Week 3_Joyce_Vea_ASA114

Nina Glick Schiller's reading, "Lived Simultaneity and Discourses of Diasporic Difference", discusses the difficulty of of capturing the migrant experience in an all-encompassing theory/explanation because of the sheer multitude of different stories that diasporic people carry. Their stories and lived experiences transcend borders and nation-states, disrupting the false dichotomy between "... the culturally pure homeland and the impure ethnic cultures of immigrants," (166).  For later generations born into the diaspora, multiple and hybrid identities help them navigate these transnational spaces.

This reading reminded me of a Filipino movie I recently watched — Transit (2013) — directed by Hannah Espia. This film tackles the complexities and uncertainties of Filipino migrant workers and their children living in Tel Aviv, Israel. As the Israeli government has implemented a law calling for the deportation of migrant workers' children, the two parental characters in the film must grapple with the threat of separation. Their children, whose sole spoken language is Hebrew, have never set foot to the Philippines and continually negotiate between their Filipino and Israeli identities. In one pivotal scene, Yael, the half Israeli teenage daughter of the main character, shouts in frustration, "I am not Filipino! I am Israeli!". This film brings up important questions about diaspora, homeland, and identity when political, social, and cultural forces are constantly at play.

Transit (2013), directed by Hannah Espia

Works Cited:

Anderson, Wanni Wibulswasdi, and Robert G. Lee, eds. Displacements and diasporas: Asians in the Americas. Rutgers University Press, 2005.