From Visitation to Sinister Connotations: Attitudes toward Tokhang in Four Cebuano Short Stories Published in Bisaya between 2017 and 2019
This paper was originally presented at the NCCA 2021 Research Colloquium: "Salikultura Research Methodologies, held via Zoom on September 24, 2021. It was eventually published in the second volume of Tugkad: A Literary and Cultural Studies Journal (August 2022). * * * I. Introduction Every presidential administration of recent memory seems to bring with it a novel term, phrase, or expression that ends up getting added to the wider public’s lexicon. The “Hello, Garci” scandal from the Arroyo administration, for instance, birthed a meme of sorts in a nascent internet age. During the Aquino years, the term “pork barrel” entered into popular usage, despite the concept of it having already existed for years, albeit under different names such as the Countryside Development Fund, the Congressional Initiative Fund, and—at the time of the scandal’s revelation—the Priority Development Assistance Fund. [1] In the case of the current administration, perhaps no other term has entered into...