The Active Diaspora: How Protest Forges Transnational Filipino Communities

FAIN: FT-270974-20

Sharon M. Quinsaat, PhD
Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA 50112-2227)

Research for a book on the development of the Filipino diaspora in the United States and Europe, as a case study to understand how diasporas evolve.

The proposed project is the completion of data gathering for a chapter in the book manuscript "The Active Diaspora: How Protest Forges Transnational Filipino Communities." The book argues that diasporas are outcomes of transnational activism. Using the NEH Summer Stipend Grant, I will travel to the Netherlands to undertake life history interviews with five multigenerational families to understand the experience of homecoming and the meaning of "return" among migrants. The project shows the role of collective storytelling in interrogating, imagining, and performing belonging to the Philippine nation-state. The documentation of stories allows us to think of migrant and refugee communities as active producers of knowledge and not just objects of study. Preserving these narratives is the bedrock of future research on underrepresented groups, especially as they simultaneously validate and disrupt dominant narratives.