The Philippines and the Pacific region at the Complutense University of Madrid
The Philippines and the Pacific region at the Complutense University of Madrid
In the 19th century, the Central University of Madrid (the Complutense University, nowadays) already had two specialised subject areas about Philippine studies: "Lengua Tagala" (Tagalog language) and "Cultura Tagala" (Tagalog culture). Likewise, there is evidence of attempts to promote the knowledge of the islands at university level, as can be seen by the letter that the Rector of the University addressed to the Director-General of Public Education in May 30, 1883. This letter noted the lack of Spanish collections of scientific materials of interest from the Philippines. Thus, he made a proposal ratified by the Natural Science Section of the Faculty of Science to create study groups of the archipelago.
Additionally, some lecturers, like Rafael Altamaria y Crevea, included in the syllabus for their subjects some aspects related to the Philippine insular world.
Professor Leandro Torno Sanz (1995-2011), who always showed great interest in the study of the Philippines, encouraged Professor Leoncio Cabrero Fernández (1935-2010) to study the archipelago. Back then, such area of World History had barely been studied in Spain. This way, beginning in the 1961-1962 course year, he began to teach a doctorate course named "Vinculación de Filipinas a la cultura española" (The link of the Philippines to the Spanish culture). Over the years, he combined the teaching of this course with two other courses named "Cultura Tagala" (Tagalog culture) and "Arte en Filipinas" (Art in the Philippines).
The 1967 curriculum reform brought with it two new elective courses on the Philippines: "Historia de Filipinas" (History of the Philippines), by the Department of American History I, and "Etnohistoria del Pacífico español" (Ethnohistory of the Spanish Pacific region", by the Department of American Anthropology and Ethnology. The first one, under the name "Historia de Iberoasia" (History of Iberian-Asia), is still included in the teaching assigned to the Department of American History I, in the due to be discontinued undergraduate syllabus.
This brief tour would not be complete without any mention of the several minor dissertations, intermediate dissertations, and dissertations defended at the Complutense University of Madrid that, since the 19th century, have focused on the history of the Philippines and the Pacific Ocean. The treasured bibliographic and hemerographic archive about such regions that the University network of libraries preserves, including the Historical Library "Marqués de Valdecilla", is completed by such heritage.