Critical Historical Consciousness & Decolonizing for Filipinx American Undergraduates Dalya Amiel Perez A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2020 Reading Committee: Joe Lott, Chair Rick Bonus Kara Jackson Joy Williamson Lott Program Authorized to Offer Degree: College of Education 1 ©Copyright 2020 Dalya Amiel Perez 2 University of Washington Abstract Critical Historical Consciousness & Decolonizing for Filipinx American Undergraduates Dalya Amiel Perez Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Joe Lott College of Education This study seeks to understand how undergraduate Filipinx Americans develop historical consciousness and what the impacts of this are on their racial identity. The roots of Filipinx American historical erasure date back to colonization of the Philippines, both Spanish and U.S. occupations of the Philippines and continue to have a damaging effect on Filipinx Americans today (Leonardo & Matias, 2013). Evidence of this erasure is apparent in the absence of U.S. Philippine history from textbooks as well as the general absence of anything related to Filipinx Americans in contemporary pop culture or dominant narratives. Another form of erasure is in the invisiblity of Filipinx Americans under the racial category of Asian. This monolithic racial category obstructs possibilities to examine unique experiences, successes, and challenges Filipinx Americans as well as many other Asian groups face (Teranishi, 2010). In sum, the legacy of historical erasure, starting with colonization in the Philippines and the invizibilizing of Filipinos as Asian are factors that explain contemporary struggles for Filipinx Americans in higher educational contexts. My research seeks to examine the relationship between these phenomena and to explore what happens when Filipinx American undergraduates engage in learning critical colonial history. This is a qualitative study that centers on the narratives of Filipinx Americans undergraduates and their journey of grappling with racial identity. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES .......................................................................................................................... 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................................... 7 VITAE ................................................................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 12 FIGURE 1: AN OVERVIEW OF FILIPINX AMERICAN CRITICAL HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS ......................... 14 WHY DID I DO THIS RESEARCH? ...................................................................................................................... 15 THE PROBLEM WITH INVISIBILITY .................................................................................................................. 16 SUMMARY OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS .................................................................................................... 18 RESEARCH GAP ............................................................................................................................................... 19 INTRODUCTORY HISTORY AND CONTEXT ....................................................................................................... 21 Thomasites and U.S. Colonial Schooling in the Philippines ....................................................................... 24 Pensionados and Transnationalism ............................................................................................................ 26 Labor, Immigration, and Racism ................................................................................................................ 27 Filipinx Americans as Asian ...................................................................................................................... 28 SUMMARY OF INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 31 ROADMAP TO THE DISSERTATION ................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER TWO................................................................................................................................................ 33 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: FILIPINX AMERICAN CRITICAL HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS 33 FIGURE 2: FILIPINX AMERICAN CRITICAL HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS ...................................................... 34 CRITICAL RACE THEORY ................................................................................................................................ 35 Counternarratives....................................................................................................................................... 36 Asian Crit ................................................................................................................................................... 36 COLONIAL MENTALITY AND DECOLONIZING FOR FILIPINX AMERICAN STUDENTS ........................................ 38 CONSCIENTIZATION AND LIBERATORY PEDAGOGY ......................................................................................... 45 HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS ......................................................................................................................... 47 SUMMARY OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER THREE: .......................................................................................................................................... 51 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 51 FILIPINX AMERICANS AND EDUCATION........................................................................................................... 54 CAMPUS CLIMATE FOR FILIPINX AMERICAN UNDERGRADUATES.................................................................... 57 FILIPINO AMERICANS: RACE AND ASIAN COMPLEXITY .................................................................................. 59 FILIPINX AMERICAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................................. 62 REGIONAL STUDIES......................................................................................................................................... 64 Patricia Halagao ........................................................................................................................................ 65 Third Andresen .......................................................................................................................................... 67 4 Leah Panganiban ....................................................................................................................................... 69 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 4: ...................................................................................................................................................... 73 METHODS AND ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................ 73 METHODOLOGY: STUDY OVERVIEW............................................................................................................... 73 CRITICAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ............................................................................................................... 73 Research Questions: .................................................................................................................................... 75 RESEARCH SETTING: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SEATTLE ...................................................................... 75 RESEARCH DESIGN CONTEXT ......................................................................................................................... 76 POSITIONALITY ............................................................................................................................................... 76 PURPOSEFUL SAMPLING.................................................................................................................................. 78 DECOLONIZING CLASS CURRICULUM CONTEXT ............................................................................................. 79 FIGURE 3: DECOLONIZING CURRICULUM FOR FILIPINX AMERICAN UNDERGRADUATES ................................ 81 TABLE 1: PSEUDONYM AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHART OF PARTICIPANT .............................................................