Migration Revolution: Philippine Nationhood and Class Relations in a Globalized Age (Kyoto Cseas Series on Asian Studies)

308 Pages·2014·3.31 MB·English

by  Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.

KYOTO CSEAS SERIES ON ASIAN STUDIES 11
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
Migration revolution
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KYOTO CSEAS SERIES ON ASIAN STUDIES 11
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
Migration revolution
Philippine nationhood and
Class relations in a globalized age
Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.
NUS PRESS
Singapore
in association with
Kyoto UNIVERSIty PRESS
Japan
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© 2014 Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
NUS Press
National University of Singapore
AS3-01-02, 3 Arts Link
Singapore 117569
www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress
ISBN 978-9971-69-781-5 (Paper)
Kyoto University Press
yoshida-South Campus, Kyoto University
69 yoshida-Konoe-Cho, Sakyo-ku
Kyoto 606-8315
Japan
www.kyoto-up.or.jp
ISBN 978-4-87698-382-7
national library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Aguilar, Filomeno V., author.
Migration revolution: Philippine nationhood and class relations in a
globalized age / Filomeno V. Aguilar, Jr. – Singapore: NUS Press; Kyoto,
Japan: Kyoto University Press, [2014]
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-9971-69-781-5 (paperback)
1. Filipinos – Employment – Foreign countries. 2. Foreign workers,
Filipino. 3. National characteristics, Philippine. 4. Foreign workers,
Filipino – Social aspects. I. title. II. Series: Kyoto CSEAS series on
Asian studies; 11.
HD6300
331.62599 — dc23 oCN863179108
Printed by: Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
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Na-enot ki Papa, kaya ki Mama ini naman
Kang kinua siya kan Kagurangnan
Harayo an sakong pig-eestaran
Dae niya na inabot maski nagpralano
Pero ano ka ta kada-Sabado
Kami nag-uulay iristoryahan
Sa natad si tapayas mahihinog kuta na
Pinaniki, napangirit si Mama
Kanugon daa
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PB
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ContentS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Manilamen and Seafaring: Engaging the Maritime
World beyond the Spanish Realm 24
Chapter 2: old Forms of Labor and New transnational
Class Relations in Globalization 53
Chapter 3: The Dialectics of transnational Shame and
National Identity 83
Chapter 4: Ritual Passage and the Making of Labor Migrant
Subjectivities 127
Chapter 5: Is There a transnation? Migrancy and the Homeland
among overseas Filipinos 170
Chapter 6: The triumph of Instrumental Citizenship?
Migrations, Identities, and the Nation-State in
Southeast Asia 201

Chapter 7: Amending the National Narrative: Political
transnationalism and the State’s Reincorporation
of overseas Filipinos 231
Bibliography 245
Index 281
vii
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aCknowleDgMentS
For the precious opportunity to finally sit down and work on this col-
lection of papers, I am most grateful to the Center for Southeast Asian
Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, which awarded me a visiting research
fellowship that I enjoyed from 1 August 2010 to 31 January 2011, and
the Ateneo de Manila University, which granted me a sabbatical leave
during the 2010–11 academic year. I thank Fr. Ben Nebres SJ for un-
hesitatingly endorsing my application for the CSEAS fellowship.
In Kyoto Juliet, Isaac, and I were recipients of the warmest hospi-
tality, friendship, and intellectual camaraderie of Carol Hau, Hiromo
Shimizu, yoko Hayami, Mario Lopez, Kusaka Wataru, Jafar Suryomeng-
golo, and other colleagues at the CSEAS. Members of the center’s ad-
ministrative staff, particularly Chiaki Abe and Mami Hamada, were very
gracious and helpful with my needs and those of my family. Nick
tiongson, tesa tadem, Ed tadem, Shu-yuan yang, and Ambeth ocampo
were also affiliated with the center during the period of my visiting fel-
lowship, and I am grateful to them for the many fun times we shared.
The six months in Kyoto, where we resided in a rather traditional
apartment, brought challenges and great opportunities for a family with
a five-year-old as the seasons went from sweltering summer to cool and
colorful autumn and finally freezing winter. My wise, devoted, and lovely
wife, Jua, was a hands-on mom, creative homemaker, and indispensable
soul mate, even as she worked hard on chapters for a pediatrics textbook
under conditions not entirely conducive to the task. Initially excited
about kindergarten but soon disappointed by his inability to communi-
cate, Isaac endured and eventually broke through the language barrier,
intelligently deciphering and adjusting to a strange world where he de-
veloped a fondness for karē raisu and the shinkansen. out of our com-
fort zone, our family thrived by the amazing grace of God. I thank Jua
and Isaac for accompanying me to Kyoto, sealing a marvelous experience
we would replicate in Barcelona in the summer of 2013.
The teachers, parents, and Isaac’s classmates at Futaba yochien
openly welcomed the only non-Japanese student in the entire school,
ix
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