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Press Release
Prof. Ambeth R. Ocampo Lectures At Two (2) Leading Universities In Toronto
2019-06-06
05 June 2019, Toronto, Canada-In line with the 121st commemoration of the declaration of Philippine independence and the first Canada-wide celebration of the month of June as Filipino Heritage Month, the Sentro Rizal Toronto of the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto organized a series of lectures by renowned Filipino historian Professor Ambeth R. Ocampo, in collaboration with the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and two(2) leading universities in Toronto, Canada.
In partnership with the York Centre for Asian Research of York University, the first lecture entitled “Mapping the Philippines: Before Waze and Google Earth”, was held at the Keele Campus of York University on 03 June 2019. By showing a series of old maps, Prof. Ocampo showed how the Philippines emerged as a nation. According to him, “old maps illuminate our history. Reading maps not only gives us a sense of geography-how the people in the past imagined the islands and how the islands were formed to be the Philippines as we know of today.” Studying old maps also gives us a sense of our history, our connections and an understanding of our national identity.”
The second lecture entitled “Rizal: The Hero as Traveler” was organized in cooperation with the Asian Institute, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies of the University of Toronto. It was held the next day, 04 June 2019, at the Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, Munck School of Global Affairs & Public Policy of the University of Toronto.
In this lecture, Prof. Ocampo traced the travels of Dr. Jose Rizal and shared his perspective on how Rizal was shaped by his exposure to other lands, peoples and culture. Prof. Ocampo said that it was while Rizal was abroad that he learned to love his country.
Prof. Ocampo highlighted Rizal’s exile in Dapitan from 1892-1896. He noted that it was during his exile that Rizal gave the best that he could be. It was in Dapitan that he put his learnings into full use and did everything he could to improve the lives of the people there at that time. Rizal’s spent a great deal of his efforts in educating the young in Dapitan, believing that education is the essence of what he wanted Filipinos to be.
Prof. Ocampo exhorted the audience to see Rizal not so much as a hero but as an ordinary human being. “We must make Rizal relevant in our times. We must remind ourselves that to know Rizal is to know our own capacity for greatness,” he added.
On both occasions, Prof. Ocampo delivered his lectures to a full house composed of first and second generation Filipino-Canadians, members of the academe and Filipino community leaders. END.