This is a project about finding connections and weaving these together. 

Translating––re-presenting, re-remembering, re-imagining–– a tapestry of woven stories to allow for a transforming, shifting, moving understanding of one’s cultural identity in a modern American society where this question continues to be asked and re-asked. 

The paper is a collection of journal entries, personal narrative, transcribed interviews, and theoretical analysis exploring the personal and historical experience of the Filipinx diaspora. This multi-vocal, fragmented approach is used to capture the nuances and complexities of being a part of the Filipinx diasporic community from the perspective of a mixed, Filipina-American. I adapt James Clifford’s use of articulation theory to connect seemingly disparate components, and I use oral stories to show personal and local community connections to the Filipino diaspora. The interviews help situate a singular voice and experience into a collective context. In this research, there are themes around cultural identity, kinship, diaspora, and collective narrative. I draw connections to globalization specifically due to the relationship between the United States and the Philippines. This is represented by discussing exposure trips to the Philippines from personal and contextual perspectives.