Home Bound: Filipino American Lives across Cultures, Communities, and Countries

285 Pages·2003·1.28 MB·English

by  Yen Le Espiritu

Home Bound
Home Bound
Filipino American Lives
across Cultures, Communities,
and Countries
Yen Le Espiritu
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley · Los Angeles · London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2003 by the Regents of the University of California
An earlier version of chapter 7 was published in Signs
26 (2): 415–40. © 2001 by the University of Chicago.
All rights reserved. I thank the University of Chicago
Press for permission to reprint this article.
In chapter 2, the interviews with A. B. Santos and
Juanita Santos and Edgar Gamboa previously appeared
in Filipino American Lives by Yen Le Espiritu.
Reprinted by permission of Temple University Press.
© 1995 by Temple University. All Rights Reserved.
Table 3 was previously published as table 6.2 in “The
Paradox of Assimilation: Children of Filipino
Immigrants in San Diego,” by Yen Le Espiritu and
Diane L. Wolf. In Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants
in America, edited by Ruben Rumbaut and Alejandro
Portes. © 2001 by the Regents of the University of
California. Reprinted by permission of the University
of California Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Espiritu, Yen Le, 1963–.
Home bound : Filipino American lives across
cultures, communities, and countries /
Yen Le Espiritu.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–520–22755–7 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 0–520–23527–4 (paper : alk. paper)
1. Filipino Americans—Social conditions.
2. Filipino Americans—Ethnic identity. 3. Family—
United States. 4. United States—Relations—
Philippines. 5. Philippines—Relations—United States.
6. Transnationalism. 7. Racism—United States.
I. Title.
E184.F4 E87 2003 2002007139
Manufactured in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and
totally chlorine-free (TCF). It meets the minimum
requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
For Abe, Evyn, Maya, and Gabriel . . . the
Filipino parts of me
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. Home Making 1
2. Leaving Home: Filipino Migration/Return to the
United States 23
3. “Positively No Filipinos Allowed”: Differential
Inclusion and Homelessness 46
4. Mobile Homes: Lives across Borders 70
5. Making Home: Building Communities in a Navy
Town 98
6. Home, Sweet Home: Work and Changing Family
Relations 127
7. “We Don’t Sleep Around Like White Girls Do”:
The Politics of Home and Location 157
8. “What of the Children?”: Emerging Homes and
Identities 179
9. Homes, Borders, and Possibilities 205
Notes 223
Bibliography 247
Index 267
Acknowledgments
On August 11, 2001, mourners crowded the Old Mission Church at the
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside, California, to pay their
final respects to Peachy Rebaya, loving wife and mother, loyal friend and
neighbor, devoted parishioner, and active member of the Filipino com-
munity in Oceanside. I met Mama Peachy and her husband, Papa Joe,
in 1991. Our family was then new to Oceanside and to the Mission San
Luis Rey Parish; and I had just begun my preliminary research on the
Filipino American community in San Diego. Mama Peachy and Papa Joe
warmly welcomed us into the church, into their home, and into their
hearts. We treasure the times we shared with the Rebayas at the weekly
Filipino mass, where our toddler daughters would sprawl on the floor,
next to the Filipino choir, happily coloring and delighting in the always
festive music. The Rebayas had since become a part of our family, “reg-
ulars” at the children’s baptisms, communions, and birthday parties.
The Rebayas also helped me to launch my research project by invit-
ing me to various Filipino community functions and introducing me to
their large circle of Filipino friends and acquaintances. Thus it is fitting
that I begin these acknowledgments by thanking Mama Peachy and Papa
Joe—for their precious support, generosity, and love. But it is also fitting
to open this book with them, because their lives exemplify what I wish
to document in this book: home making. Born in Nueva Ecija and Baguio
City, respectively, Mama Peachy and Papa Joe left for the United States
in 1967. With five children in tow, they led transnational lives, immi-
ix