Schedule
Nov. 28, 2024 | 2:30–4:00 PM
Room
Rm 5, Emerald-Citrine
Moderator
Lou Angeli Ocampo
University of the Philippines Diliman
F5.1
The Social Life of Crypto in the Philippines: Initial Impressions on Actors, Acts, and Acted Social Realities
Jonalou S. Labor
Aarhus University
The social life of cryptocurrencies remains a slippery topic in the global south. Factors such as the state’s still-developing crypto-related policies, the entanglements with the nature and use of this form of digital money, and the potentialities and promises of crypto as an “alternative” financial system account for the ambivalences that institutions have about the subject matter. In the Philippines, research on cryptocurrencies has concentrated on their technological, legal, and economic natures and characteristics. A lack of studies on the potentialities and pitfalls of crypto among its users and communities tells of a research gap that must be factored in so that the state can have a more comprehensive set of policies on the digital economy. In this research, I interrogated the social life of crypto through an understanding of the social life, socialization, and socially constructed realities that underpin crypto involvement of Filipinos in the Philippines. A key feature of this study is the use of ethnography as a method, which allowed me to interview, observe, and live with communities of Bitcoiners, providing a rich and nuanced understanding of their sense of participation, affiliations, and norms. Initial findings showed that mindsets, roles, tasks, and performances govern the social life of crypto actors. Further, decentralized participation in “organized” digital communities enables socialization in a blockchain-constructed set of identities, spaces, and goals. The social actors and their acts reflect a set of digital economic social imaginaries that reflect socio-economic realities in the Philippines and global economic promises of cryptocurrencies. The crypto actors’ understanding of their roles, their modes of participation, and the spaces that enable their interactions define this form of community and their forms of solidarities. This research project is part of an international research that compares the Philippines with other countries in the global south.
Abstract
F5.2
#Covidscapes: Family Stories of Anak ng OFWs on Family Relationships, Religious Socialization and Mediated Communication During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Mary Jannette L. Pinzon
University of the Philippines Diliman
The OFW family finds itself situated in the covidscapes where it negotiates family relationships, religious socialization, and mediated communication within its virtual home. Using Aguilar’s concept of the “covidscape,” the study addressed the gap in understanding how the OFW family figures in its virtual spaces of home and relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to contribute to understanding the familial relationships, religious socialization and mediated communication that shaped the OFW family outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is qualitative and used Grounded Theory-inspired principles that includes theoretical sampling, theoretical saturation, and coding that inform the work. In-depth interviews with six undergraduate anak ng OFWs between the ages 18-25 years old were conducted. Results of the study revealed that OFW family relationships became closer and more responsible with OFW parents becoming a constant, lingering presence as the mutual isolation provided more opportunities for mediated communication. Both OFW parents performed as religious reinforcers to influence their anak towards faith and perform religious rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic. OFW family relationships displayed strengthened faith in God and familial care during the pandemic. Despite their absent presence, OFW parents imparted the essence of spirituality and cultural energy within their unique covidscapes.
Abstract
F5.3
Political Efficacy and Social Media Political Participation of Filipino Student Voters
Kathlyn Princess V. Cadeliña
University of the Cordilleras
With the impressive rise of social media, participation through digitally networked avenues have become more prevalent among citizens of the world. However, in the exploration of universities and the political life of young individuals, it can be concluded that the youth have started to create a voice and began participating in politics in ways they know. This study investigated the level of political efficacy and the extent of social media political participation when grouped according to moderating variables of gender, age, and university enrolled in, as well as the relationship between two main variables using explanatory sequential mixed method to examine how political efficacy of youth student voters in Isabela plays a role in better understanding of their participatory habits and conclude an explanation in the youth’s political engagement through social media platforms. Through empirical and qualitative synthesis, findings revealed that the student voters of the present society have high levels of overall political efficacy also, specifically, on internal and information efficacy with only moderate levels of external efficacy. Moreover, it shows that the rural youth are moderately active on social media political participation with high extent in latent engagement compared to moderate follower and expressive engagements. Finally, the study determined that there is a moderately positive relationship between the overall level of political efficacy and extent of social media political participation among student voters.
Abstract
F5.4
Transforming Kadayawan: Davao City’s Shift of Performance Scenes and Sites into the Digital
Jesus A. Montajes
University of the Philippines Diliman
Every 3rd weekend of August, the City of Davao conducts the Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival. Touted as the Philippines’ King of Festivals, it recognizes the city’s diverse cultural communities and their varied creative expressions. This annual festival pays homage to the presence and co-existence of the eleven indigenous communities through the staging of such effervescent festivity. The term Kadayawan traces its etymology from the local friendly greeting madayaw among the Davaoeño. The root word dayaw means good or beautiful. Kadayawan is characterized by colorful and vibrant touristic events such as agricultural food fares, folk music showcase, and other cultural festivities including street dancing, street parties, floral float parade, and concerts. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic changes in the conduct of the Kadayawan, particularly its 35th and 36th seasons in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Innovating what used to be a face-to-face engagement into a digital format, the organizers employed technological tools, social media, and the Internet to facilitate the festival’s activities. Kadayawan, hence, became an alternative and mediatized virtual spectacle and merriment.
In this presentation, my inquiry focuses on the transformation of the Kadayawan Festival from being an in-person event into a digital affair. I employ critical inquiry as methodology to unpack how such transformation conveys a dialogic space that features people’s intersecting everyday lifeways and their relationships related to communicative and creative content and services. Following Philip Auslander’s (2020) interpretive approach of live and technologically mediated performance, I investigate the mediatized interactions of the Kadayawan audience involved in the performance spectrum within the social media landscape. In this particular optics, Davao’s digital Kadayawan may be asserted as a technological mediation that shapes the audience’s identity and perception of an event.
Abstract