Vicente L. Rafael, Professor of History at the University of Washington, discusses his new book The Sovereign Trickster: Death and Laughter in the Age of Duterte (Duke University Press, 2022), with Joseph Planta.

The Sovereign Trickster: Death and Laughter in the Age of Duterte by Vicente L. Rafael (Duke University Press, 2022). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Sovereign Trickster

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

One of the more important books of the season, made more urgent with the upcoming presidential elections in The Philippines in May is the new one by Vicente L. Rafael, The Sovereign Trickster: Death and Laughter in the Age of Duterte. It’s an engaging book that looks at the contemporary Philippines, with its roots in colonialism and conflict; and how the Duterte era is not an aberration, but a symptom within counterinsurgency, neoliberalism and the country’s history of electoral violence. In a way that, explains the rise of Duterte six years ago when he was elected president, but also signals why it’s not some passing fad. It still enjoys popular support, and the tone and rhetoric could continue even though the man himself is term limited. Mr. Rafael, who joins me now, chronicles in his book how Duterte deploys his humour and obscenity to gain people’s support, and then how his projection of masculinity and misogyny has evoked laughter, nervous or otherwise, amongst the people he rules. Vince also bears witness in the book, to those who bear witness daily, the photojournalists who have covered Duterte’s war on drugs. Some iconic images have emerged, and as he chronicles in this new book, the public’s view on life and death has been altered as a result. Vicente Rafael is the award-winning, Giovanni and Anne Costigan Professor of History and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I’ve reached him. He was educated at Ateneo de Manila and Cornell universities. He has written several books on the history and cultural politics of the Philippines including Contracting Colonialism, White Love and Other Events in Filipino History, The Promise of the Foreign, and most recently, Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language Amid Wars of Translation. All, including this new book have been published by Duke University Press. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Vicente Rafael; Professor Rafael, good morning.

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