Weaving Cultures: The Invention of Colonial Art and Culture in the Philippines, 1565-1850 (PRE-ORDER)

SYNOPSIS:

This book reads the emergence of a unique art and culture in the Philippines during the colonial era from the optic of communications theory and the emerging theoretical discourse from information design. It views colonial exchange not primarily as an exchange of cultural goods, tangible or intangible, but as a negotiation forged by the communication between sender and receiver. In such a process, the cultural good is ineluctably transformed as it leaves the context of the sender and is transferred to the context of the receiver, who may be antipodes of each other—physically, psychologically, and culturally—as was the case of Filipinos and Europeans. Exchanges in the areas of space, the biota, the visual, literary, performative, culinary, and sartorial arts are traced.

How messages are transmitted, decoded, and transformed to create the new reality of colonial art and culture are documented. A controlling metaphor is that of weaving: where strands of thread, placed at right angles to each other and woven in and out in patterns of skips, create the almost endless variety of textiles. Because emerging new cultural expressions involve communication, both sender and receiver interact in the creation of a new culture. Although there may be a power differential between the two, as in the case of colonized culture, unless sender and receiver interact, no communication occurs. Communication becomes a leveler because either side in the cultural dialogue can fail. But then again, failure is not catastrophic because either side has an opportunity to find something exotic, novel, and unexpected, or to create something completely new. These two meanings of “invention,” as discovering and creating,weave in and out in the discourse of this book

370 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2017

❗️NOTE❗️:

THIS IS A ❗️PRE-ORDER ITEM❗️PRODUCT WILL BE SHIPPED IN THE END OF AUGUST-SEPTEMBER.

 If you are ordering an item that is currently in stock in the same order, the order will be held until the pre-ordered book or item arrives from the Philippines. Shipping of pre-ordered items from our partners in the Philippines to New York are scheduled to take place in May, August and November 2026 ONLY.

Once pre-ordered items ship and arrive from the Philippines to New York, items will be dispatched from New York to their final destination.

Due to the gas situation worldwide and especially in the Philippines, shipping of pre-ordered items are delayed and shipping from the Philippines has been set to ease our partner's in the Philippines.

Shipping during these 3 months for 2026 also allow our partnered local artisans from the Philippines such as our weavers, anitu sculptors, and brass pre-colonial gold replica jewelry pieces, the time needed they need to work on your one of a kind, handmade pieces. 

These pieces are all handmade by our local partners and traditional artisans, not mass produced. If you want a ready made and in stock clothing piece, figure, ceramic, or jewelry piece, if we have any available in stock and on hand, you purchase those. Every shipment from the Philippines we do order extra's to put up on the shop for those who want to keep an eye out for in stock items. 

❗️CURRENT SHIPPING❗️

If you are going to be pre-ordering an item and ordering an in stock item, two separate orders must be placed to guarantee arrival of in stock products within 2-3 weeks.

Our shipping days for in-stock items from New York are currently only being shipped at the beginning and end of each month. This allows time for packing and shipping items. Also due to the rising gas prices, we have decided to cut back on shipping days to make it easier on ourselves (two person team) to pack and deliver items to the Post Office 2x a month.