Annotation: Jackson. 2008. The shock of the new

Jackson, M. (2008). The shock of the new: on migrant imaginaries and critical transitions. Ethnos, 73(1), 57-72. This essay phenomenologically discusses the lifeworld of a young Sierra Leonean man, Sewa, who has noble roots in his home country, and who struggles with everyday life in London. The article, which takes the form of an ethnographic …

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Annotation: Comaroffs .1987. The madman and the migrant

Using the rhetoric of contrast, and using the imagery of two informants (the madman and the migrant) to explore Marxian historical consciousness and the anthropological concept of culture, the authors argue that first, “culture always intervenes directly in consciousness and its expression” (205). For example, how the Tshidi of South Africa contrast the concepts of …

Annotation: Rafael, Vince. 2009. Your Grief is our Gossip

Rafael, Vince. 2009. Your Grief is our Gossip: Overseas Filipinos and Other Spectral Presences. In, White Love and Other Events in Filipino History: Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. Rafael “inquire(s) into nationalist attempts at containing the dislocating effects of global capital through the collective mourning of its victims” (204). He argues that this …

Annotation: Manalansan, Martin F. 2003. Global Divas.

Manalansan, Martin F. 2003. Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora. Durham: Duke University Press. The book fills a gap in the literature on globalization and transnationalism through an ethnography of Filipino gay (bakla) immigrants in New York, and the processes of identity formation in their everyday life. Manalansan discusses: the permeable boundaries of …

Annotation: Jocano, F. Landa. 1998. Filipino Social Organization

Jocano, F. Landa. 1998. Filipino Social Organization: Traditional Kinship and Family Organization. Manila: Punlad Research House. Using functionalist arguments, the book argues that the family is the Filipino's “social universe,” and that it is the source of Filipino's activities – from economic support, social status, religion, psychological assistance, to care and security in old age …

Annotation: Margold, Jane A. 1995. Narratives of Masculinity and Transnational Migration

Margold, Jane A. 1995. Narratives of Masculinity and Transnational Migration: Filipino Workers in the Middle East. Aihwa Ong and Michael G. Peletz (eds), Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, 274-298. Margold interviews Ilocano labourers working in the Arab Gulf States (permanent or temporary returnees) to investigate how labour migration affects …

Covar, Prospero. 1998. Larangan

Covar, Prospero. 1998. Larangan: Seminal Essays on Philippine Culture, Manila: Sampaguita Press. Pilipinolohiya (Chapter 4) is the systematic study of the Filipino psyche, and of Philippine culture and society. The Filipino, Covar writes, is like a banga (vessel), and s/he has: labas (exteriority), loob (interiority), and lalim (depth). Using structural functionalism and concepts from indigenous …