"Small Island, Big Dreams": Migration History, Transnational Ties, and Transient Identities of Filipino Migrants in Guam
小島嶼，大夢想：關島菲律賓移民的遷徙歷史、跨國關係與漂泊身份
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
Author(s)
Detail(s)
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| Award date | 3 May 2016 |
Link(s)
| Permanent Link | https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/theses/theses(d95026e4-1375-4464-8380-90b913c0d8ad).html |
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| Other link(s) | Links |
Abstract
This research examines the development of the Filipino community in Guam, which has become the second largest ethnic group on the island. It explores the migration history of Filipinos to Guam, in particular, in the post-World War II period (1945 to the present) when an increasing number of Filipino migrants settled in Guam as a result of US immigration reforms.
Filipinos have often been seen as a temporary migrant group, or ‘transient migrants’, who take Guam as a stepping-stone to achieve their final goal of entering the US mainland. This research challenges this assumption. Rather than being transient migrants, this research argues that Filipino migrants have gained a strong foothold on the island and become a settled community through various home-making practices and activities. Alongside building a strong community in Guam, many Filipino migrants are at the same time maintaining close familial ties with their roots in the Philippines. This project examines how Filipino migrants in Guam maintain their deep ties to the home of origin, and how such transnational connections have become part of the different approaches to understand the shifting identity landscapes among the different generations of Filipino Guam. Furthermore, the intricate inter-ethnic relationships between the Chamorros, the indigenous group in Guam, and the Filipinos has also contributed to the specific identity politics in Guam.
Having moved to Guam, a part of the US, the Filipino migrants are theoretically Americans, but in reality, not quite. Guam is an “America” half way through. Some Filipino families in Guam are continuing their migration trajectories and planning for further movement to the US mainland, especially for their younger generations to attain better education and work opportunities. Is this an act to achieve the so-called ‘American dream’? Through exploring into the triangle migration relationship between three different locations — the Philippines, Guam and the US mainland, this research seeks to reveal an intriguing migration story of home-making, identity building, transiency processing, and the delusions of migration desires of the Filipinos in Guam.
Filipinos have often been seen as a temporary migrant group, or ‘transient migrants’, who take Guam as a stepping-stone to achieve their final goal of entering the US mainland. This research challenges this assumption. Rather than being transient migrants, this research argues that Filipino migrants have gained a strong foothold on the island and become a settled community through various home-making practices and activities. Alongside building a strong community in Guam, many Filipino migrants are at the same time maintaining close familial ties with their roots in the Philippines. This project examines how Filipino migrants in Guam maintain their deep ties to the home of origin, and how such transnational connections have become part of the different approaches to understand the shifting identity landscapes among the different generations of Filipino Guam. Furthermore, the intricate inter-ethnic relationships between the Chamorros, the indigenous group in Guam, and the Filipinos has also contributed to the specific identity politics in Guam.
Having moved to Guam, a part of the US, the Filipino migrants are theoretically Americans, but in reality, not quite. Guam is an “America” half way through. Some Filipino families in Guam are continuing their migration trajectories and planning for further movement to the US mainland, especially for their younger generations to attain better education and work opportunities. Is this an act to achieve the so-called ‘American dream’? Through exploring into the triangle migration relationship between three different locations — the Philippines, Guam and the US mainland, this research seeks to reveal an intriguing migration story of home-making, identity building, transiency processing, and the delusions of migration desires of the Filipinos in Guam.
