’, where Spanish elites had to deal with one another over issues of distribution of power, decision making capacity, and the allocation of resources, there were multiple and competing constructions of disasters. Conversely, in ‘external cases’, where the Spanish elites had to deal mainly with the ‘other’ (Filipinos) over issues such as colonization and Christianization, there was a convergence in the constructions of disasters, which facilitated conquest and the consolidation of power for the Spanish Crown. The act of interpreting disaster was intimately tied with the legitimation and exercise of power.

Author Biography

  • Alvin Almendrala Camba, University College London
    I'm a former faculty member from the University of the Philippines Diliman. I acquired my BA in History and MA History from the said University. I am an incoming MA student at the University College London.

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Published

2012-07-16

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Camba, A. A. (2012). Religion, Disaster, and Colonial Power in the Spanish Philippines in the Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 6(2), 215-231. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i2.215

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