Raquel Reyes, born in Manila, Philippines, in 1970. Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Research Associate in History in the Department of History at SOAS.
Fellow (1 September 2009 – 30 June 2010)
PLANTS, ANIMALS AND MONSTROSITIES: COLLECTING NATURE IN EARLY MODERN PHILIPPINES
During my time at NIAS I wrote several draft chapters of my forthcoming book, “Scientific Reason and Sexual Knowledge in Colonial Philippines, 1565-1910”. In connection with this work, I presented papers at international conferences in England, the United States of America, and Singapore, and submitted articles to peer-reviewed journals. Concurrently, I explored Dutch language sources on natural history and collecting found in the collections of the National Archives in The Hague and at Leiden University. This new material, especially VOC (Dutch East India Company) shipment records, pharmaceutical pamphlets, and supply lists, has provided a counterpoint to the sources I had already gathered on Spanish activities in the Philippines. This prompted me to take stock, and to broaden the scope of my project on imperial collecting both temporally and geographically. The NIAS environment was certainly conducive to all this work – affording opportunities for quiet reflection and lively fellowship.