hi anthony!

we’re so excited to sit down and talk with you about your life and work! this page is for your reference, in preparation for our meeting. in the sections below you’ll find:

1. an outline of general questions we plan on asking. we may not touch on all the topics. we want to go with the flow of our conversation as much as possible :)

2. a mood board for the kind of photos we’ll want to get of you.

we love it when people we interview share their own personal stories,
so keep that in mind when thinking of the following questions!

<background>

• standard get-to-know-you stuff:

  • where did you grow up? what was it like for you growing up there? how did growing up here affect your worldview and shape you into who you are today?

  • were your parents first generation immigrants? when and why did they move to the states?

  • what were you like as a kid? at what point did you realize you wanted to pursue academics? did you ever imagine yourself a writer?

• on religion and coming out:

  • assuming you grew up in a catholic home, what was this like? is there a difference between filipino catholicism and the ‘white man’s’ catholicism? like, is it more cultural than it is religious? have filipinos made catholicism their own?

  • how did you negotiate the moral rigidity of religion with the fluid nature of your sexuality?

  • within the context of religion and having immigrant parents with high hopes for you, it must’ve taken a lot to come out. how did your parents take it? how about your ‘fictive kin’? what kind of support did you have in this process?

  • the philippines has a reputation for being one of the most gay-friendly countries in asia. what do you make of this valuation?

  • what are the different challenges that comes with not only being gay but also, brown?

• on complex identities: race in america is very binary, and usually identity valuations are framed within the spectrum of black and white; you’re either ‘ethnic’ or white-washed (to put it crudely). people who aren’t monoracial are often forced to choose sides, or they’re claimed by others without having a say. we know so many examples of how people who are mixed or complex have to deal with mistaken identity all the time, or have to explain who they are to others:

  • did you have to deal with any of this growing up? if so, how did you deal with it? and how do you deal with it now?

<latinos of asia>

on race:

• reading your book was like reading about the mixed experience. about how people are claimed or mis-identified, having to code switch, being racially fluid, moving in and out of panethnicity, etc. what i have in mind is like the ‘loving generation’, people who may self-identify as mixed-race and simultaneously dis-identify from dominant racial categories. what overlaps and commonalities do you think there are between the experiences of those who are mixed and that of filipinos?
  

• given their proximity to latinos, who have a whole history and vocabulary for their different mixtures (mestizo, mulato, zambo, etc), to what extent are filipinos also conscious of these terms? is mixture something they embrace? would it be offensive to call filipinos mixed? My partner has experienced what I’ll call “anti-mixedness”…where people have called her offensive terms like “mutt”, “half-breed” or have expressed general distaste with her hybridity. In general, it’s no secret that most people groups in the world prefer to think of themselves as pure and untouched. Do you think that Filipinos share these sentiments? Do you think the sentiments differ between Filipinos from the U.S. vs. Filipinos from the Philippines? Or do you think Filipinos generally acknowledge their mixture, similar to Latinos?
  

• as we know, how filipinos are racialized depends on context. but regardless of whether or not filipinos are more or less asian or latino, they’re irreducible to either/or. to what extent is ‘filipino’ it’s own unique thing? or in other words, does filipino identity always have to be seen between the spectrum of asian and latino?

• in different parts of your book, reference is made to how asians (east asians) are considered 'white' by filipinos– whether it's due to privilege, academic success, upward mobility, or larger numbers in concentrated areas. the criticisms that your interviewees have towards east asians are certainly valid. for the most part, east asians seem disengaged with social issues, and adhere to ‘model minority’ stereotypes. as history shows, the terms 'white' and 'black' have the uncanny ability to adapt and change over time to include people groups who may not have been categorized as white or black before. any thoughts on whether or not ‘east asians’ are on their way to becoming ‘white’? does upward mobility have to be synonymous with becoming white? and to this point, have you seen the boots riley film ‘sorry to bother you?’
  

• any thoughts as to why the asian community has started to divide itself according to America’s racial black/white binary despite not being of any recent African and Caucasian American descent? Issa Rae jokingly called Filipinos the ‘black of Asia’ in her book ‘The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl’. What are your thoughts on calling Filipinos the ‘blacks of Asia’ vs. ‘the latinos of Asia’? Do you think America considers Latinos to be black?
  

• The title of your book includes the line: “How Filipino Americans break the rules of race”. Within this black/white binary, in what ways do they break the rules?
  

• Colorism is obviously an issue that communities all over the world deal with. Tell us a little bit about colorism within the filipino community. Where does the disgust and fear of black skin and afro-textured hair stem from? Does this differ between men and women (i.e. are these features more acceptable on men than on women)? Is this something you notice both abroad and here in the U.S.?
  

• on page 211, you talk about how you didn’t code your interviewees for phenotype. can you talk about the thought process or philosophy behind this?

colonial legacies:

• apart from american colonialism, what other reasons explain why filipinos are so enamored by american life? why does it matter whether or not you can ‘hack it’ here in the states? to what extent does ‘being american’ simultaneously keep filipinos from returning to the philippines to help society there?
  

• much of what constitutes filipino culture today is a byproduct of spanish and american colonialism. while 'colonialism' has a negative connotation to most, the way filipinos embrace their american-ness is fascinating because they attribute their diversity and inclusivity to this colonial past (p. 70). you refer to it as 'colonial panethnicity'. and this seems like a great thing. on the flip side, there are some filipinos that reject this colonial past and want to get back to their indigenous roots of what it 'truly' means to be filipino, minus the colonial baggage. what’s your take on this? why do you think there is a pull to return to ancestral roots? how are indigenous communities treated back in the philippines? is colonialism something that’s talked much or openly about in the philippines?
  

• much of the world has endured colonialism, and it seems the general reaction of colonized people is to overcompensate in taking back what was theirs, which results in things like intense ethnocentrism. but not so with filipinos. not many cultures are as diverse, radically inclusive, and less cliquey than filipinos. what do you think about this, and why do you think this is?

family roots:

• roots tend to be singular. when people go back to their roots, it's usually just one place, country or continent they return to and explore. but for filipinos, this isn't as salient an idea because many that you've interviewed feel like they have roots in america (because of colonialism) as much as they do in the philippines (pp. 52-53, 60-61). and when also taking into consideration how extended family is vital to filipino life, it seems like filipino roots are less hierarchical, and more rhizomatic (in botany, roots that grow horizontally and not vertically). any thoughts about this?
  

• what limits, if any, are there to becoming a part of fictive kin?

<wrap-up>

• who or what has influenced you most as an academic, educator and writer? are there any particular values/beliefs that drive your work?
  

• who are some important filipinx figures who our listeners should learn about?
  

• what was the path to becoming a professor like for you? a large chunk of your book is about the educational experience for filipinos. to what extent did you experience the same things or obstacles? (academic tracking, racial segregation, etc.) and what is the experience like now as one of the few filipinos, and gay, in your field?
  

• do you feel like there’s a gap between theory and practice in your field of academics? it doesn’t seem too often that ivory tower ideas trickle their way down to the general public. within the context of anti-intellectualism, social-media echo chambers, and non-stop distractions in general, how would you encourage other intellectuals and educators to keep advancing discourse?
  

• on page 187, eileen’s story shows how education plays an important role to realizing empathy. any thoughts on this as an educator?
  

• from our about section, we define being [mxd] as “being a person who does not identify with monological categories or terms of pejorative difference. mxd subjects are those whose sense of self is not indexed to any organizing principle. they resist the policing technologies of identification, they elude the sciences of classification. there’s no pigeonholing them." based on this description, would you consider yourself a mxd subject? How so? How do you feel mxd subjects are transforming the way we view and live in the world today?
  

• what’s next for you? got any new projects going on? plug your work!

<photo mood-board>

these are images from a shoot dan did for the artist reginald sylvester ii. basically, we’d like to get photos of you working, of your space/studio, details of your work and materials, and anything else that conveys who you are as a human :) we’re open to suggestions if you have any ideas for photos you’d like taken (with your partner and dog!)

dan can also meet you anywhere else that would show you working or interacting with others (for example, if you’ll be speaking at an academic function, etc).