The Other Other : Towards

Postcolonial Poetics

By Isagani R. Cruz
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About Isagani R. Cruz
 Born: 1945 (age 73 years)

 Books: Beyond Futility: The Filipino as Critic, MORE

 Awards: Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for One-act Play, Carlos

Palanca Memorial Awards for Essay in Filipino , Carlos Palanca

Memorial Awards for Full-length Play
 Plays: The Lovely Bienvenido N. Santos

 Education: Ateneo de Manila University, University of the

Philippines, University of Maryland, College Park
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Education

 Cruz earned his undergraduate degree from the University of

the Philippines, where he completed a Bachelor of Science
in Physics in 1965. He later enrolled at the Ateneo de Manila
University to earn an M.A. in English Literature in 1970. He
also earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University
of Maryland in 1976. In 1972 and 2003, Cruz received
a Fulbright grant that allowed him to study in the United
States.
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Career

 As a writer, Cruz has received recognition for his contributions to Philippine literature.
He had written more than thirty books. He is a Don Carlos Palanca Memorial awardee
for Literature. As a result, he became a member of the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2004
for his plays, essays, and short stories in Filipino and English. He also won the
SEAWRITE Award in 1991, the Centennial Literary Contest Award in 1998, and the
Gawad Balagtas Award in 1999. Cruz represented the Philippines in several
international conferences in Canada, Hong Kong, South
Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. Cruz’s scholastic articles were published in
the Philippines and in the United States. In the Philippines, Cruz served as editor for
Loyola Studies, Palabas, Interlock, and Malay publications. Cruz is also a regular
contributor for Philippine periodicals such as the Times Journal, the Philippine Daily
Inquirer, the TV Times, Modern Romances, Bulaklak, WHO, Parade, Observer,
Panorama, Ms. Ellaneous, and Asiaweek magazine. Apart from creative writing, Cruz is
also a known film and drama reviewer.
z  As an educator, Cruz worked with prominent Philippine
universities. Prior to his official retirement, he held the Alfredo E.
Litiatco Lectures at the De La Salle University, where he chaired
for the Department of Literature and Philippine Languages. He
also became a publisher at the De La Salle University Press. While
at the De La Salle University, he taught a variety of subjects which
included Science Fiction, Advanced Writing, The Teaching of
Literature, and Computer Literacy. He also taught Literature at
the Ateneo de Manila University and at the University of Santo
Tomas. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of the
Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City and a director of the Teachers
Academy at Far Eastern University. He also became a professor at
universities in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. He became a
Visiting Fellow at St Antony's College at Oxford University.
z As an advocate of Philippine culture, Cruz was a member
of groups and institutions that promote Philippine literature
and art. He was a member and founding chair of the Manila
Critics Circle, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino
(Philippine Film Critics), a former head of the Philippine
Studies Association of the Philippines, the University of the
Philippines Writers Club, the Cultural Research Association
of the Philippines, the American Studies Association of the
Philippines, the Philippine Tournament Bridge Association,
and the National Research Council of the Philippines. Cruz
was also the Philippine bibliographer of the Modern
Languages Association of America. He was the president of
the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association.
 Former Philippine Undersecretary of Education ISAGANI R. CRUZ (Ph.D. English, University of
Maryland)zis currently a Professor Emeritus, a University Fellow, and the Academic Publications
Executive Publisher of De La Salle University, the Director of the Teachers Academy of Far Eastern
University, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Santo
Tomas. He writes plays, essays, biographies, and short stories in Filipino and English, for which he
has won numerous national and international awards, including the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards
in Literature Hall of Fame and the Southeast Asian Writers (SEAWRITE) Award. He has written or
edited more than thirty books. He has been a professor or a visiting fellow at various universities in the
Philippines, the United States, Iran, Japan, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, including the University
of Oxford. He heads the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association, Wika ng Kultura at Agham (WIKA),
Books for Philippine Schools Foundation, the Active E-Learning Technologies Foundation, and Libro
Amigo Publishers. He co-founded the Manila Critics Circle, the Philippine Association of Scholarly and
Academic Publishers (PASAP) and the Philippine Journals Online project. He is the former President
of the Philippine Studies Association (PSA). He is a retired Senior Bibliographer of the Modern
Language Association of America (MLA). He has been decorated by the Government of France as a
Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite and by the Ramain family as Honorary Sultan of Iligan City.
He is a Project Director of the Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education (FUSE) and is the
Program Director of the Philippine Cultural Education Program (PCEP) of the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA). He is a member of the English Speaking Union (ESU) Philippines, the
Technical Advisory Council of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology, and
Engineering (COMSTE), Filipinas Licensing Copyright Society (FILCOLS), and Former Senior
Government Officials (FSGO). He writes for Philippine Star and BizNews Asia
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Postcolonial literature

 Postcolonial literature often addresses the problems and

consequences of the decolonization of a country, especially
questions relating to the political and cultural independence
of formerly subjugated people, and themes such as racialism
and colonialism. A range of literary theory has evolved
around the subject.
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