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Kuwentuhan as a Method
I often think of collecting qualitative research as opportunities to build relationships with participants in my research projects. There are definitely times when participants don’t want to build with me, and I’m cool with that. But more times than not, with the particular research I am able to do with the workers and worker organizations […]
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“Re-turning”
In Pinoy Capital a book about Filipinos in Daly City, Benito “Sonny” Vergara Jr. discuss the act of “re-turn” as an alternative to assimilation for this community. He writes: “repeated turning…through political activism, assertions of ethnic pride, nostalgia, consumerism or just vague remembering. Re-turn is obliquely opposed to the narrative of assimilation. The tension between […]
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Going, going, back, back
The last time I was in the Philippines was when my daughter was growing in my womb. She’s now 7 years old. She now has a brother who is 5 years old. And for the first time, my partner, Raul, and I will be taking them to the Philippines. For three months, supported by funding […]
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Labor of Care for FREE for FAHM
For Filipino American History Month, an eBook copy of The Labor of Care is free through the University of Illinois Press’ celebration of Fil-Am history! This feels a little self-promote-y but it’s kind of a dream come true for me. I wrote this book for Filipina migrant workers and the movements that are invested building […]
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CARE Project at the Bulosan Center Conference
I’ve been working with some amazing student research collaborators this academic year! I never think of them as research “assistants” because that’s feudal and hella inaccurate. Rather, I think of students who I am working with as collaborators. They are trained in sociological research methods. They collect research with care and intention from Filipino/a caregivers. […]
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Ethics of Care
I’ve been interested in the term “ethics of care” for quite some time. In an activist sense, I’ve been interested in how movements center radical care (versus individualized, capitalist notions of care) in their organizing work and across communities, especially in the dire times we live in. I have wondered if and when activists think […]
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A Dialogue on Anti-Asian Racism
I’ve been organizing with a group of scholar-activists for the good part of the pandemic and we’re getting to roll out some exciting programming. We have a workshop funded by St. Mary’s and co-sponsored by Bulosan Center coming up in a few weeks. Join us by registering at tinyurl.com/CFSCStMarys (cap sensitive) and join us in […]
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Ethnography For All
I’ve always thought about the potential of research methods to serve communities, beyond academic purposes. I’ve always tried my best to co-conspire, act and attempt at delinking “research” processes to a purely intellectual endeavor. From another vantage point, I love bringing the methods that I’ve seen naturally recurring in community organizing into research processes: ideas […]
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Lifting Up Filipino Caregivers Stories
Elaika Celemen and Kristal Osorio have been my research collaborators for the past two years. Both of them were my students, organizers in organizations that I deeply respect, and they are both Pinay immigrants who have roots in the Bay Area. Conducting research on Filipino caregivers with them really sharpened my ideas about how to […]
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Racism in the Time of Corona
Lent some of my analysis on race and anti-Asian racism that Filipino health care workers face as they serve on the frontlines. This story skims the surface. The past administration has contributed to a more general anti-Asian xenophobia and racism but the reverberations can be felt in so many spaces. As we observe in the […]