Transnationalism, emotion and second‐generation social mobility in the Filipino‐Canadian diaspora

Abstract

Through the case of Filipino‐Canadian youth experiences, this paper examines socio‐economic mobility among the children of immigrants in the context of transnational social fields and emotional engagements with the diasporic homeland. The Filipino‐Canadian experience is distinctive in terms of immigration patterns, settlement trajectories, policy frameworks and the historical and contemporary construction of ethno‐racial identities. Using educational attainment as a proxy for a wider process of social mobility, the paper shows that outcomes among Filipino youth have been anomalously poor. The explanations for this situation are multiple, but this paper draws particular attention to the ways in which negative emotional engagements with the Philippines as a diasporic homeland may shape self‐esteem and aspirations among Filipino youth in Canada and thereby play a role in social mobility.

The educational attainment of the second generation and transnational shame: Toward deeper comparative analysis

“…Taking the experience of Filipinos in Canada as distinctive, Philip F. Kelly provides a provocative and broad‐ranging exploration of possible explanations for the ‘anomalously poor’ (Kelly, : 280) educational attainment of second‐generation Filipino immigrants, which is used as a proxy for intergenerational social mobility. Kelly attributes this underperformance to motivational levels that in turn are affected by processes of ethnic identity formation in the host land; ethnic identities, in turn, are affected by the diasporic homeland through emotional transnationalism.…”

“…Kelly attributes this underperformance to motivational levels that in turn are affected by processes of ethnic identity formation in the host land; ethnic identities, in turn, are affected by the diasporic homeland through emotional transnationalism. A key aspect of the latter is the social emotion of shame that homeland imaginaries elicit, which in turn are affected by ‘transnational connections with the Philippines’ that are ‘all too often negative’ (Kelly, : 292).…”

“…For such a complex argument a quantitative approach might have served to identify and establish some of the causal links. But ‘explanations must largely remain qualitative,’ Kelly admits, because ‘no large‐scale data set exists to test all of the various factors at play’ (: 289). Consequently ‘the treatment is preliminary and certainly it is impossible to derive conclusive casual linkages’ (: 281).…”

“…But ‘explanations must largely remain qualitative,’ Kelly admits, because ‘no large‐scale data set exists to test all of the various factors at play’ (: 289). Consequently ‘the treatment is preliminary and certainly it is impossible to derive conclusive casual linkages’ (: 281). The argument, therefore, ‘comes with many caveats but hopefully also with a kernel of truth’ (: 295).…”

“…Consequently ‘the treatment is preliminary and certainly it is impossible to derive conclusive casual linkages’ (: 281). The argument, therefore, ‘comes with many caveats but hopefully also with a kernel of truth’ (: 295).…”