ABACA FRONTIER: THE SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF DAVAO, 1898-1941 BY PATRICIA IRENE DACUDAO

Abaca Frontier: The Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation of Davao, 1898–1941 traces how abaca cultivation wove Davao and its people into global networks of trade, culture, and colonial development. This book bridges transoceanic US history with Philippine studies, weaving together diverse voices—Bagobo traders, Spanish missionaries, American housewives, Filipino settlers, and Japanese laborers—who converged in early twentieth-century Davao with shared visions of opportunity. Rather than repeating familiar narratives of conflict and dispossession in plantation industries, it reveals how frontier imaginaries fostered remarkable multicultural collaboration and cohabitation. A fresh perspective on Mindanao's complex past, grounded in the lived experiences of those who shaped the region.