Ninotchka Rosca
Encyclopedia
Ninotchka Rosca is a Filipina feminist, author
, journalist
and human rights
activist who is active in AF3IRM http://www.AF3IRM.ORG, the Mariposa Center for Change , Sisterhood is Global and the initiating committee of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE (Ma-Al), a multi-racial, multi-ethnic women's activist center for understanding the intersectionality of class, race and gender oppressions, toward a more comprehensive practice of women's liberation . As a novelist, Rosca was a recipient of the American Book Award
in 1993 for her novel Twice Blessed
.
and in the Missouri
Review collection of their Best Published Stories in 25 Years, while "Sugar & Salt" was included in the Ms Magazines Best Fiction in 30 Years.
She is also the author of the best-selling English language
novels State of War and Twice Blessed. The latter won her the 1993 American Book Award
for excellence in literature. Her most recent book is JMS: At Home In The World, co-written with the controversial Jose Maria Sison
, who has been included in the U.S. list of "terrorists".
Rosca was a political prisoner
under the dictator
ial government of Ferdinand Marcos
in the Philippines. She was forced into exile to Hawaii
, United States
when threatened with a second arrest for her human rights
activism by the Marcos regime. Rosca was designated as one of the 12 Asian-American Women of Hope by the Bread and Roses Cultural Project. These women were chosen by scholars and community leaders for their courage, compassion and commitment in helping to shape society. They are considered role models for young people of color, who, in the words of Gloria Steinem, "have been denied the knowledge that greatness looks like them."
Rosca has worked with Amnesty International
and the PEN American Center
. Rosca was also a founder and the first national chair of the GABNet, the largest and only US-Philippines women's solidarity mass organization, which has evolved into AF3IRM. She is the international spokesperson of GABNet's Purple Rose Campaign against the trafficking of women, with an emphasis on Filipinas.
She attended the University of the Philippines
and lives in Queens
borough of New York City
. Her lecture schedules are managed by Speak Out Now. A huge fan of science fiction
, Rosca reads four books a week (three "light," one "heavy").
She was at the United Nations
' Fourth World Conference on Women
which took place in Beijing, China, and at the UN's World Conference on Human Rights
in Vienna, Austria. At the latter, she drafted the Survivors Statement, signed by four Nobel Prize winners and hundreds of former prisoners of conscience. This statement first applied the phrase "modern day slavery" to the traffic of women. It was in Vienna as well where the slogan "women's rights are human rights" gained international prominence; Rosca had brought it from the Philippine women's movement and helped launch it internationally.
Rosca was press secretary of the The Hague International Women's Tribunal on Japan's WWII Military Sex Slavery which convicted Japan's wartime era leadership for creating and using the Comfort Women. Rosca is particularly concerned with the origins of women's oppression and the interface between class, race and gender exploitation, so that women can move toward greater theory building and practice of a comprehensive genuine women's liberation. She often speaks on such issues as sex tourism, trafficking, the mail-order bride industry, and violence against women, and the labor export component of globalization under imperialism.
Rosca's Canadian fans call her "The First Lady of Philippine Literature." She is currently a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer
, the most widely-read broadsheet in the Philippines.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist who is active in AF3IRM http://www.AF3IRM.ORG, the Mariposa Center for Change , Sisterhood is Global and the initiating committee of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE (Ma-Al), a multi-racial, multi-ethnic women's activist center for understanding the intersectionality of class, race and gender oppressions, toward a more comprehensive practice of women's liberation . As a novelist, Rosca was a recipient of the American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
in 1993 for her novel Twice Blessed
Twice Blessed
Twice Blessed, also known as Twice Blessed: A Novel, is a 1992 novel written by Filipino author Ninotchka Rosca. It won the 1993 American Book Award for “excellence in literature”. It is one of Rosca’s novels that recreated the diversity of Filipino culture...
.
Biography
Rosca has two novels, two short story collections and four non-fiction books. Her novel "State of War" is considered a classic account of ordinary people's lives under a dictatorship. She is a classic short story writer. Her story "Epidemic" was included in the 1986 "100 Short Stories in the United States by Raymond CarverRaymond Carver
Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century and also a major force in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s....
and in the Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
Review collection of their Best Published Stories in 25 Years, while "Sugar & Salt" was included in the Ms Magazines Best Fiction in 30 Years.
She is also the author of the best-selling English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
novels State of War and Twice Blessed. The latter won her the 1993 American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
for excellence in literature. Her most recent book is JMS: At Home In The World, co-written with the controversial Jose Maria Sison
José María Sison
Jose Maria Sison is a writer and activist who reorganized the Communist Party of the Philippines and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy....
, who has been included in the U.S. list of "terrorists".
Rosca was a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
under the dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
ial government of Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...
in the Philippines. She was forced into exile to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
when threatened with a second arrest for her human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activism by the Marcos regime. Rosca was designated as one of the 12 Asian-American Women of Hope by the Bread and Roses Cultural Project. These women were chosen by scholars and community leaders for their courage, compassion and commitment in helping to shape society. They are considered role models for young people of color, who, in the words of Gloria Steinem, "have been denied the knowledge that greatness looks like them."
Rosca has worked with Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and the PEN American Center
PEN American Center
PEN American Center , founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 writers, editors, and translators...
. Rosca was also a founder and the first national chair of the GABNet, the largest and only US-Philippines women's solidarity mass organization, which has evolved into AF3IRM. She is the international spokesperson of GABNet's Purple Rose Campaign against the trafficking of women, with an emphasis on Filipinas.
She attended the University of the Philippines
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
and lives in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
borough of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Her lecture schedules are managed by Speak Out Now. A huge fan of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, Rosca reads four books a week (three "light," one "heavy").
She was at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
' Fourth World Conference on Women
Fourth World Conference on Women
The United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace on 4-15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. 189 governments and more than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 non-governmental organizations participated in the Conference...
which took place in Beijing, China, and at the UN's World Conference on Human Rights
World Conference on Human Rights
The World Conference on Human Rights was held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, on 14 to 25 June 1993. It was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War...
in Vienna, Austria. At the latter, she drafted the Survivors Statement, signed by four Nobel Prize winners and hundreds of former prisoners of conscience. This statement first applied the phrase "modern day slavery" to the traffic of women. It was in Vienna as well where the slogan "women's rights are human rights" gained international prominence; Rosca had brought it from the Philippine women's movement and helped launch it internationally.
Rosca was press secretary of the The Hague International Women's Tribunal on Japan's WWII Military Sex Slavery which convicted Japan's wartime era leadership for creating and using the Comfort Women. Rosca is particularly concerned with the origins of women's oppression and the interface between class, race and gender exploitation, so that women can move toward greater theory building and practice of a comprehensive genuine women's liberation. She often speaks on such issues as sex tourism, trafficking, the mail-order bride industry, and violence against women, and the labor export component of globalization under imperialism.
Rosca's Canadian fans call her "The First Lady of Philippine Literature." She is currently a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Philippine Daily Inquirer, popularly known as the Inquirer, is the most widely read broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines, with a daily circulation of 260,000 copies. It is one of the Philippines' newspapers of record...
, the most widely-read broadsheet in the Philippines.
Books
- Sugar & Salt (2006)
- Jose Maria Sison: At Home in the World--Portrait of a Revolutionary by Jose Maria SisonJosé María SisonJose Maria Sison is a writer and activist who reorganized the Communist Party of the Philippines and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy....
and Ninotchka Rosca (2004) - Twice Blessed: A Novel (1992)
- State of WarState of War (novel)State of War, also known as State of War: A Novel, is the first novel written in 1988 by American Book Award recipient and Filipino author Ninotchka Rosca...
(1988) - Endgame: The Fall of Marcos non-fiction (1987)
- The Monsoon Collection (Asian and Pacific Writing) (1983)
Women's Review of Books articles
- "Innocent Bystanders" (2002)
- "The Idea of Prostitution" (1998)
- "Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition" (1998)
- "The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War" (1995)
- "Patpong Sisters" (1995)
See also
- Cecilia Manguerra BrainardCecilia Manguerra BrainardCecilia Manguerra Brainard is a Filipina author of fiction based in California, U.S.A.. She was born in Cebu, Philippines, attended St. Theresa's College in Cebu and in San Marcelino, Manila. She also went to Maryknoll College in Quezon City from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts...
- Maria Rosa Luna Henson
- Angela Manalang-GloriaAngela Manalang-GloriaAngela Manalang-Gloria was a Filipina poet in the English language.-Early life:Angela Caridad Legaspi Manalang was born on August 2, 1907 in Guagua, Pampanga to parents, Felipe Dizon Manalang and Tomasa Legaspi . However, their family later settled in the Bicol region, particularly in Albay...
- PAWWA
- Paz Márquez-BenítezPaz Márquez-Benítez-Biography:Born in 1894 in Lucena City, Quezon, Marquez - Benítez authored the first Filipino modern English-language short story, Dead Stars, published in the Philippine Herald in 1925. Born into the prominent Marquez family of Quezon province, she was among the first generation of Filipinos...
- Sophia G. Romero
- Women in the PhilippinesWomen in the PhilippinesThe role of women in the Philippines is explained based on the context of Filipino culture, standards, and mindsets. The Philippines is described to be a nation of strong women, who directly and indirectly run the family unit, businesses, government agencies and haciendas.Although they generally...
General
- "Lily Pad" Unconventional Thoughts from an Unconventional Filipina, a personal blogsite by Ninotchka Rosca
- "Ninotchka Rosca on Global War on Terror, Subic Rape Case, Political Killings", Bulatlat Vol. VI, No. 18, June 11-17, 2006, Gabriela Network USA
- Books by Ninotchka Rosca, Amazon.com
- "Ninotchka Rosca: I'm Still Very Filipino" by Alfred A. Yuson, Literature & Culture, Philippine Post Magazine
- An Interview with Ninotchka Rosca in Seattle by Bughaw.com, date retrieved: 27 May 2007