Article (Scientific journals)
Reading the Gendered Body in Filipino-Australian Diaspora Philanthropy
Espinosa, Shirlita Africa
2012In Portal: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 9 (2)
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Keywords :
diaspora philanthropy; gender politics; international migration
Abstract :
[en] Diaspora philanthropy has increasingly become a visible resource of nations from the South, next only to the more widespread money transfers from members of diasporic communities in the first world. The discourse of transnational giving is shaped by the liberal philosophy that has always accompanied solidarity through philanthropy, which sidelines questions of the unevenness of giving, political accountability, and the role of the state in regulating and transforming resource transfers into profitable investment. I argue in this paper that the problematic operations wherein benevolence rendered are manifested in covert gendered techniques. The yearly Sydney Fiesta Cultura’s Miss Philippines-Australia exemplifies the solid links between gender and the political economy of giving. What renders this otherwise ‘ordinary’ beauty contest as more contentious than other forms of generating funds for philanthropy are the specificities of Filipino-Australian migration: the transnational movement of sexual labour that hyperfeminised the community like no other in Australia. The fiesta, not unlike other expressions of cultural production that attempt to conceal this sexualised past, nonetheless raises the spectre of the ‘mail-order bride’ whose migration ‘built’ the community, an assertion that meets opposition from the middle class, professional and mestizo migrants from the Philippines. However, the processes that the fiesta puts into place in facilitating diaspora philanthropy are reliant on women’s labour, thus revealing the intersections of the community’s past and present. This overlooked facet also hints at the philanthropy engendered within diasporic formations as distinct and conditioned by the migrant history that has shaped these communities.
Research center :
University of Sydney
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences
Author, co-author :
Espinosa, Shirlita Africa ;  University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Identités, Politiques, Sociétés, Espaces (IPSE)
Language :
English
Title :
Reading the Gendered Body in Filipino-Australian Diaspora Philanthropy
Publication date :
July 2012
Journal title :
Portal: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies
ISSN :
1449-2490
Publisher :
University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Special issue title :
Imagined Transcultural Histories and Geographies
Volume :
9
Issue :
2
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Name of the research project :
An Ethnography of Philippines-born Migration in Australia
Funders :
Ford International Fellowships, USA
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