I am not generally a lover of conferences. If they're not carefully managed, they can be cold, impersonal, and intimidating affairs.

Not so the conferences convened by the Philippine International Studies Organization.

I hugely enjoyed last year's event in Davao, and was very happy to be invited back for this year's edition in Cebu, to act as discussant for the pre-conference workshop and for one of the panels.



It is always good to be challenged about the origins and implications of our ideas, and introduced to concepts in different languages, born of different historical and cultural experiences, that are much richer (or less connotation-laden) than their equivalents in English.

It was good to meet friends from last year, and make some more.

Congratulations, #PHISO2019 -- great job!