DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 3 June) – “Transfiguring Mindanao: A Mindanao Reader” is this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Book Award from the National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines (NAST PHL).
Edited by Mindanawon professors Jose Jowel Canuday and Joselito Sescon and published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press last year, “Transfiguring Mindanao” is a 788-page book containing 34 chapters written by 44 authors from transdisciplinary fields based in, working on, and with roots from Mindanao. The authors include academic and religious scholars, journalists, rights and environmental activists, culture bearers and leaders, and artists.
Canuday, who hails from Davao City and Sescon from Iligan City, will receive the award during the Academy’s two-day Annual Scientific Meeting on July 12 and 13 in Metro Manila.
They will also receive a plaque and cash prize of PhP 25,000.
Canuday, a former reporter of MindaNews, is an Associate Professor and head of the ADMU’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology while Sescon is Assistant Professor of the Department of Economics also at the ADMU.
The Mindanao Reader was conceived in response to the long-standing call for an expansion of scholarship on Mindanao, and to assist in carrying out efforts of the Society of Jesus in bolstering service to the region. In producing the book, the faculty and staff of the School of Social Sciences “collectively worked in solidarity with fellow academics, community leaders, and knowledge bearers in Mindanao to contribute to the broader endeavors of addressing historical issues of marginality, inequality, injustices, and neglect confronting the area.” (MindaNews)
