In More Cebuano Than We Admit: Aspects of Cebuano History, Culture and Society fourteen scholars, mostly Cebuanos, delve into the history, language, religious practices, architecture, writing, art, food, and more, that give Cebu its distinctive character: from religious festivals and carnival pageantry, to the enduring majesty of church architecture, to the development of the local tourism industry and film industry, and even to the crowd-pleasing Cebuano version of that iconic Filipino dish, lechon. The book also features a selection of contemporary Cebuano poetry, providing a taste of how Cebu’s literature thrives to this day.

Edited by acclaimed Cebuanos—historian Resil Mojares and writer Hope Sabanpan-Yu—this anthology seeks to bring to light the ways in which Cebuano culture has left its indelible mark on the complex map of Philippine identity.

Chapter I: History
Rite, Ritual and Ceremony: Ethnohistory and Archeology of Death in Late Precolonial Cebu by Jose Eleazar Bersales
Port of Cebu: Navigation and Economic Development During the Spanish Era 1521-1898 by Trizer Dale Mansueto
Panahon ni Mampur: Cebu’s Last Decade under Spain by Michael Cullinane

Chapter II: Religion and Tradition
Two Devotions, One Christ: A Comparison of Popular Piety towards Santo Niño de Cebú and Nuestro Padre de Jesús Nazareno by Jason Abellaneda Baguia
The Bantayan Pasos: Tradition and Devotion by Clodovero Nacorda
Extant Colonial Churches: More Cebuano Than You Imagine by Melva Java

Chapter III: Language, Literature and Music
Sinugbuanon: Resilient as the Cebuano by Erlinda Kintanar-Alburo
The Zarzuela in Cebu: The Dulang Hinonihan of Vicente Sotto and Piux Kabahar by Jose Buenconsejo
First as Laughter, Then as Moral: The Comic Plays of Pius Kabahar by Hope Sabanpan-Yu

Cebuano Poems: Kon Horeb ang Sugbo by Corazon Almerino, Bakhawan Beach, Daanbantayan, Cebu by Simeon Dumdum Jr., Ang Bulingit nga Dispatser sa South Terminal by Vicente Vivencio Bandillo, Sumpay sa Gihuwat nga Asoy Kabahin sa Kalipay by Micheal Obenieta, Ưa Kamata by Adonis Durado, Ang Kolon Usa Ka Peryahan by Ester Tapia.

Chapter IV: Art and Film
Martino Avellano and the Emergence of Contemporary Cebuano Realism by Raymund Fernandez
Screening Bisaya: Pre-Digital Film in Cebu by Paul Douglas Grant

Chapter V: Tourism, Food, and Carnival
Diving for Coins: Early Tourism in Cebu by Resil B. Mojares
The Cebuano Lechon: Getting High in the Hog by Joselito Costa
The Life and Times of a Carnival Queen by Cecilia Manguerra-Brainard