Reimagining Development in Southeast Asia

Jose Monfred C. Sy is an assistant professor of Philippine studies in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. He received his master of arts (Philippine studies) and bachelor of arts (comparative literature), summa cum laude, degrees from the same university. He is currently the project leader of the Program on Alternative Development of the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies, where he is a co-editor of the multi-volume monograph series Alternative Practices across Southeast Asia (2020, 2023).He also co-edited the book Suring Supling: Kalipunan ng Rebyu ng mga Akdang Pambata sa Pilipinas (Collection of Reviews of Children's Books in the Philippines, Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, 2022). His research appear in the volumes Ecologies in Southeast Asian Literatures: Histories, Myths and Societies (Vernon, 2019), Plants in Children's and Young Adult Literature (Routledge, 2021), Martial Law @50: Mga Alaala at Kasaysayan ng Pagbabalikwas (Memories and Histories of Resistance, IBON Foundation, 2022), Environment, Media, and Popular Culture in Southeast Asia (Springer, 2022), Authoritarian Disaster: The Duterte Regime and the Prospects for a Marcos Presidency (Nova Science, 2023), Indigenous Media and Popular Culture in the Philippines (Springer, 2024), Children's Literature in Place: Surveying the Landscapes of Children's Culture (Routledge, 2024). He has also published in several journals, including Kritika Kultura, Humanities Diliman, Social Science Diliman, Philippine Social Sciences Review, Philippine Political Science Journal, Philippine Journal of Public Policy, Daluyan: Journal ng Wikang Filipino, Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-imperialist Education, Asian Politics & Policy, AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, Banwaan: The Journal of Philippine Folklore, and Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. He is interested in social movements, children's literature, political ecology, and protest art and literature. He also writes and translates books for children. He is a member of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) - Philippines.

Ananeza P. Aban is currently a PhD researcher of the Department of Conflict and Development Studies and a recipient of the Special Research Fund doctoral scholarship of Ghent University in Belgium. She also serves as a Senior Research Analyst of UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies Program on Alternative Development. Among her major tasks are coordinating the field research across Southeast Asia, co-editing the Alternative Practices monograph series (2020, 2023), and ensuring the international linkages of the Program. She finished her Master of Community Development degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Prior to her work in the academe as a full-time researcher, she headed the Secretariat Team of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples' Forum in 2017, the broadest regional platform of civil society groups that engages issues on ASEAN. Her interest on ASEAN and Southeast Asian issues began in 2002 during the Southeast Asia People's Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where she was part of. While working in the academe, she still joins the social movement in the Philippines and at the Southeast Asia level. She has lived and worked with Metro Manila urban poor communities as well as indigenous peoples in Mindanao, where she practiced participatory development planning, and action research. She has conducted field research in many parts of Southeast Asia, including the borderland communities. Her fields of interest are globalization and development studies, critical agrarian studies, resistance and solidarity, radical political geography, gender and development. Many of her papers were published by UP CIDS while some of her recent essays appeared in the websites: the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, and Governance in Conflict Network.