I graduated with First Class Honours from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, with a degree in Social Anthropology and History. I wrote my thesis on the development of the Philippine's first and only masterplanned city, analysing from a historical perspective the role that private capital and government played in its construction, and assessed the concept of citizenship in these newfound urban 'megacommunites'. Since graduating I have been working alongside the Local Government Unit and a private American-based company to build low-cost disaster-proof housing in my paternal hometown in the Philippines. These dome-shaped houses are intended for a community of two hundred informal settlers that will displaced by a road-widening project.
My current interests include urban colonial history, postcolonial studies of transnational flows of labour and capital, and the concept of citizenship in a globalised world order. At my time in Columbia and LSE I hope to learn more about the history of international finance and the relationship between capitalism and democracy so as to have a better grasp on the concept of the 'global city'.
