Specializes in the history of anthropology and historical anthropology. His writings on these subjects have been about the institutional and micro-histories of anthropology in the Philippines as a way to analyze the development of the anthropological discipline in the colonial and post-colonial contexts. He started his academic career in the University of the Philippines as a young historian but has gone multi-disciplinary which allowed him to explore intersections of history, culture, society and religion. He has a deep interest in popular devotion which was a topic for both his MA thesis and PhD dissertation. He is currently working along the lines of heritage, folklore and disaster from which he draw much of his applied research and engagements with the public.
He earned his BA History (cum laude), MA Archaeology and PhD Anthropology degrees from the University of the Philippines—Diliman. He served as Coordinator of the Folklore Studies Program of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and spearheaded activities promoting the study of folklore using multi-disciplinary approaches. He was appointed Field School Director in Tiwi, Albay which led to the publication of the edited book, “Ethnographies of Disaster: the 2009 Anthropology Field School, Tiwi, Albay,” supported by the Aquinas University of Legazpi in 2011. He authored a Senior High School worktext in the social sciences in 2016.
History of Anthropology, Historical Anthropology, Heritage, Folklore, Popular Devotion, Disaster Risk Management for Heritage Collections
