Mars Edwenson Briones is a doctoral researcher at MESH, University of Cologne. His research draws upon the environmental humanities, disaster studies, and island studies to examine how creative and discursive expressions of place and hazards in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines can help articulate decolonial and more-than-human perspectives on disasters.
He completed his master’s degree in Art Studies (Art History) at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2020. His master’s thesis In the Realms of Image: The Waray Ecology of Devotion to the Santo Niño de Tacloban inquires into the relations among art, devotion, and place—detailing the history and iconology of the Santo Niño image and the spatial imaginaries that surround it.
In 2013, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from the University of the Philippines Tacloban, where he then served as a faculty member of the Division of Humanities from 2013-August 2022. From 2020-2021, he was one of the regional curators of the exhibition component of the Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon), Kalibutan: The World in Mind. From 2011-2014, he was an active member of AFS-Intercultural Programs Philippines, which is part of an international, volunteer-based organization that facilitates intercultural learning.
At MESH, Mars is working on his doctoral research project This Slippery World: Figurations of Disaster and the Island Kataragman in the Visayan Pacific.
Contact: mbriones[at]uni-koeln.de
Office: Weyertal 59, Wienand building, 3rd floor, room 3.6
Talks and Conferences
- “Between Islands, Through Storied Sea: Tidalectics in Narratives of the Santo Niño de Tacloban’s Origin”, Heo/Geo Lecture Series 2023-10, University of the Philippines Diliman, October 24, 2023 (watch online)
- “A Storied Sea: Aquatic Imaginaries and Hydrological Hazards of the Cancabato Bay”, Workshop on Exploring an Urban Blue Humanities, University of Bristol, October 12-13, 2023 (programme)
- “Tracing Transitions: Turns in Disaster Discourses and Tropes of Catastrophe”, ASLE (UK and Ireland) Biennial Conference, University of Liverpool, August 29 - September 1, 2023 (programme)
- “Waray Katubtuban/Vast Unending: Sourcing Decolonial, Queer, and Geopoetic Potentialities from Discourses on Waráy” Language Policy Forum 2023, University of London, June 15-16, 2023, (online).
- “The Holy Child and the First Lady: The Rescaling of the Santo Niño de Tacloban Devotion in the Decade of Development”, International Conference on Geographical Studies 2021, University of the Philippines Diliman, November 4-5, 2021, (online).
- “2020 VIVA ExCon (Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference)”, ANCER Lab Conversations Manila, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Manila, October 7, 2021 (watch online)
- “Santo Niño, Bendísyuni: Meditations on the History and Image of El Capitan, the Santo Niño de Tacloban”, Kaagi, Kabilin, Kultura (History, Heritage, Culture) Conversation Series, Bátì UP Tacloban, University of the Philippines Tacloban, June 28, 2021 (watch online)
- “Teaching Arts 1: Remote Learning in the Time of Crisis”, GE Conference 2021: Arts 1, University of the Philippines, April 24, 2021 (watch online)
- “Tsika-Lit Episode 2: Fiction”, A Conversation with Efmer Agustin on Edilberto Tiempo’s “The Witch”, Bátì UP Tacloban, University of the Philippines Tacloban, February 23, 2021 (watch online)
- “Hexis and Histrionics: Poetics through the Body in the Devotion to the Santo Niño in Leyte”, 2018 International Federation on Theatre Research Asia-wide Conference, University of the Philippines Diliman, February 21-23, 2018.