Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines

Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines. Thomas M. McKenna. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 364 pp.     

Prevalence of the antibody to influenza C virus in a northern Luzon Highland Village, Philippines

A total of 101 serum samples were collected from the persons (1 to 85 years of age) living in a Philippine mountain village where the contact with other communities has largely been restricted. These sera were tested for the presence of antibody to influenza C virus with hemagglutination-inhibition and radioimmuno-precipitation tests. The results showed that all the subjects, including the persons who had never been outside the village, contained the antibody to the surface glycoprotein of the virus, and that the age of acquisition of the antibody was significantly lower in this village than in any of the previously studied communities. Thus it appeared that infection with influenza C virus was prevalent even in this small mountain village, presumably with a higher incidence than in the larger, industrialized communities.     

Paoay Lake,northern Luzon,the Philippines: a record of Holocene environmental change

The last 7000 years of environmental history for Paoay Lake and its surrounding landscape is examined through the analysis of pollen, diatoms, charcoal, mineral magnetics and AMS dating. Basal sediments contain shells of Cerithiidae and the saline‐tolerant diatom Diploneis indicating that this was an estuarine environment before becoming a freshwater lake after 6000 bp . Pollen analysis shows that submontane forests, characterized by Pinus pollen, underwent a major disturbance around 5000 years ago, recovering to previous levels by 1000 years ago. Charcoal as an indicator of fire is abundant throughout record, although the highest levels occur in the earlier part of the record, between 6500 and 5000 years ago. An aspect of the project was to examine whether there is evidence of land clearance and agricultural development in the region during the late Holocene. While a clear signal of human impact in the record remains equivocal, there appears to be a correspondence between submontane forest decline and mid‐Holocene ocean data that depict warmer and possibly drier conditions for the region. The study highlights the vulnerability of these montane forests to forecasts of a warmer and drier climate in the near future.     

Brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, resistance in rice cultivar IR64: mechanism and role in successful N. lugens management in Central Luzon, Philippines

We investigated the mechanism of brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), resistance in the popular rice cultivar IR64, and the current level of resistance of IR64 to N. lugens in a large rice growing area with low brown planthopper populations (Central Luzon, Philippines). In greenhouse experiments with N. lugens populations collected from Central Luzon, IR64 showed slight to moderate levels of antibiosis, antixenosis, and tolerance relative to the cultivars IR22 and Azucena, which contain no major genes for N. lugens resistance. IR64 was also more resistant than IR26 in most experiments, despite the fact that both varieties have the same major gene for N. lugens resistance, Bph1. This confirms that IR64 contains one or more additional, apparently minor, genes for brown planthopper resistance. Our findings also demonstrate that, in an area with low insecticide use, it is not necessary to have high levels of N. lugens resistance, even in a rice cultivar grown by the majority of farmers, to maintain low and stable N. lugens populations.     

Struggling with Development: The Politics of Hunger and Gender in the Philippines

Struggling with Development: The Politics of Hunger and Gender in the Philippines. Lynn M. Kwiatkowski. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 1998. 350 pp.     

Amphibians and Reptiles of Luzon Island,Philippines,VI: The Herpetofauna of the Subic Bay Area

We present detailed species accounts for 55 species of amphibians and reptiles(14 species of frogs,24 snakes,16 lizards,one turtle) from 24 localities in the vicinity of Subic Bay,southern Zambales Province,Luzon Island,Philippines. Although we note numerous species that are conspicuously absent in Subic Bay(and which we expect will eventually be recorded in the region),our many new records plus a summary of the available historical museum specimen data depict a diverse subset of species diversity known from the southern Zambales Mountains of southwestern Luzon. We compare our data to several other recent herpetofunal surveys from Luzon,discuss biogeographic regionalism of this complex island,and report on numerous new natural history observations for many included species. With the absence of any protected areas in the entire province,the amphibians and reptiles of Zambales should be a particularly important future conservation priority.     

After Revolution: Mapping Gender and Cultural Politics in Neoliberal Nicaragua.; Reproducing Gender: Politics, Publics and Everyday Life after Socialism.

After Revolution: Mapping Gender and Cultural Politics in Neoliberal Nicaragua. Florence E. Babb. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. 304 pp.
Reproducing Gender: Politics, Publics and Everyday Life after Socialism. Susan Gal and Gail Kligman. eds. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 443 pp.     

Legitimation and the Re-Discovery of Ritual: Intercommunal and Class Relationships in a Bangladeshi Village

Despite the great poverty in the village of Doria, (Dhaka, Bangladesh) it is religious conflicts, and not class conflict, which has become important. The poor in each religious group are made pawns in the competition between wealthy families of different religious groups. In this paper I use the example of a thief-searching ritual, as an element of interconnected ‘social situations’, to illustrate the conflict and cooperation characterising inter- and intra-group relationships in Doria. It shows how a ritual is ‘rediscovered’ and used by religious leaders to achieve instrumental and expressive/ normative ends.     

Being Muslim the Bosnian Way: Ideology and Community in a Central Bosnian Village

Being Muslim the Bosnian Way: Ideology and Community in. Central Bosnian Village. Tone Bringa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.281 pp.