The Manila Studies Association (MSA) will hold its conference this year at the Bulwagang Danilo Lacuna, Manila City Hall on 14 November with the theme “Identities and Trajectories.”

There will be a total of nine papers to be presented in the event co-sponsored by the United Architects of the Philippines Maynilad Chapter and supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

There will be three papers on histories which include Ian Alfonso’s “Quest for a History of Manila Bay” (University of the Philippines Diliman), Ivan Kaye Bantigue’s “Hari ng Tondo, Ako o Sila: The Social History of Tondo from 1950 to 1970” (University of Santo Tomas), and Jolan Saluria’s “Huwarang Islamikong Komunidad: Isang Pagsasakasaysayan sa Maharlika Village, 1964-2007” (Polytechnic University of the Philippines).

Three other papers will be on built heritage. These are Ysabelle Peñas’ “Perseverance, Perversion, and Persecution: The Dissonant Heritage of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex” (UP Diliman and Mapua University), Miguel Ordoño’s “Urban Sketching: A Creative Approach to Heritage Documentation” (UP Diliman), and Carl Angelo Bitauag’s “On the Wings of the Song: A History of the Metropolitan Theater as our Cultural Center in Pre-War Manila (1931-1941)” (UST).

Culinary heritage will be discussed in the rest of the papers. These are Lorelei de Viana’s “From Arena to Table: Manila’s Galleras and the Case of the Talunang Manok” (UST and UP Diliman), Harold Bueno’s “Kaya Pa Ba?: Positioning Manila as a Global Street Food Destination” (Far Eastern University Manila), and Lawrence Intalan’s “Antipolo, Taytay and Cainta: The Culinary Heritage of the Old Provincia de Manila” (UP Diliman).

For more information, contact MSA Secretary Rona Repancol at ronarepancol@gmail.com.