Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

Abstract:

This article examines the newspaper Silangan, published in Winnipeg, Canada, from February 1977 to July 1982, to analyze the negotiation of Filipino identity in the diaspora. Over its six-year run, the columns in this newspaper dealt with issues of cultural maintenance, the importance of Filipino heritage, and political engagement in their adoptive homeland. A critical dialogue argued in support of certain aspects of life from the Philippines, such as extravagant pageantry and corrupt political practices. In discursively forming a Filipino Self, this ethnic newspaper created a number of Others, the most startling of which was the (transgressing) national Filipino.