From: mfrancis@binah.cc.brandeis.edu (Ma. Elena Y. Francisco)
Subject: Re: FIL-AMS
Reply-To: mfrancis@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:16:27 GMT

I knew I could not keep silent for much longer ....

R11334@waccvm.corp.mot.com (Cycle-Time-Sys Sh-Shuy) writes:

>>> Here's an interesting article I saw on the paper today.  Some portions have
>> been deleted:

I did feel like something was not right about this article when I first read
it ... 

sedayao@sousa.intel.com (Jeff Sedayao) writes:

>They have a skewed sample.  Stanford, as an elite, expensive
>private school, has a different set of Filipino Americans than a public school
>would.  Drastically different.  I know this from experience, having attended
>a private college and a public one.  If they visited U.C. Berkeley (just across
>the bay), I suspect they would get some very different answers.

I agree.  Over at UC San Diego, there are a group of "Fil-Ams" who are
quite interested in learning about the Filipino culture.  I still remember
one of my friends who hung around the "Flower Lady" (Tita, who generally
sells her flowers between Urey Hall and the Gym) because a lot of Tagalog-
speaking students hung around there, and that he was actually interested
in learning the culture his parents did not teach him.  Also, some of my
friends had visited the Philippines a few times in their lifetimes.  My
experiences with my peers, who happen to be Filipino-Americans, sound
absolutely *nothing* like what was expressed in this article!

>> One would think that there is no Filipino culture to speak of, in the first
>> place.  This is the reason they have earned the monicker 'brown Americans'.
>> Filipinos are so exposed to American culture that culture shock ranges from
>> negligible to zero when they come to the United States.

I definitely disagree with this!  My relatives, when coming over from
the Philippines for the first time, experienced a lot of culture shock.
And I have had the interesting experience of experiencing culture shock
when I came to the Phils., and experiencing cross-culture shock (which
is a little bit more stranger than the initial culture shock) upon my
return to America.

>> For most Filipino-American students in Stanford University who grew up
>> here, the so-called problem of "cultural identity" among children of
>> immigrants has been resolved.  Or it never existed at all.
>
>> They consider themselves Americans.  "I am an ethnic American and being of
>> an ethnic minority is a facet of my being an American," declared Julius
>> Paras, president of Pilipino-American Student Union based at Stanford.  "I
>> am more American than I am Filipino."  "I am definitely more American than
>> Filipino," said Laurie Anne Dee, a sophomore in Florida.  "I know my
>> lifestyle is different from my cousins in the Philippines.  I have accepted
>> that I am an American."  Paras, however, said he knows he will never
>> realize the ultimate American dream - to become President of the United
>> States -because he was not born here.
>
>> Filipino-Americans consider themselves Americans but they do not totally
>> belong to the country as Americans do.  They cannot consider themselves
>> Filipinos because their only link to the Philippines are their parents, who
>> in fact did not encourage them to talk and act Filipino.  They know that in
>> the Philippines, the only thing they have in common with the people,
>> including members of their extended families, is the color of their skin.

sedayao@sousa.intel.com (Jeff Sedayao) writes:

>I would not say this for all Fil-Ams born here.  I am not even sure that this
>applies to the majority.  There are a number of reasons that the Filipinos do 
>not teach their Fil-AM kids to speak Tagalog.  I know some parents were 
>discouraged (wrongly, in my opinion) by American teachers from speaking to 
>their children in Tagalog.  Some Filipinos are more comfortable in English
>than in Tagalog.  One reason my mother did not teach me Tagalog is that she
>doesn't speak it very well.  She is from Mindanao, and she only learned
>Tagalog here in the US!

My parents were discouraged from continuing to teach me Tagalog when
I was younger.  The teachers took my parents aside and said, "Your
daughter will never make it to college unless you speak English to her
in your home."

It is true that our lifestyles here are different than that of our
cousins back home.  But that does not mean having to give up our
culture.  There is a definite Filipino culture.  And I think it is
a good thing to be able to learn about that culture and to experience
it.  My aunt wanted my younger cousins in New Mexico to learn how
to do the traditional Filipino dances.  I know of some people at UCSD
who are members of a Filipino dance troupe.  I also know of some Fil-
Ams (specially those American born ones) who are able to cook Filipino
food *just like those in the Phils* for those homesick Filipino students
who wouldn't otherwise cook for themselves ... etc. etc. etc.

>> Paras said the cultural framework of Filipino-Americans is something that
>> will always crop up, notwithstanding the fact that they consider themselves
>> Americans.  "There will really be no complete resolution," he said.
>> "Throughout our lives, we will be faced with this question."

That is, if they let themselves be faced with this question.  It is difficult
for me to consider myself American.  Throughout my life, people have
treated me like a foreigner.  Imagine that, a foreigner in the country
of my birth!  Of course, in the Phils, I'm the Balikbayan with All
The Money ... the only thing that keeps my sanity and my identity
for that matter, is the fact that I do have my cultural heritage
to fall back on, which my parents have impressed on me since I was
young.

>> Nice, huh ?  How about changing the name of this newsgroup to
>> SOC.CONFUSED.FILIPINOS ?  or maybe REC.TRAVEL.PI  (as in "pee-eye").  After
>> all, vacations, travel and tourist spots are favorite topics.

Oh please, spare me!!!  Apparently, you missed all the interesting
conversations that have taken place on this newsgroup over the
years.

--
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