FILIPINO AMERICAN ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
SPRING 2007, 2008, 2009

Filipino American Arts (aka Worlds in Collision) is an investigation of Filipino American culture and creativity as a model of hybridity, a way to examine colonial histories, and a means to explore contemporary phenomena such as transnationalism and globalization. This course is a survey of Filipino American artistic production, looking at visual art, literature, music, and performance. It provides the historic context for Philippine colonial history starting in 1521, continuing through the development of Philippine-U.S. relations, and concluding with a focus on the contemporary Filipino American experience here in the U.S.

The course addresses Filipino creative projects and their relation to colonial history, immigration history, generational conflict, racial identity formation in the US, resistance and other forms of protest. It examines multiple modes of, and strategies for, representation. Some questions addressed are: How has the colonial relationship/immigration history of the Philippines and the US informed a Filipino American artistic/creative voice? What is the Filipino American creative voice, and what is it saying? How do Filipino American artists navigate/negotiate their place within the mainstream community, art community, cultural community?

Through weekly journals, essays, arts projects and a final presentation, students draw their own parallels and associations between colonial histories and contexts, contemporary artists, and their relationship to Filipino American Arts Exploration as both writers and makers themselves.