via SEALG, 25 June 2024: Dr. Annabel Gallop writes an obituary for Roderick Orlina (1976-2023), a notable scholar in Southeast Asian epigraphy, is remembered for his scholarly generosity and talent in uncovering primary sources.
Roderick Garcia Orlina was born on 22 May 1976 in New York to parents who had emigrated from the Philippines, Rogelio V. Orlina (1947-2023) and Paulita Garcia Orlina, and he had two younger brothers, Rex and Rich. Rod studied at the Bronx High School of Science in New York, graduating in 1994. He received his BA in Linguistics and Religious Studies from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1999, with minors in India studies and Japanese studies. He taught English at various institutes in Japan from 2000 to 2001, and then again from 2007 to 2009. Rod’s deep interest in languages also led him to study Malay at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1999, Turkish at Taksim Dilmer in Istanbul in 2003, Arabic at the Center for Arabic Language and Eastern Studies at Sana’a in Yemen in 2003 and at the Arabic Teaching Institute for Non-Arabic Speakers in Damascus in Syria in 2004, and Chinese in Xiamen in 2005 as well as in Xi’an in 2006, when he also taught English at Xi’an International Studies University. In 2012 Rod obtained his MA in Islamic Studies from the University of the Philippines at Diliman, and in 2014 he enrolled as a Ph.D. Candidate for Asian History at the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Perth, working on a dissertation on everyday life in early colonial Manila.
