Prof Yen Le Espiritu speaks of immigration and Pinoy community in the U.S.
Prof Yen Le Espiritu speaks of immigration and Pinoy community in the U.S.
A Conversation/Interview featuring Dr. Yen Le Espiritu, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego, was held Friday, Oct. 9 at OCAD University.
The event was attended mainly by Filipino community members, as well as some academic. In an interview/conversation format conducted by Conely de Leon, a PhD student at York University; and Jennilee Austria, youth settlement worker and writer for The Philippine Reporter, Espiritu responded to questions about the similarities and differences of Filipino American and Filipino-Canadian experiences, especially by youth, as impacted by difference in immigration systems, among others. She also described how ethnic studies evolved with the times when immigration/migration has become a major phenomenon in the world.
She also described how de-professionalization manifested in the under-skilling of foreign-trained professionals in the United States, just as it was happening in Canada, An author of a number of books, Dr. Espiritu has been at the forefront of research on Filipino-American and Pan-Asian experiences for more than two decades. Her writings on Filipinos/as in San Diego, in particular, have provided a vivid portrait of how youth, gender, class and race affect the lived realities of these communities. The event was a collaboration between OCADU’s Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and with York University’s Centre for Asian Research (YCAR).
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