Locating Filipino Americans: Ethnicity and the Cultural Politics of Space

by Rick Bonus

The Filipino American population in the U.S. is expected to reach more than two million by the next century. Yet many Filipino Americans contend that years of formal and covert exclusion from mainstream political, social, and economic institutuions of the basis of their race have perpetuated racist stereotypes about them, ignored their colonial and immigration history, and prevented them from becoming fully recognized citizens of the nation. Locating Filipino Americans shows how Filipino Americans counter exclusion by actively engaging in alternative practices of community building. Locating Filipino Americans, an ethnographic study of Filipino American communities in Los Angeles and San Diego, presents a multi-disciplinary cultural analysis of the relationship between ethnic identiy and social space. Author Rick Bonus argues that alternative community spaces enable Filipino Americans to respond to and resist the ways in which the larger society has historically and institutionally rendered them invisible, silenced, and racialized. centers, and the community newspapers to demonstrate how ethnic identities are publicly constituted and communities are transformed. Delineating the spaces formed by diasporic consciousness, Bonus shows how community members appropriate elements from their former homeland and from their new settlements in ways defined by their critical stances against racism, homogenization, complete assimilation, and exclusionary citizenship. Locating Filipino Americans is one of the few books that offers a grounded approach to theoretical analyses of ethnicity and contemporary culture in the U.S. Author note: Rick Bonus is Assistant Professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle.

217 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2000

Reviews

[Daeny · Rating 2 out of 5]

"we cannot be forever treated like guests in the house... in America... because as guests, we'll never be able to move the furniture around." (176)

a bit of a drag since i really just want to read fiction until the world ends, but a good starting point for my appel project.

[sdw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who are Filipino Americans? Where is Filipino American identity located? These are the opening questions theorized by Locating Filipino Americans . This is a solid book. It examines the articulations of ethnic identities within particular spaces and places. Specifically, the author examines Filipino Americans commercial establishments, social halls, and community newspapers. The section on commercial establishments analyzes the commercialization and commidification of identity in the formation of an “Oriental” space that contests Orientalism. The chapter on social halls sees community organizations as the location of Filipino American politics and particularly examines the community politics of beauty pageants. The section on the newspapers considers the advertisements but also the way the content of the papers provides a connection between Filipino Americans, the US and the Philippines. The end of this section looks at other media available to Filipino Americans (like internet discussion groups). This book is a thought provoking read in its engagement with the relationship between ethnic identity formation and contemporary theories of space. In particular, I found the conclusion useful in my own thinking on these issues.

[Ms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book. Fabulous Author. Must-read, especially if you are interested in Filipino-American studies.