Social Physics

You don’t forget the first time you hold a rambutan in your hand—that bright red thing with wild green hair. It looks like it’s about to wiggle away if you’re not careful. When my cousins and I were kids, we’d pretend they were baby monsters or tiny alien eggs. We’d chase each other around with them, below the summer sun when Castillejos Street was still alive with youthful games. Here in Quiapo, you can find them stacked in small mountains on the side of the church, right where the vendors shout “Bili na, mura lang, matamis! ” next to stalls selling tuyo ,  herbal oil, statues of saints, and phone cases. The fruit glows under the Manila sun like something not meant to be real. When I was younger, I didn’t like touching them. Too weird, too hairy. I thought they’d sting me. But my Lola would buy a small plastic bag of them after mass, slipping a few coins to the old woman who sold them. Back at home, she’d sit with my Lolo who just got home from tricycle work. She had a small bowl ...

SOUNDSCAPE AND SURVIVAL A Sensory Autoethnography of Living in Quiapo, Manila Written as an exercise for Socio 182, Qualitative Approaches in Sociological Research, University of the Philippines Diliman Quiapo, located at the heart of Manila, is often portrayed through images of dense crowds, religious devotion, and street commerce. But beyond what is seen are the sounds, particularly the layered, persistent, and often chaotic soundscape, that contributes to the shaping of life in this district. This essay explores the everyday experience of living in Quiapo through the use of sound, drawing from personal observations and embodied knowledge. Using a sensory autoethnographic approach, I examine how sound mediates social interaction, signals boundaries, and becomes an essential tool for navigation and survival in the urban environment.  In this writing, rather than treating noise as a backdrop, I attend to the phenomenon of sound as a meaningful and structuring force. The goal is to ...