Prof. Dr. Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo
Gender and Diversity
Guest Professor of Gender and Diversity
Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo is a socio-cultural and public anthropologist and curator working on social justice issues through interdisciplinary research, teaching, and multi-media knowledge transfer and praxis. Her work spans critical areas of memory, imagination, media and politics, political emotions, solidarity, ethics, and decoloniality. Through an interdisciplinary lens, she explores the intersections of these fields, seeking innovative approaches to investigate, theorize, and address pressing social issues, with a particular focus on processes and dynamics of dehumanization and rehumanization that underlie violence, inequalities, and resistance.
Currently a Guest Professor of Gender and Diversity at Freie Universitat Berlin and an Academic Associate at the Institute for Social and Health Sciences at the University of South Africa, Rosa has taught at the University of Bremen's Institute of Anthropology and Cultural Research as a visiting professor, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin's Institute of Asian and African Studies as a postdoc and interim professor, Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies as a lecturer, and the University of the Philippines' Department of Anthropology and Department of Behavioral Sciences as a lecturer and assistant professor. Rosa was also a curator at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and an indigenous rights advocate for the NGO Anthropology Watch, Inc.
Her current research focuses on media and politics, with an emphasis on developing a political and ethical ontology of photographs that depict suffering and resistance in relation to the Philippine drug war. She delves into the relationality inherent in these images, their production, and (trans)national physical and online circulation, reception, and their potential and limits for rehumanization. Relatedly, she investigates the role of social media in fostering solidarity and exacerbating polarization as well as social media-specific ethical dilemmas of research. Through this lens, she seeks to illuminate the evolving landscape of mediated communication and its implications for subjectivity and constituting the political community.
This project builds on her previous work and book project on Being and Becoming: Imagination, Memory, and Violence in Muslim Mindanao where she explores the productive force of imagination, entwined with memory, emotions, and temporality in individual and collective becoming amidst a backdrop of coloniality, Islamophobia, political turmoil, and the Bangsamoro struggle for the right to self-determination. This is based on her PhD dissertation, which received a summa cum laude distinction from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at Freie Universität Berlin.
Rosa was born and raised in the Philippines where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Masters in Anthropology at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She previously conducted research on the life world of compressor fishers, environmental justice, indigenous peoples’ rights, and gender-based barriers to access to healthcare and medicine in India and China, among others. She also does engaged research for NGOs and communities.
Among her numerous initiatives and projects, Rosa created and curates the Philippine Studies Series Berlin, a platform for lectures, discussions, and art and film events centered on the Philippines, Filipina/o/x, and the diaspora. She furthermore leads the Philippine Studies program at HU-IAAW, where she co-founded the Negotiating Research Ethics initiative with PD. Dr. Andrea Fleschenberg dos Ramos Pinéu and Dr. Sarah Holz. Rosa is also a principal investigator Co2Libri - Conceptual Collaboration: Living Borderless Research Interaction, a project funded by the Berlin University Alliance.
Together with Dr. Jonas Bens, Dr. Fabian Bernhardt, Dr. Débora Medeiros, and Dr. Verena Straub, she co-created the "Affect and Colonialism Web Lab," recipient of the Ideas Competition for International Research Marketing Prize of the German Research Foundation. The Web Lab is based at and co-funded by the Collaborative Research Center Affective Societies at Freie Universität Berlin.
Rosa served as an inaugural editorial board member of Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies based at the University of California Davis and a board member of the Philippine Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies.
Teaching SoSe 2025:
Feminism Without Borders: Journeying With Southern Feminists
Intersectional Feminist Approaches: Methodological Explorations
Gendered Memories and Resistance: Engaging Women's Quest for Justice through the Museum der Trostfrauen
Feminist Feelings: Emotions, Politics, and Anti-Racist Praxis
Research Ethics Workshop
Research Interests:
- Peace and Conflict Studies
- Decoloniality
- Media and Politics
- Political Emotions
- Memory
- Imagination
- Resistance
- Solidarity
- Critical Research Ethics
- Indigenous Studies
- Environmental humanities
- Feminist Praxis
- Engaged Scholarship
Books and Special Issues
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Submitted for review |
Being and Becoming: Imagination, Memory, and Violence in Muslim Mindanao (book)
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In progress |
co-editor, Handbook on Critical Research Ethics (book)
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In progress |
co-editor, Unravelling the Centre: Paths to Decolonizing Knowledge and Transforming Institutions (book, DeGruyter) |
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2023 |
Fleschenberg, Andrea, Kai Kresse, and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo (editors). Thinking with the South: Reframing Research Collaboration Amid Decolonial Imperatives and Challenges. Berlin: DeGruyter (book)
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2023 |
Special Issue editor (with Andrea Fleschenberg, Abida Bano, and Sarah Holz), "Negotiating Research Ethics in Volatile Contexts." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 54(1). (double special issue)
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2022 |
Special Issue editor (with Andrea Fleschenberg, Abida Bano, and Sarah Holz), "Negotiating Research Ethics in Volatile Contexts." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 53(4). (double special issue)
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Articles and Book Chapters
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2024 |
Baraguir, Bai Shaima and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo. Contextualizing By Whom and For Whom? Reflections on the Challenges of Contextualizing Transitional Justice. In Transitional Justice in the Bangsamoro: What's Next? Davao City: ForumZFD Philippines. |
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2023 |
Fleschenberg, Andrea, Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo, and Kai Kresse. Introduction: Reframing, Re-enacting Research and Collaboration. In Thinking with the South: Reframing Research Collaboration Amid Decolonial Imperatives and Challenges, Fleschenberg, Kresse, and Castillo (eds). Berlin: DeGruyter (book chapter)
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2023
2023
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"Zerrissene Beziehungen: Affekte und Sozialität in Zeiten Dutertes." In Rechtspopulismen der Gegenwart. Kulturwissen- schaftliche Irritationen. Stefan Wellgraf and Christine Hentschel, editors. Berlin: Spector Books (book chapter)
"The Bangsamoro as imagined future." In Emerging Perspectives in Philippine Studies: A Reader. Stephen Acabado, Clement Camposano, and Dada Docot, editors. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press. (book chapter)
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2023 |
Critical research ethics as decolonial praxis. Debating section. International Quarterly of Asian Studies 54(1) https://doi.org/10.11588/iqas.2023.1.21746. (article in journal)
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2023 |
Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Raffy Lerma. “Regime-made disaster in Metro Manila: Beyond an aesthetics reading of photographs of Duterte’s 'drug war'.” In Beauty and Brutality: Manila and Its Global Discontents, Martin Manalansan IV, Robert G. Diaz, and Rolando B. Tolentino, editors. Pennsylvania: Temple University Press (book chapter)
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2022 |
Fleschenberg, Andrea and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo. "Negotiating Research Ethics in Volatile Contexts." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 53(4): 495-503. (article in journal)
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2022 |
Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Hansjörg Dilger. "Ethics as embodied practice: reflexivity, dialogue, and collaboration – Rosa Castillo in conversation with Hansjörg Dilger." International Quarterly of Asian Studies, 53(4): 505-518. (interview piece in journal)
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2022
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"The past, present, and future entangled: Memory-work as decolonial praxis."In The Decolonial Enactments of Community Psychology,Shose Kessi, Shahnaaz Suffla, and Mohammed Seedat, editors. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International. (book chapter)
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2022
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Yambao, Clod Marlan Krister, Sarah, Wright, Noah Theriault, and Rosa Cordillera A. Castillo. “I am the land and I am their witness”: placemaking amid displacement among Lumads in the Philippines. Critical Asian Studies, 54(2): 259-281. DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2022.2059771 (article in journal)
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2022
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Castillo, Rosa Cordillera, Kay Abaño, Bui Kim Dinh, Henry Tan, Ferdiansyah Thajib, and Clod Yambao. "Southeast Asian artists and academics unsettling borders, power, and authority through collaborative works."In Local Responses to Global Challenges in Southeast Asia - A Transregional Studies Reader, Claudia Derichs, Andrea Fleschenberg, Sumrin Kalia, and Lina Knorr, editors. World Scientific Press. (book chapter)
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2021 |
"A politics and ethics of viewing photographs of Duterte's 'drug war:' Towards reconceptualizing the political community," Akda: Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, and Performance, 1(2): 54-70. https://doi.org/10.59588/2782-8875.1015 (article in journal)
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2021
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"When Facebook is the Internet: A halfie anthropologist grapples with evolving social media connectivity," Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology, 65(1): 143-150. https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2020.650110 (article in journal)
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2020 |
"Stories and voices from Southeast Asia: EuroSEAS 2019 Film Program." HU-IAAW Newsletter, Issue #6. (article in newsletter) |
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2020 |
“Being young and Muslim in the Philippines: Changing the present, shaping the future.” In Rethinking Filipino Millennials: Alternative Perspectives on a Misunderstood Generation, Jayeel Cornelio, editor. Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. (book chapter) |
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2019
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"Mediated politics and the populist political style: Introduction to the Focus Section (guest editor)." HU-IAAW Newsletter, Issue #5. (article and guest editor of newsletter) |
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2018 |
“Unpacking 'youth' and 'religiosity' in J. Cornelio's Being Catholic.” Journal of World Christianity, Vol. 8, No. 2. DOI: 10.5325/jworlchri.8.2.0165 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jworlchri.8.2.0165 (article in journal) |
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2018 |
“Subverting ‘formalized’ ethics through mainstreaming critical research ethics and a responsive review process.” Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 26:3. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1469-8676.12526 (article in journal)
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2017 |
Being and Becoming: Imagination, Memory, and Violence in the Southern Philippines [dissertation on microfilm]. [Berlin]: Freie Universität Berlin. 377 p. |
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2015 |
“The emotional, political, and analytical labor of engaged anthropology amidst violent political conflict.” Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, Vol. 34(1). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01459740.2014.960564 (article in journal)
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2014 |
“Perspectives on truth, justice, reparation, and reconciliation in Central Mindanao.” In Dealing with the Past in Mindanao: Perspectives and Entry Points for Transitional Justice, Manuel Domes and Daniel Jaeger, editors. Davao City: ForumZFD. http://www.forumzfd.de/sites/default/files/downloads/forumZFD-Moving_Beyond_Towards_Transitional_Justice_Bangsamoro_Peace_Process.pdf (book chapter)
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2014
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Alvarez-Castillo, Fatima and Rosa Cordillera Castillo. "Gender-based barriers to access to health care and medicine: the case of India and China." In The Living Tree: Traditional Medicine and Public Health in China and India, Chaturvedi, S., Ladikas, M. and Guo, L., editors. New Delhi: The Academic Foundation and Research and Information System for Developing Countries. http://academicfoundation.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=173 (book chapter)
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2011 |
"When fishing is no longer viable: Environmental change, unfair market relations and livelihood in a small fishing community in the Philippines." COMCAD Arbeitspapiere – Working Paper, No. 105, 2011. |
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2009 |
Alvarez-Castillo, Fatima, Julie Marianne Lucas, and Rosa Cordillera Castillo. “Gender and vulnerable populations in benefit sharing: an exploration of conceptual and contextual points.” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 18:130-137. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-quarterly-of-healthcare-ethics/article/gender-and-vulnerable-populations-in-benefit-sharing-an-exploration-of-conceptual-and-contextual-points/C871236621BA012813FC8DA8457FE1C4 (article in journal)
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2009 |
Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Fatima Alvarez-Castillo. “The law is not enough: free and prior informed consent issues raised by the mining of Philippine indigenous peoples’ lands; with insights from the San-hoodia case.” In Indigenous Peoples, Consent and Benefit Sharing: Lessons from the San-Hoodia Case, Wynberg R, Vermeylen S, Chennels R., editors. South Africa: Springer. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789048131228 (book chapter)
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2008 |
“The Tasaday twenty four years after: Insights on ethnicity and the rights framework.” AghamTao: Journal of the Anthropological Association of the Philippines, Vol. 17:75-83. (article in journal)
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2006 |
Castillo, Rosa Cordillera and Erika Rey. "Social capital, morality and the politics of urbanidad: The case of sidewalk clearing operations in an urban space." AghamTao: Journal of the Anthropological Association of the Philippines, Vol. 15. (article in journal) |
Opinion Editorial, NGO and Polocy Studies, Research Reports
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2023 |
Castillo, Rosa Cordillera A., Rachelle Bascara, Jasmine Grace Wenzel, Kate Lim, and Analie Neiteler . "Diasporic solidarity: Filipino migrants' Covid-19 initiatives between Europe and the Philippines." In Global Solidarity Series - Lessons learned from Covid-19: Transforming a Global Crisis into Global Solidarity? Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung-Southeast Asia-Manila (research report)
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19 January 2019 |
“Bangsamoro hopes,” Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/221291-bangsamoro-plebiscite-hopes |
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August 2018 |
“The Mamasapano clash, memories of violence, and the politics of Muslim belonging in the Philippines.” New Mandala. http://www.newmandala.org/mamasapano-memories-muslim-belonging-philippines/ |
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February 2015
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"Who do we condemn? Whose lives matter?" Rappler. http://www.rappler.com/views/imho/83885-mamasapano-lives-matter
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2011 |
Gender-Based Inequities in Access to Medicines: The Case of India and China (with co-author Fatima Alvarez-Castillo), submitted to Innova-P2 Project, University of Central Lancashire. (research report)
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2009 |
Automated Election System Policy Study (co-author Center for People's Empowerment and Governance), submitted to the Dean’s Office, College of Law, University of the Philippines Diliman. (policy report)
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2008 |
Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Research – Ati and Tagbanua Case Studies, submitted to the Commission on Higher Education of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. (research report)
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2006 |
Ethnography of Indigenous Molbog Communities in Bataraza and Balabac, Palawan, Philippines ( co-author Portia Villarante), submitted to SAMBILOG and Palawan NGO Network Inc. (research report)
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