October is Filipino American History Month! From the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Board of Trustees: The official 2024 theme for Filipino American History Month is “Struggle, Resistance, Solidarity, and Resilience.”
Throughout Filipino American history, there have been instances of struggle, resistance, solidarity, and resilience. Struggle and resistance are defined as the ways that the Filipino American community has persisted through various types of systemic oppression and violence - ranging from discriminatory laws that treated Filipino Americans as second-class citizens to the hate violence Filipino Americans endured because of their race, ethnicity, and other identities. Solidarity includes the ways that Filipino Americans have organized to fight against injustice - either within their own communities or alongside other racial and ethnic groups. Resilience involves the ways in which Filipino Americans have successfully overcome adversity throughout history - despite the systemic and interpersonal obstacles they have endured.
From the painful to the triumphant, all of these moments contribute to a cumulative Filipino American history. We encourage our communities to reflect on our history and celebrate our collective love and joy.
Located under the Dome, 1st Floor
Oct 1 - 31, 2024
Last year’s display highlighted the past and its influence on the Filipinx American community in San Diego. Rather than looking backward, this year, I wanted to highlight how we can move forward and make active changes to our current society.
Inspired by a student’s joy last year for the APIDA Center’s hosted event of Ruby Ibarra and my dear friend, who is a Native rapper and a librarian and friends with Rocky Rivera, I choose to look at Filipinx Americans and their use of hip-hop to help tell their story, find a creative outlet, find kinship, and push for social justice.
Hip-Hop as a culture is expressed in many formats, such as music, dance, art, and fashion. While the display focuses on musical expression, I feel that the materials highlighted are similar to hip-hop’s variety of expressions.
You’ll find scholarly works like books, chapters, journal articles, dissertations, and theses. All of these centers on the study of Filipinx Americans and hip-hop. You’ll also find original works, such as primary sources of documentaries and actual music from Filipinx American artists.
Like many students starting a new research journey, I discovered a few gems of resources like Christopher Vito’s “The Values of Independent Hip-Hop in the Post-Golden Era: Hip-Hop's Rebels.” Vito is a native San Diegan, a Filipino American, a SDSU alum, studies hip-hop, and openly shares how hip-hop saved his life. I look forward to continuing my knowledge journey to further learn about the complexities of the Filipinx Americans and their use of hip-hop culture.
I’ve assembled this display as a starting point to inspire our large community of Filipinx American SDSU students.
Thanks for browsing through,
Jenny Wong-Welch
Librarian
Lewis, L. (2012). The Philippine “Hip Hop Stick Dance.” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2012.10598705
Devitt, R. (2008). Lost in Translation: Filipino Diaspora(s), Postcolonial Hip Hop, and the Problems of Keeping It Real for the “Contentless” Black Eyed Peas. Asian Music, 39(1), 108–134. https://csu-sdsu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_SDL/15ped5q/cdi_proquest_journals_214158917
Shiu, A. S.-F. (2007). Styl(us): Asian North America, Turntablism, Relation. CR: The New Centennial Review, 7(1), 81–106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41942894
Villegas, M. R. (2018). Redefined What is Meant to Be Divine: Prayer and Protest in Blue Scholars. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 41(3), 509–526. https://doi-org.libproxy.sdsu.edu/10.1353/bio.2018.0056
Matson, A. (2011, July 1). Grind and shine: Blue scholars. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2011/07/01/137537350/grind-and-shine-blue-scholars
Labrador, R. N. (2015). “The Rock, Rock On”: Musical Autobiography as National Counter-Story. Popular Music & Society, 38(2), 243–260. https://doi-org.libproxy.sdsu.edu/10.1080/03007766.2014.994321
Wang, O. S. (2004). Spinning identities: A social history of Filipino American DJs in the San Francisco Bay Area (1975–1995). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://csu-sdsu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_SDL/10r4g1c/cdi_proquest_journals_305212057
This tiny desk contestant rapped a love letter to her immigrant mother. (2019, June 22). NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2019/06/22/734403197/this-tiny-desk-contestant-rapped-a-love-letter-to-her-immigrant-mother
Mv. (2009, August 17). Watch hip hop mestizaje now! Hip Hop Lives. https://filamfunk.blogspot.com/2009/08/watch-hip-hop-mestizaje-now.html
Beats, rhymes, and resistance: Pilipinos and hip hop in los angeles(The definitive version). (n.d.). [Video recording]. Retrieved September 26, 2024, from https://vimeo.com/3722157