Searching for Manila: Personal and Political Journeys
Searching for Manila: Personal and Political Journeys in an Asian Megacity Thomas Sykes Goldsmiths College, University of London PhD in Creative Writing May 2018 1 Declaration of Authorship I, Thomas Sykes, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 14/05/2018 2 Acknowledgments Any project as sizeable and wide-ranging as this one depends upon the help and kindness of an extraordinary number of people. To name them all here would be to double the length of this thesis. Thus, I offer my thanks to everyone in the UK, Philippines and other countries who have generously given me their time and counsel over the last six years. Special mentions must go to my primary supervisor Ardashir Vakil, who has offered me invaluably comprehensive advice on the writing up and editing of the creative element of the submission, and to Dr Tamar Steinitz, who assisted me in the same ways with the critical commentary. I must also thank my original secondary supervisor, Professor Bart Moore-Gilbert, who sadly passed away in the fourth year of my studies. May he rest in peace. Avie Olarte, Nina Somera, Joel Toledo, Douglas Candano and Taja Villanueva were vitally important to my field research because they shared with me their contacts, arranged interviews and suggested intriguing places to visit. Finally, I am grateful to the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Portsmouth – where I teach – for sponsoring my research trips to the Philippines between 2016 and 2017, and for awarding me a sabbatical in late 2017 that allowed me to complete this thesis.
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