About the Members
Honey Mae Caffin (Independent Studies)
Interests: Migration and labour, Decolonizing methodologies, Critical cultural studies, Object-oriented ecology, Design and social change, Networked learning, FLOSS/DIY culture, New media technologies for cross-cultural communication, Community-based sustainable development, Permaculture.
Affiliations: Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights; W2 Community Media Arts Society; Design School for Girls; UBC Philippine Studies Series
Caroline Chingcuanco (Undergraduate, Political Science, UBC)
Interests: Transnationalism, Immigration policies, Immigrant/migrant experiences, Migrant women’s perspectives, Indigenous movements, Contemporary literature
Affiliations: UBC Department of Political Science; UBC Philippine Studies
I’m a member of two diasporas, but I primarily consider myself Filipina-Canadian. I love literature, and I’m pleased that it’s reaching more people globally through the internet and e-publishing. I believe that literature is for the masses and not for the ivory tower. I am also a science fiction/fantasy/horror geek and my life mission is to decolonize these genres. If you’re looking for feminist sci-fi or Filipino speculative fiction, I can hook you up.
Edsel Yu Chua (Undergraduate, Department of Anthropology, UBC)
Interests: Contradictions, Playing computer games, Sustainable technology, Migration, Space, affect, and violence, Variable sum, Hugs and kisses
Affiliations: UBC Filipino Students Association, UBC Anthropology Students’ Association, UBC Philippine Studies Series, Kalayaan Centre, Tinig ng Masa Collective, Vancouver Co-op Radio
About Edsel, born and raised in the Philippines, moved to Canada in 2007. Presently and persistently living and working in Vancouver.
Patrick Cruz (Artist, Emily Carr University of Art & Design)
Interests: Drinking free beer, Art production, Smooth romance, Curatorial practices, Experimental cooking.
Affiliations: University of the Philippines Fine Arts; Emily Carr University of Art & Design; Clownology at Fantastic Space
Patrick Cruz is a Filipino born artist living and working in Vancouver Canada. During the day he works at a grocery store pricing and lifting imported and local goods across the city to serve the community of Commercial Drive. At dawn Cruz paints and sculpts abject and abstracted works that reflect his experiences and memories from childhood in the Philippines. Today he takes inspiration from the chaotic system of his homeland as well as the compartmentalized living conditions in the first world. The tension of two places and the birth of meeting points is what intrigues him to further investigate the in-between, like the fake crab inside the California roll. The place being the physical, mental or spiritual, whatever it is Cruz loves to produce art constantly trying to race the speed of the capitalist machine. It is a complete mismatch although Cruz is like a dial-up modem on steroids. For private abstracted portraiture please e-mail patrickcruz0@gmail.com
Timothy de la Torre (Undergraduate, Pharmacy, UBC)
Interests: Pharmacy, Philippines, Manga, Languages
Affiliations: UBC Pre-Pharmacy Society Co-President 2011-12, UBC Kababayan Filipino Student Association Academic Director 2011-12, Kappa Psi Pharmacy Professional Fraternity Second-Year Representative 2011-12, Kababayan Academic and Mentorship Program Mentor 2009-12
I’m currently in my second year Pharmacy study in UBC. I was born in the Philippines and I moved in Canada in 2004. My journey as a young Filipino in Canada has been well and blessed. It started slow but as soon as I figured out my place in the society, I became driven and ambitious. My stay in university is pretty diversified. I’m part of some organization (listed above). As the academic director for Kababayan this year, I put together a professionals conference, which featured young and seasoned Filipino professionals. It was a great event! I liked organizing the event because I had an awesome team! (You know who you are). My motto in life is “Strive for the best you can possibly be while cherishing the people who are of great importance to you.”
Dada Docot (Phd Student, Anthropology, UBC)
Interests: Film, Visual anthropology, Philippines, Migration
Affiliations: Nabua Forum; Society for Visual Anthropology-American Anthropological Association; Liu Institute for Global Issues; Vanier Canada-SSHRC
I was raised in the Philippines, speaking both Filipino and the Rinconada of Camarines Sur languages. I began my PhD studies 2010, after finishing my masters in the same field at the University of Tokyo. Sometimes, I also participate in art exhibitions and film festivals, with my works largely focusing on Filipino international migration.
Chaya Erika Go (Undergraduate, Department of Anthropology, UBC)
Interests: Cultural anthropology; Indigenous cultural communities
Affiliations: Assisi Development Foundation (Philippines); International Service Learning; UBC Philippine Studies Series; UBC I.Lead
I am in search of solidarities, and have been blessed to know early that I can meet myself in others, over and over again. I give thanks to the many homes, lands, and hearts that I now belong to. Promoting transnational collaborations among indigenous communities is this life’s commitment.
Teilhard Paradela (Graduate, History, UBC)
Interests: Modern Southeast Asian History; Gender, sexuality, and performance; State power and mass culture; Performance studies
Affiliations: UBC Department of History
I was born and raised in the Philippines, moved to Canada in 1999, and became a Canadian citizen in 2005. I am writing my dissertation on how popular entertainments of the Martial Law period in the Philippines (1971 – 1981) performed the repressive and exhibitionist drives of the Marcos regime.
Christine Noelle Peralta (Graduate, Department of History, UBC)
Interests: U.S Imperialism, Migration, Regulation of motherhood, Supernatural/ superstitions, Philanthropy, Medicalization
Affiliations: University of Illinois; UBC Department of History
Hello everyone! I completed my MA in History at the University of British Columbia this past fall. My MA dissertation, “Handmaids of Health” was about a small group of Filipino nurses who were sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation to receive advanced degrees in the U.S and Canada in the 1920s-1950s. With this work I hope to expand on Filipino American history by showing that there was not just pensionados and laborers kicking it in the U.S. prior to 1960, but privately sponsored migrants. I hope to expand on this work at the University of Illinois, where I will be starting my PhD. in the fall. But since no one can think about philanthropic organizations’ participation in U.S. imperialism every moment of the day, I am also working on a side project about the medicalization of monsters. I am not really concerned in proving if monsters are real or not (because they are), but more of the impulse that scientist and doctors have had throughout history to rely on “modern” medicine to rationalize people’s belief in monsters. If anyone is interested in collaborating on this, HOLLER. Also you probably need to know that I grew up in Texas and I love puppies and kittens equally.
Other Members (information to come soon)
Krystle Alarcon
Albert Badiong
Deyan Denchev
May Farrales
Julienne Javier
Le Quy Hoa Niem
Geraldina Polanco
Lawrence Santiago