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A review by titalindaslibrary
The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race by Anthony Christian Ocampo
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
3.75
When I first heard "Filipinos are the Mexicans of Asia!" I was both irritated and amused. Because there's definitely truth to that saying. So when I came across this book, I knew I had to read it!
Ocampo narrows his scope of research for this project to the Southern California region, where Filipinos make up a large portion of the Asian American population. Using a mix of personal anecdotes and ethnographic research, this book dives into why there's internal conflict for many Filipinos to claim they're Asian.
For me, being half Filipino and raised in a rural state, a lot of the experiences shared in this book are not relatable. Diversity is minimal where I live, and growing up, I filled the underrepresented "Asian" role at my school. However, I never felt like it fit, and even here I found myself drawn towards Latinx crowds and their warm, boisterous families that felt like home. When I travel outside of my state and visit more diverse areas, there have been multiple occasions where strangers have come up to me speaking in Spanish expecting me to understand. So to see how thoroughly Ocampo covers this similar experience among other Filipinos was validating to read.
This book is a decent start for learning more about racial consciousness and how places, community, and stereotypes can mold that. I wish the author had been able to expand his research to Filipinos outside of just one area, and perhaps how it impacts biracial Filipinos within this subject as well. Not to mention how this subject written post-2020 and the rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes would play out. However, it's still a solid start on such a complex subject and I'm glad I read it.
Ocampo narrows his scope of research for this project to the Southern California region, where Filipinos make up a large portion of the Asian American population. Using a mix of personal anecdotes and ethnographic research, this book dives into why there's internal conflict for many Filipinos to claim they're Asian.
For me, being half Filipino and raised in a rural state, a lot of the experiences shared in this book are not relatable. Diversity is minimal where I live, and growing up, I filled the underrepresented "Asian" role at my school. However, I never felt like it fit, and even here I found myself drawn towards Latinx crowds and their warm, boisterous families that felt like home. When I travel outside of my state and visit more diverse areas, there have been multiple occasions where strangers have come up to me speaking in Spanish expecting me to understand. So to see how thoroughly Ocampo covers this similar experience among other Filipinos was validating to read.
This book is a decent start for learning more about racial consciousness and how places, community, and stereotypes can mold that. I wish the author had been able to expand his research to Filipinos outside of just one area, and perhaps how it impacts biracial Filipinos within this subject as well. Not to mention how this subject written post-2020 and the rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes would play out. However, it's still a solid start on such a complex subject and I'm glad I read it.