GERMANY

UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG

“Philippines in the Austronesian Studies Program” lecture marks the launch of the PSP in the University of Hamburg

04 February 2022 | Deed of Donation signed between the Philippine Embassy in Berlin and the University of Hamburg

Program Coordinators | Former Ambassador H.E. Irene Susan Natividad and Hamburg University Prof. Dr. Elsa Clavé and Mr. Vincent Wongaiham-Petersen

THE PROGRAM

PHILIPPINE STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG

Established as a cornerstone of the Austronesian Studies department, the Philippine Studies Program is the first of its kind in Germany to be integrated into a formal university curriculum.

The program serves as a primary European hub for the study of Filipino language, history, and social dynamics. It is uniquely structured to explore the Philippines not in isolation, but within the broader "Austronesian" context, highlighting the shared linguistic and cultural threads that connect the archipelago to Indonesia, Malaysia, and the wider Pacific world.

On 26 November 2022, the lecture on the "Philippines in the Austronesian Studies Program" marks the launch of the PSP in the university. The program also offers classes in Filipino / Tagalog language each semester, allowing students to take this as a second language credited for their Bachelor's Degree program.

LATEST NEWS AND ACTIVITIES

SEMINAR ON DOMINATION AND REVOLUTIONS IN INSULAR SOUTHEAST ASIA

On 15 May 2025, the University of Hamburg offered and posted the following seminar entitled "Domination and Revolutions in Insular Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)" in its course offerings website.

This seminar focuses on the role of local and national movements contesting the established order, and discussed keys studies from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Emphasis is put on independence and post-independence movements in present-day Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, including figures of leaders and grops of anonymous people who created change.

Photo Credits: University of Hamburg

2024

Guest lectures, cycle of Filipino movies screening, short independent Filipino Film Festival, exhibition "Traces of Empire in the Philippines", musical event, publication in a peer-review journal, thematic seminars covering the Philippines, together Indonesia and Malaysia
Special Exhibition entitled "Traces of Empires in the Philippines" (19 April - 30 September 2024)
Mabuhay! Cinema! A Celebration of Filipino Short Films (22 June 2024)
MusiKADASIG Concert with the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus (20 June 2024)
Seminar "Philippines' New Clark City. Non-persons and the Concealing of 18,000 Climate Perverts in a Smart Capital" (18 June 2024)
Seminar "Property and Ownership: The case of Mountain Peoples in the Philippines" (04 June 2024)
Seminar "From Seas to Streets: Sama-Bajaus Notion of Space" (14 May 2024)
Seminar "Meranaw Torogan: a symbol of power" (30 April 2024)
Seminar "Living Memory: Epic tradition in Southern Palawan and Tawi-Tawi Archipelagos Poetics of Voices. Experience and Analysis" (30 January 2024)

2023

"Sunday Beauty Queen" Film Screening (14 December 2023)
Seminar "The Written and Oral Forms of the Sulu Sarisila/Tarsila: Link to the Many Origins" (14 November 2023)
Guest Lecture "The Politics of Language in the Philippines" by Dr. Ramon Guillermo (08 November 2023)
Pinoy Sunday (02 November 2023)
Seminar "'The Word, the Image, the Act': Is the expressive style of a traditional/indigenous epic a form of 'orality'? Example from Pantaron, Mindanao" (24 October 2023)
Guest lecture "Philippin Customary Tattooing" by Prof. Andrea Malaya Ragragio
Guest lecture "Pantaron Manobo 'religious life' and the Austronesian 'logic of breathing'" by Prof. Myfel Paluga (21 August 2023)
"Kisapmata" Event (08 June 2023)
"Respeto" Film Screening (04 May 2023)
Seminar "Reading a Colonial Bureau: The Politics of Cultural Investigation on the Non-Christian Filipinos" (16 January 2023)
Seminar "Persistence of Death Rituals in Mayoyao" (09 January 2023)

2022

Seminar "Concepts of soul and the afterlife in pre- and non-predominantly Christianized Philippines - Views from archaeological, historical and ethnological reconstructions" (17 October 2022)
Seminar "Traditional Political Authority in North Sulawesi and Southern Philippines c 1700-1900" (11 July 2022)
Seminar "A survey of European studies on Philippine languages from the 16th to the 20th century" (06 June 2022)
Seminar "The implications of patient primacy for Austronesian voice systems" (19 May 2022)

OTHER RESOURCES

PUBLICATIONS

2024

Elsa Clavé. 2024. "Dressing up the Monarch: Representations of Authority in the Sulu Sultanate Royal Tradition (18th - 21st)," Indonesia and the Malay World vol. 52 (152), 76-96. | LINK

2022

Elsa Clavé. 2022. "Les Sultanats du Sud philippin. Une histoire sociale et culturelle de I'islamisation (XVe-XXesiècles) [The sultanates of the Southern Philippines. A social and cultural history of islamization (15th-20th c.)]". Paris: EFEO, 2022 | LINK

University Website

ABOUT

UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG (UHH)

Founded in 1919, Universität Hamburg is the largest research and educational institution in Northern Germany and one of the country's most prestigious universities. It is recognized as a University of Excellence by the German federal and state governments.

Distinguished by a diverse academic landscape with a student population exceeding 44,000. The university champions international collaboration and interdisciplinary research across its eight faculties and over 150 programs.

Furthermore, its Asia-Africa Institute operates as the largest association for Asian and African studies in the nation, perfectly positioning the institution as a powerful cornerstone for regional friendship and global academic innovation.

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