BOOK REVIEWTiu, Macario D. 2021. DAVAO Reconstructing History from Text and MemoryDavao City: Ateneo de Davao University, 571 pages. ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 31 December) — Writing the …
Tiu, Macario D. 2021. DAVAO Reconstructing History from Text and MemoryILIGAN CITY — Writing the histories of Mindanao is once more given a boost in the publication of Macario D. Tiu’s Davao Reconstructing History from Text and Memory. 2021. Davao City: Ateneo de Davao University.
There is no doubt that a prize-winning writer like Mac Tiu, knowing full well how a narrative unravels, has put to good use narrative techniques in particular, thematic patterns, plot twists, characterizations, and of predestinies that Davao would become in the future. But the entire contribution of Mac Tiu’s second edition of Davao History is practically from his own experiences as a scholar, writer, and as historian.
The point is that these myths and legends have been recorded and form part of a history book. It should be of interest to scholars to study these finds too. We agree. Mac’s ability to show these connections of communities as diverse culturally and linguistically through his use of various approaches in obtaining information such as getting hold of tarsilas and other non-Western primary documents, Abinales says is “evidence on Davao’s keeping ties with the Muslim Zones and the hinterland communities prove that ties have not been severed” even during the colonial periods.