Tropical Nature and Entangled Invisibilities in Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.23.1.2024.4038

Keywords:

Philippines, tropical nature, environment, lesbian literature, lesbian writers, ecocriticism, ecofeminism

Abstract

In the introduction to Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (2021), the editor, Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz, points to the absence of lesbian literature and the marginalization of lesbian writers in mainstream narratives in the Philippines, as well as to a lack of critics interested in the works of lesbians, thus contributing to these writers’ “invisibility.” She suggests that this invisibility is a result of their inability to enter literary discourse, “thus rendering them mute.” It can be argued, however, that the same anthology not only highlights “mute” women-loving-women writers but does so by calling attention to other voices typically overlooked: those of nature. The connection between women and nature as represented in Tingle is evidenced by this study’s ecofeminist reading of several works from the anthology through the lens of “emancipatory strategies,” as coined by ecofeminist Patrick Murphy and expounded by Gretchen T. Legler.

Author Biography

Alexandra A. Bichara, University of the Philippines Diliman, The Philippines

Alexandra A. Bichara is a PhD Comparative Literature candidate at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She received her undergraduate degree in Literature (English) from the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and her MA in Literature, Landscape and Environment from Bath Spa University in the United Kingdom. She is currently a Teaching Fellow under the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her written work includes academic research as well as creative nonfiction, for which she has been published and awarded. Her academic interests include human-animal studies, critical animal studies, material ecocriticism, and ecofeminism.

References

Alvarez, N. (2021). Ocean Ghost. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 137–140). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Andrievskikh, N. (2014). Food Symbolism, Sexuality, and Gender Identity in Fairy Tales and Modern Women’s Bestsellers. Studies in Popular Culture, 37(1), 137–153. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24332704

Benitez, C.J.R., & Lundberg, A. (2022). Tropical Materialisms: Toward Decolonial Poetics, Practices and Possibilities. eTropic: electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 21(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.21.2.2022.3929 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.21.2.2022.3929

Bughaw, K. (2021). Rebirth. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 47–59). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Callueng, E. (2021). Suppressing the Tingle. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 215–217). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Cantor, L. (2021). Be(d)side. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 200–205). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Casanova, P. (1999). The World Republic of Letters. Harvard University Press.

Chua, J. (2000). Sausages and Fruits: A Poet’s Gastronomy. In J. Chua (Ed.), Feasts and Feats: Festschrift for Doreen G. Fernandez (pp. 73–80). Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Chua, R. (2017). Introduction: Living Limestones and the Move to Refuse Resilience. In R.G. Chua (Ed.), Sustaining the Archipelago: An Anthology of Phiilippine Ecopoetry (pp. xxv–l). University of Santo Tomas Publishing House.

Churchman, P. H. (1922). The Use of Anthologies in the Study of Literature. The Modern Language Journal, 7(3), 149–154. https://doi.org/10.2307/314201 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1922.tb06330.x

Cruz, J. (2021). Introduction. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 6–13). Anvil Publishing Inc.

de Guia, R. (2021). Here Come the Women. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 15–28). Anvil Publishing Inc.

del Carmen Guevara, N. (2021). The Venus FlyTrap. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 84–96). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Estok, S. (2012). An Introduction to Ecocritical Approaches to Food and Literature in East Asia: The Special Cluster. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 19(4), 681–690. https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/iss105 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/iss105

Falk, P. (1994). The Consuming Body. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446250648 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446250648

Garcia, J. (1994). Unfurling Lives: An Introduction. In J. Garcia & D. Remoto (Eds.), Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing (pp. 11–20). Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Garcia, J. (1996). Introduction. In J. Garcia & D. Remoto (Eds.), Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing (pp. 16–20). Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Garcia, J. (2007). Introduction. In J. Garcia & D. Remoto (Eds.), Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing (pp. 19–24). Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Gayangos, S. (2021). All That Remains of Summer. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 234–240). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Iovino, S. (2014). Bodies of Naples: Stories, Matter, and the Landscapes of Porosity. In S. Oppermann & S. Iovino & (Eds.), Material Ecocriticism (pp. 97–113). Indiana University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt16gzq85 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt16gzq85.11

Jabeen, N. (2020). Women, Land, Embodiment: A Case of Postcolonial Ecocriticism. Interventions, 22(8), 1095–1109. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2020.1753556 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2020.1753556

Legler, G. (1997). Ecofeminist Literary Criticism. In K.J. Warren (Ed.), Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature (pp. 227–238). Indiana University Press.

Licsi, A. (2021, July 19). This Filipino anthology answers what makes queer Filipinas tingle as lesbians. The Philippine Star. https://philstarlife.com/self/585310–this–filipino–anthology–answers–what–makes–queer–filipinas–tingle–as–a–lesbian

Macarambon, D. (2021). The Right Choice. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 68–75). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Melgarejo, K. (2021). Stopovers. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 62–67). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Neri, B. (2021). Losa. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (p. 126). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Oppermann, S. & Iovino, S. (2014). Introduction: Stories Come to Matter. In Oppermann, S. & Iovino, S. (Eds.), Material Ecocriticism (pp. 1–20). Indiana University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt16gzq85 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt16gzq85.5

Pallon, K. (n.d.). Artist Profile. Katrina Pallon. https://www.katrinapallon.com/artist–profile

Pedroso, K. (2021). Dalandan Season (An Excerpt). In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 33–39). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Pedroso, K. (2021). Footnotes to a Mixtape. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 162–174). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Philippine Clearing House Mechanism. (2019). Butterflies of the Philippines. Philippine Clearing House Mechanism Network. https://www.philchm.ph/butterflies-of-the-philippines/

Pineda, R. (2021). Eloquent Crevices. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 141–145). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Remoto, D. (2007). Lodestar in the Elections. In J. Garcia & D. Remoto (Eds.), Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing (pp. 12–18). Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Rodriguez, N. (2021). Beep beep. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 133–136). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Santos, A. (2021). The Jacuzzi Party. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 124–125). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Sison, S. (2021). Rescue. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 178–189). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Sullivan, H. (2014). The Ecology of Colors: Goethe’s Materialist Optics and Ecological Posthumanism. In S. Oppermann & S. Iovino (Eds.), Material Ecocriticism (pp. 80–96). Indiana University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt16gzq85.10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt16gzq85.10

Vakoch, D. (2012). Introduction: A Different Story. In D.A. Vakoch (Ed.), Feminist Ecocriticism: Environment, Women, and Literature (pp. 10–24). Lexington Books.

Villar, G. (2021). Our Bodies, Our Wellness. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 210–214). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Villar, G. (2021). The Forgotten Anonas. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 127–129). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Villar, G. (2021) The Party. In J.L.B. Cruz (Ed.), Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing (pp. 147–151). Anvil Publishing Inc.

Zapanta-Manlapaz, E. (2000) Songs of Ourselves: Writings by Filipino Women in English. In J. Garcia (Ed.), LIKHAAN Book of Philippine Criticism: 1992-1997 (pp. 68-84). University of the Philippines Press.

Downloads

Published

2024-08-14

How to Cite

Bichara, A. A. (2024). Tropical Nature and Entangled Invisibilities in Tingle: Anthology of Pinay Lesbian Writing. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 23(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.23.1.2024.4038