Brown is Beautiful pt.2 Free Event!
thea balmes
The Central , 603 Markham Street// 6-9 pm// Nov 25th 2011
* FREE EVENT *
* Food and beverages can be purchased from the bar *
At Kamalayan's first Brown is Beautiful! Series Part 1 event, we
briefly learned about the history of colonialism in order to
understand how it continues to affect our personal lives as Filipino/
Filipina-Canadians. We talked about issues of racialization and
standards of beauty and how these issues are tied to larger systems of
power that work together to influence the way we see ourselves, each
other, and how non-Filipinos see us.
For Part 2 of the Series, let's talk stereotypes! Are we "more hard
working" because we are Asian? When people say, “Too Asian”, who are
they talking about? Are Filipino women better at "caregiving"? Who is
more exotic: Filipino women or “Mestiza” (Half Filipino/Mixed race)
women? Are Filipino men really that “soft”? More importantly, why do
these questions even exist?
Part of the work to reclaim that brown is beautiful is to be able to
confront socially constructed notions of who Filipino and Filipina-
Canadians are by interrogating and unpacking problematic stereotypes
about us. In doing so, as Filipino-Canadians WE get to say what it
means to be brown and Filipino/Filipina-Canadian and what this looks
like in our lives.