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Prof. Ambeth Ocampo to hold lectures in Brussels and Ghent on 18 and 20 March 2025

The Philippine Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Office of Cultural Diplomacy of the Department of Foreign Affairs, is pleased to invite everyone to two scheduled lectures by esteemed Filipino historian, Professor Ambeth R. Ocampo, former chairperson of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the NCCA, and author of the award-winning publications Rizal Without the Overcoat and the Looking Back series.

Professor Ocampo will hold lectures at the Université Libre de Bruxelles Campus Solbosch on 18 March 2025 and the Royal Literary Society in Ghent on 20 March 2025. Following are the details of his lectures:

The Philippines, Maps, and the Emergence of Nation

in cooperation with the ULB Centre for East Asian Studies and the ULB Maison des Sciences Humaines

Tuesday, 18 March 2025
18h15 to 20h15 (6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.)
Université Libre de Bruxelles Campus Solbosch
Auditorium AY2.112 (Room no. 112, Bldg. A)
Entrance is on Avenue Paul Heger. Accessible via bus 71, tram 8 or 25, ULB stop

Register here: https://forms.gle/1rcjY3iTgzUThsfp9

The Philippines is a young nation with an old history. It has a long and complicated narrative that can be read, partly, through maps and cartography starting from the 16th century. How the geographic shape was drawn and formed reflects the idea and emergence of nation.

Rizal: The Hero as Traveller

in cooperation with the Philippine Honorary Consulate for Flanders

Thursday, 20 March 2025
18h00 to 20h00 (6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.)
Royal Literary Society Ghent
Club Falligan, Kouter 172, 9000 Ghent

Register here: https://forms.gle/spPRTDFrRPY6qKrM9

While the words travel and tourism are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between the two: a tourist travels for leisure while a traveller travels for the experience as a means of understanding himself in the context of the foreign. Jose Rizal, National Hero of the Philippines, was formed by travel and looking back on it helps us understand his life and ideas that influenced the emergence of the Filipino Nation.

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Professor Ambeth R. Ocampo is a Hermenegildo B. Reyes Professor of History at Ateneo de Manila University and Distinguished Professorial Lecturer at De La Salle University.
He is a Public Historian whose research covers the 19th century Philippines: its art, culture, and the people who figure in the birth of the nation. His column, Looking Back, is the longest running editorial page column on history for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and has published over 35 books the most recent being: Cabinet of Curiosities: History from Philippine Artifacts (2023).

He served as: President, City College of Manila; President, Philippine Historical Association; Co-Chair, Manila Historical and Heritage Commission; Chairman, National Historical Commission of the Philippines and Chairman, National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

His work has been recognized with: three National Book Awards; TOYM Ten Outstanding Young Men in the field of History, lifetime achievement award from the Unyon ng Manunulat ng Pilipinas and the Patnubay ng Sining of the City of Manila.

He was conferred the Presidential Medal of Merit and the Order of Lakandula, (rank of Bayani/Grand Cross)by the Republic of the Philippines. His foreign awards and honors include: knighthoods from the Republic of France and the Kingdom of Spain, and the 2016 Fukuoka Academic Prize.

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