Date of Publication
3-21-2026
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Subject Categories
Creative Writing | Fiction
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department/Unit
Literature, Department of
Thesis Advisor
Clarissa V. Militante
Defense Panel Chair
Genevieve L. Asenjo
Defense Panel Member
Ana Margarita R. Nuñez
Chuckberry J. Pascual
Abstract (English)
Our Forest Is Petrichor is an ecofiction novel narrated from the queer experience. The novel follows on the tradition of Philippine literature in English and is a meditation on memory, history, medicine, extinction, the body, sex, and trees, unfolding across two interweaved spaces: the domestic space of houses and apartments and the ecological expanse of the forest. The novel is divided into three parts: “Malate, Manila,” “The Distance before Disappearing,” and “The Skin of Forest.” Together, these scenes navigate the private, intimate lives of queer men, illustrate the cartography of petrichor as solace and as an olfactory image of typhoons, and explore the collective anxieties about life after the Anthropocene. The novel discusses the search for meaning in a time of ecological ruin, the presence and absence of the forest in urban spaces, the self’s fixation on plants, and the body as forest. Through these fictional tensions, the novel foregrounds and challenges Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the novel as dialogic, an interplay of voices, ideologies, and discourses. Thus, the intention of the novelist is to politicize the body and its relation to domestic space and the forest.
Influenced by the writings of Diane Ackerman and Han Kang and utilizing the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard, Sara Ahmed, and Timothy Morton, the novel questions the possibility of ecological recuperation for the queer body in a time of environmental collapse. Through the olfactory image of petrichor, the novel seeks to reconcile domestic and ecological spaces, which demonstrates that the domestic and the ecological have a role in the poetics of healing.
Keywords: Philippine novel, ecofiction, queer ecopoetics, domestic space, the forest, the body, olfaction, healing, post-Anthropocene
Abstract Format
html
Abstract (Filipino)
Ang Ating Gubat Ay Alimuom (Our Forest Is Petrichor) ay isang nobelang ecofiction na isinalaysay mula sa karanasang queer. Ang nobela ay sumusunod sa tradisyon ng Philippine literature in English at isang meditasyon sa alaala, kasaysayan, medisina, katawan, kasarian, gubat, at katapusan ng mundo, na bumabalangkas sa dalawang pinaghabing espasyo: ang espasyo ng tahanan at ang ekolohikal na espasyo ng gubat. Ang nobela ay binubuo ng tatlong bahagi: “Malate, Manila,” “Ang Agwat bago ang Paglisan,” at “Ang Balat ng Gubat.” Ang mga eksenang ito ay naglalakbay sa pribado at matalik na buhay ng mga lalaking queer, inilalarawan ang kartograpiya ng alimuom bilang ginhawa at bilang isang imahe ng amoy ng mga bagyo, at ginagalugad ang mga kolektibong pagkabalisa tungkol sa buhay pagkatapos ng Anthropocene. Tinatalakay ng nobela ang paghahanap ng kahulugan sa panahon ng pagkasira ng palamuhayan, ang pagkakaroon at pagkawala ng kagubatan sa mga espasyo ng lungsod, ang pagkahumaling ng sarili sa mga halaman, at ang katawan bilang gubat. Sa pamamagitan ng mga tensyong ito, itinatampok at hinahamon ng nobela ang teorya ni Mikhail Bakhtin na ang nobela ay isang diyalogo, isang ugnayan ng mga tinig, ideolohiya, at diskurso. Ang intensyon ng manunulat ay gawing politikal ang katawan at ang kaugnayan nito sa espasyong pantahanan at kagubatan.
Sa impluwensya ng mga libro nina Diane Ackerman at Han Kang at gamit ang mga pilosopiya nina Gaston Bachelard, Sara Ahmed, at Timothy Morton, kinukuwestiyon ng nobela ang posibilidad ng ekolohikal na paghilom para sa katawang queer sa panahon ng pagkasira ng kalikasan. Sa pamamagitan ng alimuom bilang imaheng pang-amoy, hinahangad ng nobela na pagtugmain ang mga espasyong pantahanan at ekolohikal, na nagpapakita na ang pantahanan at ekolohikal ay may papel sa poetics ng paghilom.
Abstract Format
html
Language
English
Format
Electronic
Keywords
Philippine fiction (English); Ecofiction; Domestic space; Ecopoetry; Queer literary criticism
Recommended Citation
Jerez, I. N. (2026). Our forest is petrichor: A novel. Retrieved from https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_lit/31
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Embargo Period
4-11-2028
