Filipino Diaspora: The Filipino is Alive in Canada

Last Updated (Tuesday, 13 September 2011 09:05) Written by JP de Vera Tuesday, 13 September 2011 09:05

Many academics and community leaders in the major centers of overseas migration have long been mystified and concerned with the global Filipino diaspora. Some like University of Hawaii’s Jonathan Okamura assert that Filipinos all over the world actively imagine themselves to be part of a "community" whose members are aware of one another’s presence and share a common culture, national identity, custom and tradition.

Overseas Filipinos, adds this school of thought, experience a powerful longing for a “homeland” and continue thinking of returning to the Philippines despite the reality of outbound mobility due to the lack of opportunities back home. Global Filipinos are said to exhibit this longing by sending their family and relatives the regular remittances and the famous balikbayan box as tokens of their desire to continue participating in the lives of people they left behind.

In the recently concluded International Conference on Rizal at the University of the Philippines, UP Professor Vim Nadera talked about his project to empower OFWs in Hongkong while another paper writer contended that overseas Filipinos have not developed a sense of nationhood and community and pointed to Rizal’s novels as a starting point in their development of consciousness.

What really is the Filipino diaspora?

FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE CLICK HERE.