Agbayani Village Trip: Pride and Provocation

Once again, Bayan Scholars made our way to Agbayani Village in Delano; it's become a yearly tradition for our learning community. This year, we visited this historic site on November 7th and 8th, a few weeks after Filipino American History month. To prepare for the trip, we devoted class time to begin untangling the difference between history and heritage. We also studied sections from Dawn Mabalon's Little Manila is in the Heart to familiarize ourselves with the plight of Filipino farm workers and the significance of Delano.

Bayan Scholars Reflect on History & Heritage

October is Filipino American History Month, a commemoration instituted in 1991 by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) to preserve, disseminate, and celebrate the history of Filipinos and Filipinas in the United States. To mark the event, we spent time in our English class considering what we know about our experiences in the USA. 

To get started, we used our writer’s notebook to generate and organize our ideas. The following questions focused our thinking:

• What do you think you know about Filipina/Filipino American history? How did you acquire that knowledge? 
• What's the difference between "history" and "heritage"?

Agbayani Village + CSU Bakersfield Trip

December 7th and 8th, Bayan Scholars Learning Community took a Cultural Immersion and Transfer University Exposure tour. The trip provided cultural insight and increased awareness and transfer possibilities outside of our local universities.

Identity & History: Reflecting on Fil Am History Month

October is Filipinx American HIstory month. Bayan Scholars investigated various historical topics, themes they had rarely explored, if at all,  prior to joining the Bayan Learning Community. 

This blog entry is the second installment of student responses to Pilipinx American History Month activities at Southwestern college as well as coursework in our Bayan classes. These responses tended to be more about internal, psychological issues as opposed to the more historically inflected responses from the first installment, Reclaiming History. 

These particular responses demonstrate the complicated relationship between history and psychology. They begin to uncover the nuanced and often hidden ways material history can condition one's sense of self. While Bayan scholars (students and faculty alike!) recognize that identity is not reducible to history and material conditions, we are beginning to appreciate the complex connection between the past and personality.

Moreover, you can see from several posts that these scholars are making connections between their personal lives and the curriculum. They use their academic identity to explore their personal identity, which is in line with the project of humanizing their education (see see entries "Summer Retreat Part I, Part II and Part III for background on how "rehumanizing our education" fits into Bayan's project). 

To collect student reflections, we used the online bulletin board application Padlet. To magnify an entry, float your cursor over the upper right-hand corner of a particular post and click on "expand post".  We welcome your comments! 

Celebrating Pilipinx American History Month at Miracosta College

To celebrate Pilipinx American History Month (PAHM), Miracosta College hosted the Building PAHMilya conference. The event included speakers, workshops, and activities meant to recognize and promote Pilipinx history and culture. Conference organizers chose the word “Pilipinx” as a gender inclusive term. A team of Southwestern Bayan Scholars attended the program and had lots to say about the day’s event. This blog entry documents some of those reactions.

Riane R.’s reflection captured the experiences of attendees: “The PAHMilya conference up in Miracosta College was honestly the best thing I've been to! It taught me a whole lot on the history of being a Pilipinx American and how this month of October is dedicated to that. The people were fun to be around, the workshops were very interesting to go to, and the whole thing was just an awesome experience to witness.”

Jared C. pointed out the  importance of hearing other Pilipinx students share their experiences: “Hearing experiences of other students made me feel so much more connected on a personal level with other students that are of the same ethnicity as I am. I never knew that feeling alone racially was an important issue that needed to be talked about. I now wish to continue dialogue between students because these relatable discussions really bring us together as a people.”

One of the most significant moments in the day’s program was the keynote by Cristine

Sidela, the coordinator of Academic Successes and Equity Programs. JP A. noted the impact of Sidela’s keynote: “It was inspirational. Especially when she spoke about her experiences to get to where she is today. This hit me hard because I am walking my path to my goal. Attending the event made me see how there are other Filipinx out there that want to start a community to help Filipino Americans. This is important because of the prejudice of being Filipino even though you're American born, or those who do not feel Filipino enough have a place to be welcomed.

Reclaiming History: Filipino American History Month

October is Filipino American History Month, established in on 1987 by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS). To commemorate this month, Bayan Scholars attended a film screening of Marissa Aroy’s documentary Delano Manongs that features the often hidden history of FIlipino farm workers and their contribution to the Farm Workers movement. 

Local high school counselor Reynilla Calderon-Magbuhat presented her history workshop “Know History, Know Self”. Both events were co-sponsored by Southwestern College's Filipino Student Organization Pagkakaisa, Bayan Student Organization, and Southwestern College’s Office of Student Equity Programs and Services. 

We also read several chapters from Filipino American Psychology, a text book by Professor Kevin Nadal. We paid special attention to those sections pertaining to cultural values and to how history can condition identity. 

For practically every scholar in Bayan, this month was they spent so much time in an academic setting focused on Filipino experiences. Indeed, it was most Bayan Scholars’ initial exposure to Filipino American history and culture as topic worthy scholarly attention.

This blog collects a sampling of several Bayan scholars’ reflections below, their first time considering Filipino American history. These young adults are only now being introduced to the legacy and heritage of Filipinos in American. We invite you to read these entries with that in mind. And we welcome your comment below should you wish.

To enlarge individual entries, hover your cursor over the upper right hand corner of the post. Then click on “enlarge”.