Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Adopting a structural-cognitive framework, this study analyzed the impact of faith on the cognitive schemata of 620 Filipino women. Through structural equation modeling, this investigation demonstrated that strong faith in the Divine Providence generates sequelae of constructive cognitions, namely, a perception of personal control or self-efficacy, high self-esteem, and a strong propensity for self-improvement. Findings contradict literature contending that religious individuals who entrust themselves �in God�s hands� also relinquish control over their lives. Results also challenge the position that Catholicism has been inimical to the personal and societal well-being of Filipino women. The beneficial effects of religious convictions suggest the capacity of secular ideologies to tap motivational forces embedded in the cultural matrix. Further indicated is the need for development workers to establish effective linkages with religious sectors in the task of nation-building.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Beginning in 2001, U.S. health care facilities have begun recruiting from the Philippines due to a national shortage of registered nurses which is anticipated to decline 20% below the national requirements by 2020. This paper examines the experiences of recently recruited nurses from the Philippines and how they internalize their discursive constructions as �ideal� nurses for global workplaces and as the �new aristocrats� of the Philippine state. I explore how these nurses utilize these constructions as a form of cultural capital as immigrants and potential American citizens. I argue that while the discursive constructions have potential for creating exploitative working situations, Filipinos draw from them as a source of cultural capital and as a coping and survival strategy in an intimidating work environment as they deal with multiple social and institutional barriers in a foreign workplace. I also discuss the complexities of such internalization within the context of embracing their newfound class identity and their pursuit of the �American Dream.� This paper is based on in-depth interviews of nurses working in Texas and Arizona between 2004-06 and are on two-year renewable contracts and EB-3 visas.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Mexican and Filipino farm workers in California formed the labor union known as the United Farm Workers of America in 1965. However, Mexican and Filipino farm workers made concerted efforts to form agricultural labor unions three decades earlier. Between 1933 and 1939, agricultural labor strikes would occur throughout California led by large numbers of Filipino and Mexican workers. This paper answers the following questions: Why were Filipino and Mexican farm workers unable to succeed in forming an agricultural labor union in the 1930s? Previous studies on California farm workers fail to provide adequate analysis of the effects of race, ethnicity, and white racism on the ability of workers of color to form a multiracial labor union. The paper argues that the failure of strikes in the 1930s are a function of white supremacy emanating from landowners, the government, organized labor, and the public at large.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The EDSA Revolution: Re-interpreting the Filipino PsycheThe purpose of this paper is to identify the core social values that have shaped Philippine politics for decades. The writer believes that the two major revolutions of the country in recent years played a great role in re-defining the essence of a true Filipino mind.The EDSA Revolution of 1986 and 2000 are significant events in the history and evolution of Philippine politics. They are not mere �??power grab�?� by the political elites but clearly explain the political maturity of the masses. But behind these People Power movements is a deeply religious individual, which constitute the core of what this writer calls Filipino philosophy.The author traces back his personal experience on the streets of EDSA during those revolutions and his academic endeavor to re-assess the long lost identity of the Filipino people. His experience as a young adolescent and idealist student in the streets of Manila in 1986 and that in 2000 where he had established himself as a young philosopher and administrator within the walls of the academic community will bring a synthesis of what he tries to identify as a truly Filipino identity. The success of these revolutions are obviously credited to the hierarchy of the Catholic church and the military but behind these peaceful transition of power is an inner and burning desire of an individual lost and exploited by the rich and powerful few.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper begins with the street theater performances of University of the Philippines students, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), and other cultural �arms� of grassroots social movements that were deemed seditious by President Ferdinand Marcos� 1972 declaration of martial law. The political agendas of these cultural productions worked hand in hand with the popular anti-martial law movement that lasted from 1972 up until the People Power movement of 1986. In these cultural productions, American theatrical forms (i.e. horror movies, vaudeville, musicals) were deployed by practitioners in order to mask the volatile political content of the pieces and access the aesthetic practices inculcated by decades of American imperialism in the Philippines.

Also during this time, a number of theatre practitioners were exiled from the Philippines based on the inflammatory political content of their performances. It was this generation of political exiles that continued their work in the U.S., creating a majority of the Filipino American community-based theatre organizations that still exist today (namely, New York�s Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Chicago�s Pintig Theatre, and San Francisco�s Teatro ng Tanan). Through oral history interviews with exiled and other members of this social theatre movement, this paper will look at these performers� formation of a postcolonial aesthetic (in the Philippines) and its subsequent impact on Filipino American performing arts. It will also gesture towards the transit and exchange of ideas, artists, and productions between the U.S. and the Philippines that exists to this day.