The Muslim South and Beyond

This book is a collection of selected essays of Samuel K. Tan written through the years during his life and times a chairman and member of the Univeristy of the Philippines (UP) Faculty of History, Diliman from 1967-1994; as program director-convenor of UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies Mindana Suties Program 1994-2008; chairman and executive director of the National Historical Institute, 1997-1999; and commissioner and/or member of national and and internation agencies, committees, or projects. The essays are conveniently arranged from general to specific issues of the Mindanao conflict and the central relevance of the Muslim South to the problem. Because of its global ideological character, the first essay gives context to the Bangsamoro struggle which had received initial and substantial support from Libyan President Muammar Ghadafi as author of The Green Book which expounds the “Third International Theory.” The next three essays complement the global context to create hopefully a more national focus on the historco-revolutionary hieritage of the Filipino freedome struggle and its relevance to the Filipino Muslim struggle. This global link is clarified in the rest of the essays which focus specifically on the analysis and description of the Mindanao problem and its fundamental relation to the conflict in the Muslim South. Given stress in the study of the Muslim South are history, culture, education, and ancestral lands as central to the search for the elusive peace and social progress.