Beauty and Brutality: Manila and Its Global Discontents

Beauty and Brutality offers a cultural and urban studies approach to Manila, exploring the messy, fleshy, recalcitrant, mercurial, and immeasurable qualities of the city, its representation in films, literature, music, and urban street art, and how its queer citizens engage with digital media platforms. The book considers the tensions of the Filipino diaspora and the citizens' responses to dictatorship, authoritarianism, and the "Drug War." It frames Manila as a vibrant and ever-evolving metropolis that instills hope.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 364 pages
Publication date: 27 February 2023
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.

An exhilarating, innovative, and thought-provoking exploration of Manila's imagined and physical landscape is provided by Beauty and Brutality. The authors and contributors delve into the "messy, fleshy, recalcitrant, mercurial, and immeasurable qualities of the city," examining its urban space and scent: how it is portrayed in films, literature, music, and urban street art; how it has weathered the politics of colonialism, U.S. imperialism, neoliberalism, and globalization; as well as how its queer citizens interact with digital media platforms to communicate and connect with one another.

The first volume to adopt a cultural and urban studies approach to Manila, Beauty and Brutality examines the conflicts of the Filipino diaspora as they migrate and "re-turn," as well as the citizens' reactions to the Marcos (and post-Marcos) dictatorship, President Duterte's authoritarianism, and the "Drug War." Essays also chart the geographies of repression and resistance in the urban war of classes, genders, sexualities, ethnicities, and races, as well as the violence of urban life and growth. Ultimately, Beauty and Brutality portrays Manila as a vibrant and ever-evolving metropolis that, even in the face of its challenges, instills hope.

Contributors: Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza, Christine Bacareza Balance, Vanessa Banta, Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo, Roland Sintos Coloma, Gary C. Devilles, Faith R. Kares, John B. Labella, Raffy Lerma, Bliss Cua Lim, Ferdinand M. Lopez, Paul Nadal, Jema M. Pamintuan, Oscar Tantoco Serquiña, Jr., Louise Jashil R. Sonido, and the editors.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781439922286