This list is not exhaustive, rather its responsive. This short list collates some resources, both academic and journalistic, that can help you learn more about the conditions of Filipino/a American migrant workers in the United States (US).

In my current research project, I am looking closely at the lives of Filipino/a migrant workers in the American care industry, specifically at the narratives and experiences of Filipino/a caregivers to the elderly in the Bay Area.

On the lives of Filipino/a Caregivers:

• Carlos Bulosan Center for Filipinx American Studies. 2020, May 7. “Filipino Home Care Workers, Unseen Frontliners“. Bulosan Center.
• Francisco-Menchavez, Valerie and Ethel Tungohan. 2020. “Mula Sa Masa, Tungo Sa Masa, From the People, To the People: Building Migrant Worker Power through Participatory Action Research“. Migration Letters (17)2:
• Gollan, Jennifer. “Elder care homes rake in profits as legions of workers earn a pittance for long hours of care“. The Center for Investigative Reporting.
• Gollan, Jennifer and Cortez, Anayansi. 2019, May 13. “Unpaid Cost of Elder Care.” The Center for Investigative Reporting.
• Martin, Nina and Eunice Yung. 2020, May 3. “Similar to Times of War”: The Staggering Toll of COVID-19 on Filipino Health Care Workers“. ProPublica.
• Moench, Molly. 2020, June 27. “Bay Area Filipinos work dangerous front lines of coronavirus fight“. San Francisco Chronicle.
• Roosevelt, Margot. 2019, October 19. “An 87 hour work-week for $4 an hour: Caregiver abuse is widespread in California“. Los Angeles Times.
• Tungohan, Ethel. 2020, May 1. “Filipino Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 and the Importance of Race-Based Analysis“. Broadbent Institute.

In the list below, you’ll find resources about Filipino/a migrant workers in other American industries so you can see the patterns across the experiences of migrant workers.

Filipino/a Migrant Workers Across American Labor Industries:

• Mabe, Rachel. 2020, August 28. “Trafficking in Teachers“. Oxford American.
• McFarling, Usha. 2020, April 28. “Nursing ranks are filled with Filipino Americans. “The pandemic is taking an outsized toll on them“. Stat News.
• McMahon, Ada. 2013, February 17. “Delegation visits New Orleans, as Filipino workers fight Labor Abuses in Oil Industry“. Bridge the Gulf Project.
• Weik, Taylor. 2016, October 16. “‘Our Number One Export Is People’: GABRIELA USA Aims to End Human Trafficking in Philippines“. NBC News.

Most importantly, and despite these difficult work conditions, Filipino/a migrant workers have and continue to create resistance strategies and build political power collectively. Here are organizations who are aiming to do critical political organizing with Filipino/a migrant workers.

Organizations Supporting Filipino/a Migrant Workers in the US:

• J-1 Network for support for migrant J-1 visa holders with Migrante USA
• “Justice for Trafficked Teachers” Campaign with GABRIELA USA
• Pilipino Association of Workers and Immigrants (PAWIS) in South Bay Area, CA

In honor of this year’s Filipino American History Month, October 2020, I’m putting together this list to acknowledge the important work of so many Filipino/s migrant workers in the care industry, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic. But also, to draw a throughline between the thousands of Filipinos who have migrated to US to work in various industries: agriculture, education, nursing, etc.

On the History and Production of Filipino/a Migrant Workers:

• Bonus, R., 2000. Locating Filipino Americans: Ethnicity and the Cultural Politics of Space. Temple University Press.
• Choy, C., 2009. Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino-American History. Duke University Press.
• Fajardo, K.B., 2011. Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization. U of Minnesota Press.
• Francisco-Menchavez, V., 2018. The Labor of Care: Filipina migrants and transnational families in the digital age. University of Illinois Press.
• Mabalon, D.B., 2013. Little Manila is in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o American Community in Stockton, California. Duke University Press.
• Manalansan IV, M.F., 2003. Global Divas: Filipino gay men in the diaspora. Duke University Press.
• Padios, J.M., 2018. A Nation on the Line: Call Centers as Postcolonial Predicaments in the Philippines. Duke University Press
• Poblete, J., 2014. Islanders in the Empire: Filipino and Puerto Rican Laborers in Hawai’i. University of Illinois Press.
• Rodriguez, R.M., 2010. Migrants for export: How the Philippine state brokers labor to the world. U of Minnesota Press.
• Tadiar, N.X., 2009. Things fall away: Philippine historical experience and the makings of globalization. Duke University Press.

As a responsive list, I’d be so happy to update this short list with what YOU think is essential. Please leave a comment with your recommendations below!