Vol. 53 No. 1 (2012): Silliman Journal

					View Vol. 53 No. 1 (2012): Silliman Journal

Welcome to this issue of the Silliman Journal, a familiar mix of science and the humanities. Mix? Ouch, the scientists might say. To distinguish science from the humanities is a “tired old point,” says blogger Greg Frost-Arnold (2007), continuing: Both the sciences and the humanities seek understanding; both offer explanations of various bits of the world. At a very abstract level, though, the kind of things each tries to explain is different. Obviously, for example, piano pedagogy is a very different kind of thing than pest incidence and certainly, for example, emancipation psychology is very different from E. coli. But we have all these in this issue, and more. We begin with two papers from scientists—the first on pests in vegetables, the other on peanut extract. First, the agricultural chemist Prof. Susan Calumpang and colleagues at the National Crop Protection Center in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines investigate the incidence of pests and natural enemies in rice-tagbak and vegetable cropping systems, without the use of insecticides, with the premise that indigenous cultural practices in pest management provide a valuable resource for sustainable agriculture. In the second paper, Jonathan Barcelo of Saint Louis University in Baguio, Philippines also has some good news, finding specifically that “peanut anthocyanin extract reduces cell surface hydrophobicity and inhibits the hemagglutination of E. coli in a time-dependent and dose-dependent mechanism through nonspecific interaction with the bacterial cell membrane.” Our third piece of research is by the social psychology professor Eric Manalastas who studies nationwide cigarette smoking among lesbian, gay, and bisexual Filipino youth and strongly recommends a gender x sexual orientation intersectional analysis of health risk behaviors such as cigarette smoking, after finding that young lesbian and bisexual Filipina women had higher rates of ever-trying tobacco, had higher prevalence of current smoking, and smoked more cigarette sticks per day, compared to heterosexual women. Eric also found that Filipino gay and bisexual youth had the highest cigarette smoking prevalence of all four subgroups and discusses possible implications for tobacco use intervention.  This research is followed by two papers related to the academe— one on the use of e-learning tools among faculty members and the other paper on an alternative approach to teaching piano. College of Computer Studies Dean Dave Marcial finds a high level of familiarity with e-learning tools, but that integration of these into teaching is rare. College of Performing and Visual Arts Dean Sue Suarez samples eight piano students who are on probationary status and suggests that a practice before theory approach provides better learning than does the more traditional theory before practice model. Then, Filipino philosopher Jeffry Ocay “revolutionizes Freud” in analyzing Herbert Marcuse’s ideas on domination, resistance, and emancipation. Jeff argues that “Freud’s theory of instincts provided Marcuse with a model for a psychology of domination and resistance, and a model to think anew the philosophical conditions of emancipation: the agent of social transformation is the biological individual” and that Marcuse’s appropriation of Freud’s theory of instincts explained why the transition from capitalism to socialism did not happen, why, especially in the 1930s, the revolutionary class had been dissolved and became conformist, and how this conformism was even extended into the postwar era. I invite readers to consider Jeff’s arguments. Finally, historian Prof. Regan Jomao-as analyzes the Roman Catholic Church in a Philippines under Spanish rule and speaks of the “discontents” of Philippine society. Regan also cites Freud, particularly his views of religion and theories of aggression. 

Published: 2022-10-03

Full Issue