As a Filipino, do you identify as an Asian American? Do you feel more affinity towards Mexican Americans and other Latinos? Do you believe Filipinos are Pacific Islanders? Do Filipino Americans belong to a specific “race”?
These are some questions Filipino Americans grapple with all the time. Living in the United States, “Asian,” “Pacific Islander,” or even “Latino” is thrust upon Filipinos. Filipino Americans, in numerous ways, do not fit these arbitrary racial and/or panethnic categories, yet many of us have the arduous task of choosing which one we belong to.
In this TFAL episode, we explore the ways in which these arbitrary panethnic categorizations are unfair to Filipinos, how they fail to encapsulate our lived experiences, and how they elide so much of our political realities in the United States. We speak with Dr. Anthony Ocampo, Associate Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona and author of the renowned book The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race.
Listen as Anthony talks about Filipino Americans ambiguous belonging to Asian America and what Filipinos need to do to advance from our marginalized position under the Asian American category and in the United States at large. Later, we have a great conversation about his future book project on the experiences of LGTBQ persons of color. Also, we find out what race Ryan really is!
Listen through the embedded player below, download directly here, or subscribe to us on iTunes here!
How do you identify? Do you believe Filipino American are Asian or any other category? Drop us a line on our voicemail, (805) 394-TFAL (8325)!
