Kenneth Yuri A.

Flores
GELIT-Y26

In what ways can Philippine literatures be used to integrate the Philippine diaspora into the
national consciousness?

Ever since the early 1900s, the Philippine diaspora has been predominantly present in our
nation. A lot of Filipinos reside or live outside their ancestral or birth country; forgetting their
own culture and/or assimilating to other dominant cultures. As Filipinos, we are known for
having the most Overseas Filipinos to work/reside in other countries, especially in rich countries
such as the U.S. and UAE. We usually interpret domestic workers abroad to be common here in
our nation; to assume that they are doing well since they are working abroad. However, it is not
only limited to domestic workers as we should include other Filipino diasporas that reside in
other countries such as Filipino foreign students and Filipino migrated families. However, with
the analysis of the Philippine literature and other articles, our interpretations and perspectives
toward the Philippine diasporas change; we usually interpret them as they are doing well, they
have no struggles and living a better life. The Philippine Literature enlightens us, readers, to
know the truth about their experience and perspective living outside the ancestral country; that
some Filipino Diasporas experience struggles, discrimination, abuses, etc… With this in mind, it
is hard to believe that a lot of Filipino Diaspora is struggling to provide support for their family;
sacrificing and indignifying themselves for them. Also, it is not only the family that they support,
they support the nation’s economy too. These experiences and sacrifices made them depicted as
national heroes in media and in speeches.

There is certain literature that focuses on the Philippine diaspora that enlightens us with
their perspective, the first literature is “Queer, brown, migrant: documenting the Hong Kong
‘Helper’, it discusses here the experience of having intersectionality residing in the urban city of
hong kong, it is said that Philippine diasporas there are dominant and the only reason for them to
work is to provide support for their family sacrificing their dignity and their freedom. Also, it is
said that most Filipina is often thought to be prostitutes that indicates that they are usually
labeled. In addition, the income they are getting is cheaper and making them invaluable because
of their skin color that signifies discrimination. Furthermore, it discusses the violent act of being
queer in popular media such as documentaries; therefore, they act being heterosexual to save
avoid the portrayal of queerness. The last literature to be discussed is “Personal Diaspora”,
basically, the gist of the literature is that Neferti, the author, experience deprivation living in the
U.S because of national alienation. Her first glance as a foreign student towards Americans is
that a lot of “westerners” are experiencing different experiences that she never experience despite
being the same age as them, therefore she had a hard time connecting with them. Also, she
discusses how she felt being treated differently because of her skin color, as she said to the latter
part that “I experience the discrimination directed against me as a woman of color, not as a
foreigner or a Filipina”

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