Observations on FilAm, OF, FilPil discourse in the Internet
November 24th, 2008 by blackshamaA few years back (when I was a new returnee from overseas “exile”), not a few grad students doing their theses on Pinoy identity and the internet interviewed me. One of the students got a best thesis award from her college for her work. At that time the internet for a majority of Pinoys was being used more as a means of communication (via chat etc) rather than a venue to create virtual communities. I may be wrong though but I know that these social networking venues and egroups were in their infancy then and the word “Blog” hadn’t been invented.
There has been a deluge of academic studies on the subject and recently I met one of the grad students who interviewed me. I was pleased to learn that she is working on her doctorate and is revisiting the subject. While she looked at identity then now she is looking at empowerment and power. She has the usual subjects for study, FilAms (who make a huge part of the diaspora), OF (Overseas Filipinos in other places) and Pinoys at home, which I suggested she call FilPil (Filipinos sa Pilipinas).
In previous studies, Filipino identity is strongly maintained in cyberspace even though as a result of discrimination, many Pinoys have to downplay this in order to make it in “mainstream America” (read as White America) . I recall attending a lecture on this at Southern University (a mainly black campus, LSU is predominantly white). The question that now is being asked is with the changes facing global society and especially Filipino presence in the Internet, what happens to the power relations between cyberusers and with the Establishment at home?
One of the results of previous studies is with regards to Filipino identity within the cybercommunity is the telling observation among FilPils, that FilAms don’t really get the reality sa Pilipinas since they get their constructs from that of the Inquirer and ANC! In contrast FilPils get a better idea of what is it to be in the USA from a wider variety of sources. I am a bit sure of the FilAm via the Inquirer lens since when I was in the US and that kindergarteners on a bus hostage situation hit the news, I couldn’t get what FilPils sent me on the email. I found it strange that there was little outrage. I couldn’t get a grip.
So I suggested she looks more into this.
Now it seems the situation is reversed. My US based friends and relatives inform us FilPils the bad news on the ground about the 1) economy, 2) unemployment 3) some Americans brought down to third world status. We can’t get a grip. The American based news sources don’t tell us the story that well.
So I suggested she looks more into this!
Our conversation eventually headed into the topic of “Problema sa ‘Pinas” naturlich! Nontheless there seems to be a growing sense of powerlessness on both sides on how to deal with the situation. Whereas before, the FilAms and OFs were able to suggest some alternatives even if some FilPils may resent it, now the discussion seems to be headed nowhere. But I also told her that with the Reproductive Health Bill debate, the discussion headed towards polarization. And that could be good in a sense that the positions are made clear and choices stark.
Bloggers like Manolo Quezon have done something historic in the Arroyo impeachment efforts that cannot be construed as powerlessness. It could be considered Quixotic but the ever gallant MLQ3 doesn’t strike me as Cervantes’ beloved literary creation. It could be that Manolo’s intervention is a bit before its time at least sa Pilipinas.
Your thoughts please
November 24, 2008 at 9:37 pm
re manolo’s effort, i call it “obsession”, not unlike a fetish or an allergic reaction.
November 24, 2008 at 9:57 pm
manolo’s effort seem to be well-intentioned from my standpoint and i credit him for that. otherwise he would just be duplicating the Honasan, Trillanes, De Leon capers who would like to be in the center of the drama so they can run for public office.
manolo is not a politician i supposed, so i give him the benefit of the doubt.
keep the fire burning manolo! ! !
November 25, 2008 at 10:22 am
Defining Pinoy identity is always a good subject for acedemia for the simple reason that there isnt any definition. In fact an entire college course could be build around it. It’s like Philosophy of Science. You could get a PhD in it because professor-types are still arguing what science is.
November 25, 2008 at 12:47 pm
It is a bit off track to compare Manolo with Trillanes et al. After all Manolo as far as I know doesn’t have messianic tendencies! :-)
November 25, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I’m a bit skeptical because mlq3 was involved as well in this whole noise created around this so-called “Interfaith Rally” which it seems was intended to (or people hoped it would) morph into a big mass action or a series of mass actions that will eventually lead up to a removal of Arroyo from office.
Of course we can now see in retrospect what a non-event all that turned out to be.
In the end, it was just one new item I add to my hall-of-shame collection of Pinoy street “revolutions”
:D
November 25, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Jeg
They do have a college course built upon that. I think many US state Us have something along that line.
With the Obamamessiah’s coming expect more Black transnational identity courses to spring up. Barack is an unusual African American,hardly representative at all.
November 25, 2008 at 3:07 pm
that FilAms don’t really get the reality sa Pilipinas since they get their constructs from that of the Inquirer and ANC! In contrast FilPils get a better idea of what is it to be in the USA from a wider variety of sources
Trying to gather together the collective FilAm experience in one box can be a slippery and daunting task because it could be very varied and different depending on where the FilAms can be found and how seriously FilAms try to integrate and/or assimilate in the US mainstream. And US mainstream is not just comprised of white America, but necessarily with the coterie of many races mixed together.
In the same vein I cannot accept the above-quoted assumption that typically FilAms inform their beliefs about the old homeland based on those named sources. Again, because they do so from a variety of sources – from regular trips to the old homeland, from continuing interaction and feedback within the closely-knit FilAm communities quite pervasive in populous states like California, New York, and New Jersey, and reading from their local on-line sources in the old homeland. But not discounting the fact that there may be a number of FilAms whose interests with the old homeland may have become quite cursory and thus, they may derive some information from those named sources and nothing much else.
On the reverse side of the coin, and most especially in the on-line forums and blogs maintained by compatriots in the old homeland, one gets a definite sense that many of them form their own notions and beliefs about things US including but not limited to FilAms, mostly from sources, whether local or foreign, which clearly share their own ideological and political bent. BBC and CNN, and lately MSNBC, are most often mentioned. And add there, the decidedly biased (and admitted and proved so) media sources like the New York Times and Washington Post. But ask how many listen regularly to Fox News or seriously and regularly read popular conservative sources and blogs, which are noted for their fervent and passionate defense of America and things American and most cannot answer in the affirmative. If conservative but fellow ethnic Filipino, Michelle Malkin, is ever mentioned, it typically is in a derisive and often times, insulting, manner, though many may not even be reading her on a regular basis.
November 25, 2008 at 4:00 pm
IIRC, DJB once mentioned that Pinoy ‘liberalism’ is mainly colonial mentality, that is, we get it from Hollywood.
November 25, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Amadeo
That’s what the academic studies seem to indicate. Although we can’t pigeonhole FilAms, the result of the studies parallel earlier studies done on FilAms where “mainstream America” was “White America”. Now with Obama as President,this construct will change.
As for consevative blogs, Pinoys rarely get to read them since for many, conservative blogs parrot “imperialist” lines. You have to realize that Filipinos still have a lingering colonial angst about this.
As for FOX news, I used to tune it to that in LA but when I heard about their journalistic standards ……. Besides its owned by Rupert Murdoch and having lived in Oz, I really know what Aussies think of Murdoch!