Anthony Christian Ocampo

The Latinos of Asia

How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Anthony Christian Ocampo is Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Public Policy at University of California-Riverside.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 272
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. März 2016
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 139mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 323g
• ISBN-13: 9780804797542
• ISBN-10: 0804797544
• Artikelnr.: 44383101

Autorenporträt

Anthony Christian Ocampo is Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Public Policy at University of California-Riverside.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
1The Puzzling Case of Filipino Americans
chapter abstract
Though classified as Asian by the U.S. Census, Filipinos have Spanish last
names, are predominantly Catholic, and frequently encounter racial
miscategorization. In other words, Filipinos do not map onto the American
racial landscape very neatly, which affects how they experience race in
everyday life. This chapter introduces sociological theory relevant to the
racial experience of second generation Filipino young adults, who are
classified as Asian, but who are culturally linked to Latinos, the emerging
new majority in both the city and the state overall. The narratives of
Filipinos in Los Angeles illustrate important lessons about the changing
dynamics of race relations in an increasingly multiethnic society, how
racial barriers persist, and most importantly, how we can break barriers if
we more deeply understand the rules of race in everyday life.
2Colonial Legacies
chapter abstract
Historical colonialism in the Philippines catalyzed the mass migration of
Filipinos to the United States at the start of the twentieth century.
However, colonialism has had very different effects on how Filipinos adapt
to life in the United States, depending on the racial system that they
entered. In the early twentieth century, American colonial policies allowed
only for the migration of Filipinos who could work in the agricultural
industry and other low skilled labor sectors. Meanwhile, back in the
Philippines, American colonial policies were rapidly transforming the
Philippines' social, cultural, and institutional landscape. Given the
cultural and socioeconomic advantages that Filipinos acquired due to
American colonialism, they today are much different from their
predecessors-they are middle class, they hold professional jobs, and they
live in racially integrated neighborhood because they can speak English.
3Suburban Ethnicity
chapter abstract
Filipinos do not live in ethnic enclaves. They do not have to. As the
previous chapter notes, Filipinos come to this country with socioeconomic
resources and a cultural proficiency with the United States that most other
immigrants do not possess. Instead, their children grow up in neighborhoods
that are middle class and multiethnic. In many ways, their neighborhoods
are a preview into the United States of tomorrow. Given the class and
racial composition of their neighborhoods, second generation Filipinos come
into their ethnic identity differently from other Asians. Other Asians rely
on the dense presence of ethnic institutions and homogenous social networks
to learn about their ethnic culture. In contrast, Filipinos spend time
learning about ethnicity in their families and church.
4The Latinos of Asia
chapter abstract
Growing up in Los Angeles, Filipinos develop a keen awareness of the
cultural traits they share with Latinos that can be traced back to Spanish
colonialism, such as language, last names, and Catholic religion. This
shared sense of peoplehood that Filipinos and Latinos develop emerges not
through conscious political coalitions, but rather through mundane everyday
interactions in the most intimate spaces of neighborhood life. Even though
Filipinos are Asian, they do not all live with other Asians, which in turn
affects their ability to identify with them panethnically-many Filipinos
are openly ambivalent about pan-Asian identity.
5Getting Schooled on Race
chapter abstract
Within public middle schools and high schools, which are more
socioeconomically diverse and strongly enforce an academic tracking system,
Filipinos become distant from their Latino peers due to the divergent ways
that teachers and administrators racialize them. Within the educational
context, to be Asian is to be a model minority (and vice versa). In the
absence of other Asians within the district, Filipinos are more inclined to
enroll in the honors and college preparatory tracks, given their
socioeconomic advantages over Latinos and other minorities. Their tracking
patterns lead to school experiences, which in turn facilitate a sense of
Asian racial consciousness-one that is based on the model minority
stereotype, rather than culture. For example, Filipinos receive
preferential treatment and greater academic push from teachers, which in
turn cultivate this Asian American consciousness. Within Catholic schools,
the campus climate is intimate, and Filipinos develop deeper connections
with their Latino peers.
6"Filipinos Aren't Asian" and Other Lessons from College
chapter abstract
In college, Filipinos encounter new rules of race related to their
underrepresentation, social activism, and educational politics that they
generally do not deal with within neighborhoods and their earlier
schooling. Because of their residential patterns of in Los Angeles-their
tendency to live in neighborhoods with large numbers of Latinos, rather
than other Asians-college is the first opportunity that many Filipinos have
to interact more intimately with other Asian ethnicities. In addition,
Filipinos' status shifts from high school to college dramatically. In
college, Filipinos experience unusually high rates of attrition and, on
some campuses, even have the designation of "targeted underrepresented
minority." Their increased traffic with other Asians, along with the shift
in racial context, prompt many Filipinos to socially distance themselves
from other Asians and disidentify from the racial label. Their status and
experiences as underrepresented minorities reinforce their connections with
Latinos and other non-Asian minority students.
7Racial Dilemmas
chapter abstract
The rules of race not only vary by neighborhood and school context, but
also by life stage. This chapter narrates the story of Eileen, a Filipina
American woman from Carson who has "identity crises" and "identity
epiphanies" through her experiences at a public middle school, a private
high school, a public university, and most recently, in medical school.
Eileen's narrative shows how one person consciously navigates the varying
social constructions of both Asian American and Latino identity through
different stages of her personal life and education. In her story, Eileen
went from strongly identifying as Asian American (in high school) to
actively disidentifying from other Asians (in college) to developing a
panminority identity with her Latino undergraduate and graduate student
peers (in college and medical school).
8Panethnic Possibilities
chapter abstract
Filipinos admit feeling "in-between" Asians and Latinos, which makes it
difficult for others to map them onto the American racial landscape. To
complicate matters more, they seem to fluctuate between Asian and Latino
racial identification differently between neighborhoods and schools, and
between childhood and adulthood-this is because the rules of race change in
these different contexts and life stages. Filipinos transgress racial
boundaries on a regular basis. This chapter closes with discussions of how
Filipinos' unique racial experiences may influence their political
involvement, their labor market outcomes, and even their love lives.