London, Sept. 20, 2025 – At the Annual Philippine Studies Conference hosted by SOAS, University of London, scholars presented a collaborative project on repatriating Muslim Mindanao/Bangsamoro heritage.
The initiative, led by Ayshia Kunting and Tirmizy Abdullah, is strengthened by the involvement of Ariel Lopez, Eleonora Poggio, and Birgit Tremml-Werner from the SEAT project, which brings a wider Southeast Asian transnational perspective.
The team underscored the lack of museums and tangible collections in the BaSulTa region (Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi), where local communities are striving to rewrite and enrich their historical narratives. They also examined Moro artifacts now housed in Spain and Sweden—many mislabeled, decontextualized, or misunderstood—arguing that these colonial-era displacements erased cultural memory and perpetuated what they call “epistemic injustice.”
The researchers called for greater access to heritage collections for communities in the Philippine South, enabling them to reclaim their past, shape their own narratives, and strengthen cultural identity.
The presentation is documented not only in this report but also through an attached audio file and the original PowerPoint slides, which provide additional context and detail.
