A Second Life for a Hero - Reimagining José Rizal in a New Era

Aug 23, 2026

The text reflects on the Round Table #3 presentation at the ‘What If’23 International Conference, focused on “A Visionary Unveiled: The Unforeseen Journey of José Rizal.” It explores a counterfactual scenario in which José Rizal awakens in another dimension, linking his legacy to medical achievements such as founding institutions and shaping policies like universal health care with preventive and promotive approaches. The discussion situates Rizal within history’s “never fully materialised” possibilities.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Between Medicine, Politics, and Literature

Life and Death of a Revolutionary

A Second Life for a Hero: Reimagining José Rizal in a New Era Sérgio Neto 1,a 1 | University of Porto, Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Porto, Transdisciplinary Research Center “Culture, Space and Memory”(UP/FLUP/CITCEM), Portugal [a](a| sgdneto@gmail.com)[|](a| sgdneto@gmail.com)[ ](a| sgdneto@gmail.com)[sgdneto@gmail.com](a| sgdneto@gmail.com) Abstract. This text tried to reflect upon the single presentation of Round Table \#3 at the ‘What If’23 International Conference of ‘What If?...’. The theme was “A Visionary Unveiled: The Unforeseen Journey of José Rizal” by Maria Minerva P. Calimag, revolving around the wellknown medic, writer, and polymath from late colonial Spanish rule in the Philippines. By hypothesising a Rizal awakened in another dimension or parallel universe, Calimag imagines him linked to medical achievements such as establishing institutions (hospitals, medicine schools) and policies (universal health care, preventive and promotive health) . Keywords: José Rizal; Nationalism; Literature; Medicine; Counterfactual 1. Introduction The ‘What If’23 3rd International Conference of 'What If?...’ World History, held from 22-24 November 2023, in Porto and online, gathered several researchers and artists dealing with the counterfactual. It was possible to engage in a fruitful dialogue regarding various of subjects, such as attitudes toward death, business consulting, food history, and the so-called visions of Fatima, among other exciting never (fully) materialised by History. Several lecturers were invited, some of them maintaining a strong connection to virtual history, such as Pedro Cipriano and Rogério Ribeiro. The Oral Presentation Round Table \#3 from the conference, which took place online, was the last session [1] . In that particular, there was only one speaker, Maria Minerva P. Calimag, professor of Medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines. Calimag specialised in several areas, such as Palliative Care, Ethnopharmacology, Educational Management, Health Informatics, and Health Policy. She is the author of dozens of articles spread over a period that goes back to the 1980s, and she is editor-in-chief of the Philippine Journal ofAnaesthesiology and associate editor of some others. She presided over several medical associations and was awarded on numerous occasions. Her interest in counterfactuality is well known, and in 2021, she published a paper in Hypothesis Historia Periodical regarding Anaesthesiology and the then-recent pandemic surge of COVID-19 [2]: Through a fictional tale that allows W. T. G. Morton to travel in time, he is transported into the modern world, and an alternate history of the development of the specialty is written. In the present time, Morton realizes that the field of Anesthesiology he jumpstarted has expanded beyond his expectations, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing on the philosophical and sociological underpinnings and on ethical evidence-based medicine, a holistic view of the Specialty of Anesthesiology is created. There, Maria Minerva P. Calimag highlighted “important figures like Robert Fogel, Geoffrey Hawthorn, Niall Ferguson, and Richard Evans” as its main influences. She also stressed the famous essay by Winston Churchill (1874-1965) [3] in which the British statesman asks in a twisted counterfactual device,“what would have happened if Robert Edward Lee had not won the battle of Gettysburg” [1 p.73] 1. In other words, sometimes at the risk of being confused with a very popular fictional literary genre, counterfactual history, as its name suggests, aims to ask the question “what if” to the facts. Not always taken seriously by historiography, with the exception well-established fields of economics and military studies, counterfactuality, according to the mentioned Niall Ferguson, allows us, nevertheless, to challenge and question important dimensions such as possibility, causality and inevitability [4] .

FAQs

What counterfactual idea is used to reimagine José Rizal?

José Rizal is imagined as awakened in another dimension or parallel universe, connecting him to medical achievements like establishing hospitals and medicine schools and shaping health policies.

What conference presentation does the text focus on?

It centers on the oral presentation Round Table #3 at the ‘What If’23 International Conference, titled “A Visionary Unveiled: The Unforeseen Journey of José Rizal” by Maria Minerva P. Calimag.

How does the text connect José Rizal to medicine and politics?

It describes Rizal’s transition from philosophy to ophthalmology and Europe-based study, then links his later exile experiences and his political involvement through works such as Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo.

Aug 23, 2026

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