UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Toward a Filipino/a Critical (FilCrit) Pedagogy: A Study of United States Educational Exposure Programs to the Philippines A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education by Michael Joseph Viola 2012 © Copyright by Michael Joseph Viola 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Toward a Filipino/a Critical (FilCrit) Pedagogy: A Study of United States Educational Exposure Programs to the Philippines by Michael Joseph Viola Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Sandra Harding, Co-chair Professor Peter McLaren, Co-chair Through a qualitative study fusing participatory action methods with a focus group, testimonio, individual interviews, and cultural analysis this project examines U.S. educational exposure programs to the Philippines. Organized and united by a social movement that traverses a Philippine diaspora, exposure programs enable participants to visit the Philippines for a short- term immersion where they are hosted by sectors of interest. This study explores the pedagogy that exposure programs enable as participants learn about the everyday realities challenging a Philippine polity and how systems of knowledge are being reframed and transformed. Placing Filipino/a American transnational activism at the center of analysis contributes to the field as this particular community group is sparsely examined in critical educational discourses. Of interest is how their praxis in exposure programs to the Philippines offers insight to critical theories, research methodologies, and educative social practices that seek the transformation of oppressive ii global relations of class, race, and gender. The manuscript is divided into two sections: Research Process and Research Findings. Research Process consists of: an introduction; a description of the theoretical frameworks (critical pedagogy, feminist standpoint theory, critical theories of race, and Filipina critical theory) that the study builds upon in examination of Filipino/a American transnational praxis; an overview of the qualitative tools utilized to document experiences of research participants; and a historical genealogy exploring the social conditions that have cultivated historical forms of Filipino/a American counter-consciousness. The Research Findings section is divided into four chapters. Beginning with Chapter Five, which utilizes the testimonio of an exposure participant as a point of departure to conceptualize how such programs cultivate what I term a “diasporic counter-consciousness.” Nascent in a new generation of Filipino/a Americans, a “diasporic counter-consciousness” links Filipino/a American identity as contingent upon: 1) the fate of a population dispersed throughout the globe and; 2) the eradication of neocolonial conditions in the Philippines. Chapter Six explores the transnational praxis of participants and its implications for the theorizing of race (drawing explicitly from the cultural media created in a hip hop exposure and in generative conversation with the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois). Chapter Seven demonstrates how the interaction of feminist standpoint theory with the experiences of Filipina American exposure participants can point to a “Filipina diasporic standpoint.” Such a standpoint provides a uniting positionality where the labor, land, and lives of Filipina women across the diaspora are not alienated from them but rather channeled in the service of their own needs and the potentials of a greater humanity. Chapter Eight is a coda to the research project, summarizing the central themes outlined for Filipino/a Critical Pedagogy. iii The dissertation of Michael Joseph Viola is approved. Epifanio San Juan Ernest Morrell Peter McLaren, Co-chair Sandra Harding, Co-chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv DEDICATION PAGE To my wife, Suzanne, and daughter, Malaya: Your love, laughter, and support animate my life and resonate brightly in everything I will ever accomplish – including the pages that are written here. To my parents, Jesus and Cecilia Viola and extended family Susan, Norm, Sara, Erin, and Daniel Senzaki: Ang mga isinulat ko ay batay sa ating kasaysayan at sa hangad na pag-asa para sa kinabukasan. To the exposure participants who shared their experiences: All your stories could not be included in this manuscript, but certainly your deeds are imprinted in a more just world in the process of being born. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................... ix VITAE…………………………...................................................................................................xii RESEARCH PROCESS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 1 Statement of Research Problems…………………………………........................... 3 Characteristics of Educational Exposure Programs to the Philippines..................... 7 Research Questions…………………......................................................................10 Importance of Study and Research Overview..........................................................11 Research Limitations…………………....................................................................13 Research Positionality and Assumptions..................................................................15 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS…….............................................................19 Critical Pedagogy…...................................................................................................19 Freire’s Methodology......................................................................................20 Critical Revolutionary Pedagogy....................................................................21 Criticisms as Spaces for Contributions...........................................................22 Feminist Standpoint Theory.......................................................................................25 Marxist Feminist Standpoint...........................................................................27 Extending Black Feminist Standpoint.............................................................28 Critical Theories of Race….......................................................................................30 W.E.B. Du Bois…...........................................................................................32 Critical Race Globalism and Global Apartheid...............................................33 LatCrit and Filipino American Experiences....................................................35 Filipina Critical Theory…………….…....................................................................36 Renato Constantino........................................................................................37 Epifanio San Juan...........................................................................................38 Delia Aguilar…..............................................................................................40 The Unity of Theory and Methodology.....................................................................41 CHAPTER III: CRITICAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES..................................................43 vi Tenants of Participatory Action Research...............................................................43 The Earning of Community Trust…........................................................................46 The Primary Research Site – A Community of Purpose.........................................49 Testimonio…...........................................................................................................53 Interviews………....................................................................................................54 Individual Interviews.....................................................................................54 Focus Group Interviews.................................................................................57 Multi-Textual Cultural Analysis.............................................................................58 From Methods to History........................................................................................61 CHAPTER IV: HISTORY OF FILIPINO/A AMERICAN COUNTER-CONSCIOUSNESS…62 Establishing United States Hegemony in the Philippines..........................................65 Pensionados and Savages–The Introduction of Filipino/as to the United States….67 The Great Depression and Filipino American Repression........................................69 Filipino American Labor Consciousness..................................................................72 Filipino American Labor Organizing in the Pacific Northwest.....................74 Philip Vera Cruz and the Forwarding of an Internationalist Consciousness..78 The Struggle Over Filipino/a American Consciousness Post-1965...........................82 The Kalayaan Collective’s Educational Exposure Program in the Philippines...84 State Sponsored Exposures in the Philippines – The Balikbayan Program.........86 Viernes, Domingo, and the (Com)Promise of International Solidarity………...87 Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) ...........................................90 Educational Exposure Programs and a New Counter-Consciousness.......................93 RESEARCH FINDINGS CHAPTER V: THE TESTIMONIO OF MELISSA ROXAS & DIASPORIC COUNTER- CONSCIOUSNESS.......................................................................................................................95