Many thanks to Dr. Erlinda Alburo for calling my attention to this academic paper about Filipino American fiction published in KINAADMAN Vol, XL, 2018 (A Jounral of Southern Philippines, published by Xavier University). The study includes discussions of stories from books I edited, including Fiction by Filipinos in America, and Growing Up Filipino 2.
Dr. Ma. Elena L. Paulma looks at the works of Amelia Bueno, Lesliann Hobayan, Rashaan Meneses, Julia Palarca, Veronica Montes, Evelina Galang, Leny Stroble, and other Filipino American authors and academics.
Thanks to Dr. Ma. Elena L. Paulma and Kinaadman for this study.
Source: Kinaadman Vol XL, 2018, All rights reserved
ARTICLES
A Locational Feminist Reading of
Filipina-American Fiction: A Non-Fiction
Ma Elena L Paulma
Abstract
This paper tackles the concept of epistemic violence described by Michel Focault and Gayatri Spivak as the erasure of cultures, languages and identities. Taking into consideration several voices, to wit: those of feminist literary theorists, characters from selected Filipina-American fiction, voices of Filipina-Americans whom the writer has had conversations with in America, the creative non-fiction voice of the writer and the writer’s own voice in weaving together this collective experience, this paper elucidates that the search for “home” is the context for the international diaspora of Filipinos. Interlacing critical analysis with creative non-fiction, the paper outlines the creation of the reterritorialized “third space.” By applying Susan Friedman’s five locational tropic patterns, namely: the metaphorics of “glocation”, migration, nation, borders and conjuncture, the paper examines seven selected short stories written by Filipina-Americans, all focusing on Filipina-American characters. The paper shows that Filipina-Americans experience a continuing sense of marginalization as they are neither entirely included in, nor completely excluded from, the American landscape.
