Quiapo DVD Map

Here are some Quaipo DVD maps uploaded to our eGroups a few years back. These maps may be outdated but i'm sure these would be of help to Quiapo newbies.

Best Version: Middle-classness and Consumption of Pirated DVDs

EASA Conference 2008 Experiencing Diversity and Mutuality
Performing copyright: the politics of creative practice and the poetics of technology
Date and Time, 28th August, 2008 at 09:00

"Best Version": performing middle-classness through the consumption of pirated DVDs

Trina Joyce Sajo Agena
Third World Studies Center


Short Summary

Taking further the claim that DVD piracy is a simulation of middle-classness, I draw on theories of performativity to analyze the consumption fake DVDs in the Philippines.

Abstract

Amidst the staggering poverty, mass-market consumption reeks everywhere in the Philippines. Malls loom large in urban landscapes and modernizing provincial areas. And then there are alternative sites of counterfeit commerce in street corners, rundown buildings, and overpasses, where fashion, food, music and electronics are sold at cheaper prices and with supposedly lesser quality compared to those in malls and licensed shops.

The globalizing commercial landscape is no less a testimony to Filipinos' penchant for buying. This paper takes special interest on an alternative form of consumption. Despite the government's crackdown on piracy, Filipinos continue to patronize bootlegged goods. Among these are DVDs. How can the popularity of such low quality—and least of all prohibited—form of entertainment be explained?

Noted Filipino scholar Roland Tolentino interprets DVD piracy consumption as the simulation of middle-classness. Most Filipinos desire to have the "fineries" of the good life, but only a few have gainful access. Pirated goods are representations of the desired middle-class life, but they are "as real as the real itself."

Taking Tolentino's claim further, this paper considers the consumption of fake DVDs as performance. I draw on theories of performativity to analyze the consumption of pirated DVDs in the Philippines.

http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa08/panels.php5?PanelID=322

TWSC: Consumption of Digital Piracy

Here's a letter that i received for being a really good pirata hahaha

Dear respondent,

The Third World Studies Center of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, with research funding from the Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program (SEASREP), is conducting preliminary research on the consumption of digital piracy. The aim is to develop a full-blown proposal on globalization, digital piracy and everyday life in the Philippines and Indonesia.

For this purpose, we are inviting you to participate as a respondent in this research project. We would like to ask you to share your knowledge and experience as a consumer of digital materials in the Philippines. Since this project deals with everyday life, the interview will be done through pakikipagkwentuhan or storytelling, with questions to guide our conversation. (The questions are attached below).

The interview will be at your most convenient time and place. Trina Joyce Sajo Agena will be in touch to arrange and conduct the interview. Or you can contact through email at consumingpiracy@gmail.com or at telephone number (02) 920-5428.

Thank you very much for helping us to explore this topic, 'consuming piracy', in relation to globalization.

Sincerely,


Maria F. Mangahas, PhD
Project Leader and Case Study Researcher-Writer

Trina Joyce Sajo Agena
Case Study Researcher-Writer