ANTONIO P. CONTRERAS
I WAS in Boracay in 2016 when I brought my students there for field immersion. I wanted my students to use the island as a template for applying contemporary political theories in the analysis of the issues and problems of a society that is at the forefront of consumerism. I wanted them to take a critical look into how modernity not only can damage the physicality of paradise, but also reshape, if not injure, the physical representations of those who inhabit it, whether as transient tourists, migrant workers and residents, or as indigenous inhabitants.