oldie but goodie debate: Filipino-American (or American Filipino) identity

[Olivia]

Hello everyone,

My name is Olivia Sawi. My mom is from Bicol, and my dad is second
generation American whose family is from Ilocos. His grandfather and
father first went to Hawaii in 1929 to work the plantations.

I am a graduate student at San Jose State University. I am studying
history, and will hopefully be focusing on the Filipino-American
experience (mostly labor), especially in the south bay area and the
central coast of California.

I am in the process of writing a paper on Filipino-American
transnationalism. I am reading works of various authors about the
topic, and want to focus on the effects of first generation
transnationalism on the Filipino-American or American-Filipino
identity of 2nd and 3rd, maybe even 4th generation Filipinos in
America.

I have searched this discussion group for archives of this debate to
use as primary sources, and there haven't been that many recent
posts. I am looking for updated, recent viewpoints to add to my
paper.

So...

What do you think?

What does it mean to be Filipino-American, or to be an American-
Filipino?
You can talk about whatever you want to, including language, food,
music, culture, etc.

Please let me know if I can use your viewpoints in my paper. I will
not cite your name if you do not want me to.
Please pass this on to anybody you think could help me, or be willing
to answer the question.

Thank you so much,
Olivia G. Sawi

[Joekerr]

For my wife it's been "different"... when she first came over she went
to Catholic school. There were Filipna Nuns there- and so whenever
they finished classes they'd run over to these nuns and have them help
translate everything into Tagalog then they'd give their answers and
ask the nuns to translate into English. After 6 months her parents
noticed that she and her siblings still couldn't speak English... so
they took them out of private school - put them into public school and
forbade the use or discussion of filipino language/culture. She grew
up American- and now feels out of place amongst fellow Filipinas...

[totoy batotoy]

putting people to catholic school is cruel. it will warp your
viewpoint with religion and even give you biases that you shouldnt
have.