Summer Retreat, Part III: So, What’s Next?

Bayan Student Organization Board Members

Note: This entry is the third of three posts that record the ideas Bayan scholars and professors had at at our Summer 2018 planning retreat,The first entry outlines our reflections about what made our experiences feel humanized, what made the learning feel so “live”. The second entry outlines our exploration about the particularity of Filipino American experience that requires a special kind of “rehumanization”. We began exploring what about the our own individual experiences, sociology, and history might account for the dehumanization. This third and final entry outlines suggestions and ideas 

For the final portion of the retreat, we discussed suggestions for next year.We came up with four themes, all of which logically followed from the retreat activities and our experiences in Bayan. 

Focus on History/Sociology and Identity : A significant portion of the discussion focused around our lack of formal knowledge regarding Filipino American history and sociology. How did we get here? What, if anything, characterized our peoples’ experiences. What were the factors that lead to our inclusion in the US story? How might lack of information or misinformation impact our individual sense of self as well our sense of belonging to the larger society? The professors need to include more history - the stuff students (and professors!) don’t know or information has been hidden. As a class, we can deconstruct and revise our understandings of ourselves and our situation here in the USA. 

Summer Retreat, Part II: What's Decolonization got to do with it?

Note: This post is part two of a three-part series about a mini-retreat we held to discuss the principles of and plans for the Bayan Learning Community. See here for the first entry. Third entry is forthcoming!

During the first part of our Summer 2018  mini-retreat, we agreed on a few preliminary understandings of what it means to have a “dehumanized” class (see link). We took it as axiomatic that Bayan folks want (and deserve!) a rehumanized learning environment. The purpose of this section was to establish, or at least  identify, what about Pinoy/Pinay experience and education is dehumanizing.

We had a brief mini-lecture to review how two other racial/cultural groups experience dehumanization and objectification in the United States. We recalled the objectification that African Americans faced included slavery, slave codes, lynching,  and Jim Crow. Those issues morphed into issues that animate the Black Lives Matter movement. This ongoing legacy of dehumanization is what programs like UMOJA seek to remedy.

Summer Retreat, Part I: Live Learning

A small but mighty group of nine Southwestern College students and three faculty members  met today for a “mini-retreat” to support the ongoing development of Southwestern College's Bayan, the Filipino/a American learning community. This learning community consists of linked English and Personal Development courses that meet for a period of one year. We’ve been in existence for several years, with a fairly general vision: to support Filipina/o American students transfer to a four year institution. We modeled ourselves after Puente and Umoja, two statewide bodies, devoted to increasing retention and transfer rates of Latinx and African American students respectively. Bayan, like Puente and Umoja,  is open to students of all races and culture.

This blog post is the first of three (3) entries that record what happened at our retreat. After reading each entry we hope get feedback from Bayan and friends of the program to help us strengthen our program.

The purpose of our mini-retreat was to begin a deeper conversation about Bayan principles and values. While we have worked under some general guidelines (instituted by faculty), we believe it’s time to be a bit more deliberate and intentional about our purpose - and to figure out the principles that distinguishes us from the other campus programs and from the other multicultural learning communities. Just as important, we wanted to extend this discussion to include student voices.