Roundtable discussion at the Philippine Embassy in Stockholm. From the left: Ariel C. Lopez (UP Diliman), Stefan Eklöf Amirell (LNU), Birgit Tremml-Werner (SU), Nadi Tofighian (LNU) Photo: Tamara Ann Tinner (LNU)

On May 4 Birgit Tremml-Werner, Senior lecturer in global history at Stockholm University, and Gustav Ängeby, PhD Student in History at Stockholm university, attended a public outreach event at the Embassy of the Philippines in Stockholm under the theme of Philippine Studies in Sweden: Current Initiatives & Future Directions.

Ambassador Maria Lumen B. Isleta invited humanities scholars from Stockholm University and Linnaeus University and Filipino residents in Sweden to share their experiences and views on the field. Ariel C. Lopez from the University of the Philippines introduced the Philippine Studies initiative and moderated the roundtable discussion which included short summaries of research on historical treaties of the Sulu Sultanate, film studies and Birgit Tremml-Werner’s upcoming course on the colonial period in the Philippines.

Gustav Ängeby, PhD Student at the Department of History. Photo: Elin Heppling

As one of two PhD students, whose research touches on the history of the Philippines, Gustav Ängeby introduced a late eighteenth-century letter written in Kapampangan, one of the eight major languages spoken in the Philippines, which he found in the ‘Prize Papers’ as part of his work on Swedish and Danish go-betweens operating in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia waters. This fascinating ego-document of a Filipino sailor offers a rare glimpse on the lives of indigenous actors caught up in long-distance maritime trade and imperial expansion.

The event at the embassy was well attended and promises to be the beginning of more synchronized research and teaching between study programs in the Philippines and Sweden.

Birgit Tremml-Werner, Senior lecturer in global history at Stockholm University.

Photo: Sofia Ekelund

Text by: Birgit Tremml-Werner