Reconceptualizing Victimhood and Resiliency: Transnational Narratives of Filipinas in Canada

Abstract

Filipinas have been marked as Third World, submissive caregivers, and nannies. Scholarship on gendered citizenship continues to identify Filipinas as oppressed and in need of a savior. Current scholarship represents Filipinas as victims without also looking at the ways in which these women resist racism. This study acknowledges such scholarships but seeks to expand beyond narratives of victimhood and brokenhood to engage with the narratives of desires as expressed by the Filipina. This explorative qualitative narrative study interviewed 30 Filipino women living in Toronto. Their narratives provide not only how they are racialized but also how they resist racism in their everyday life. The paper delves into an understanding of justice within and outside damage and desire. The paper concludes that these women understand power and the subtle ways to subvert it.