Belen D. Calingacion, PhD, one of the country麻豆视频 experts in oral interpretation (OI) and UP Diliman麻豆视频 (UPD) very own, fittingly opened the 65th anniversary celebration of the UPD Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) with her retirement lecture on Feb. 12, at the Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan in Pavilion 3 of Palma Hall.
DSCTA Chair Oscar T. Serqui帽a Jr. said, 鈥淚t is indeed apt to begin our celebrations for the 65 years of the DSCTA with a lecture from a colleague who personifies some of the virtues that we in the DSCTA seek to uphold: persistence, service, and praxis.鈥
Fondly called 鈥淢a鈥檃m Belen,鈥 Calingacion began her lecture by introducing its title. 鈥淭he title of my lecture is The Pheno Me: Marking Milestones at 65, Recollections of My Life in UP.鈥
After playfully flipping her hair, one of her signature gestures, she asked the audience, 鈥淗ave you heard of the word 鈥榩henoself?鈥欌 and added, 鈥淭hat is where I coined the words 鈥榩heno me.鈥 This is a new exploration of the concept of self, based on the experience of the person. The 鈥榤e鈥 and 鈥榤yself鈥 all investigating the nature of the realm of 鈥榮elf鈥 sphere.鈥
According to the abstract of the study of Giuseppe Riva, PhD, PHENOSELF: Self as a Phenomenon published on the American Psychological Association website and accessed on Feb. 14, PHENOSELF is about 鈥渦nderstanding the concept of self as a phenomenal concept.鈥 Furthermore, 鈥淧henoself saw self as a kind of impression or experience of 鈥榤e as myself鈥 that specifically triggers the application of the concept. In line with psychology and philosophy, it studied self-experience as 鈥榤e-ness鈥 or 鈥榤ine-ness.鈥 This involved looking at relationships between self-experience and cognitive phenomenology to process conceptual thoughts, bodily awareness, bodily ownership, and bodily movement.鈥
In her lecture, Calingacion shared her academic journey and seasons in her life from her family background to her three decades鈥 stay in UPD.
Serqui帽a said the lecture 鈥渢races her three decades as an academic and administrator in the national university.鈥
Calingacion recalled her times as department chair, sharing that being chairperson is not an easy task. She was DSCTA chair for four terms, from 2004 to 2012, and from 2018 to 2021.
鈥淐hairing the department is not something you learn and then you鈥檙e good to go. It is a process of learning, relearning, falling, and learning again,鈥 she said.
In all the time she was sharing her life in UPD, Calingacion would mention all the help she received from her DSCTA colleagues whom she called her family, especially when her parents passed away only three months apart, followed by her only brother two years later.
In spite of her personal struggles, Calingacion powered through her academic and administrative work. She credits her DSCTA family for their help in making her press on with her work.
Calingacion also shared her journey of enhancing her expertise by shifting from OI to performance studies (PS).
Serqui帽a said, 鈥淢a鈥檃m Belen is a staunch advocate of OI and PS. For her, these are central to the disciplinary thought and pedagogical operations of speech communication. For a stretch of time, she almost singlehandedly pushed for PS as a paradigm that can potentially turn things around for speech communication, a discipline that perpetually grapples with its own longstanding existential crises, and that can prospectively bridge the whatever epistemic and methodological gaps exist between speech communication and theatre arts.鈥
Calingacion said, 鈥淭he point of this narrative is that I found my niche in PS, which I introduced to my students in early 2002 when it was unheard of.鈥
She said she was first introduced to PS in an international conference in Germany where she presented part of her PhD dissertation.
鈥淚t was an eye opener. It was exciting prospect to make my academic pursuits meaningful. I watched performance beyond my imagination, fresh conception of what performance is all about,鈥 Calingacion explained.
She was happy to note that moving forward, she presently is teaching two courses on PS at DSCTA.
As she closed her lecture, Calingacion said recalling the seasons in her life, 鈥淚t provided me a sense of nostalgia, of a deep feeling, because these friends over my life are woven into the tapestry of my existence鈥 a constant reminder that I was not alone in my endeavors.鈥
After Calingacion麻豆视频 lecture, UPD Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment coordinator, Teresa Paula S. de Luna, PhD, Calingacion麻豆视频 DSCTA colleague and former student, and Mary Janette L. Pinzon, PhD, an associate professor at the DSCTA and close friend, shared their memories of and experiences with their Ma鈥檃m Belen.
The lecture was one of the events lined up for February as the DSCTA prepared various activities for its six-month long celebration.
The DSCTA was established in May 1959. It was then known as the Department of Speech and Drama (DSD). The UP Board of Regents approved its name change from DSD to DSCTA in 1974.