The Militant Nun as Political Activist and Feminist in Martial Law Philippines

During the martial law era (1972-1986), the militant nuns were the most visible symbols of political activism: they dominated the Task Force Detainees, they were active in the underground press, and were present in the labour strikes and demonstrations. But, in becoming political activists, they discovered the potential of moral power as women religious figures. During the People Power revolution, for example, the nuns – armed only with rosaries, confronted the military (the supreme example of machismo politics) and triumphed. In the process of attacking political oppression, these nuns also began to challenge cultural constructions of the feminine – becoming the first overt feminists to do so in Philippine history. This paper explores how martial law transformed these women into militant activists and feminists. Although driven by their struggle to protect the victims of martial law, they also succeeded in empowering themselves. This new ‘moral power’ has since been harnessed for women’s issues

Sunday Cinderellas: Dress and the Self-Transformation of Filipina Domestic Workers in Singapore, 1990s-2017

Singaporean female employers subject their Filipina domestic workers to strict rules governing their dress and behaviour, in the name of de-sexualising them and maintaining their status as invisible servants at the employers' beck and call. This paper suggests that the fashionable attire that Filipina domestic workers don for their day off is also a symbol of rebellion and a rejection of their employers' desires to render them plain and unattractive. In this sense, fashion is more than just a coping strategy: it is a way of expressing a sexual self, a beautiful and feminine self that is not allowed to be exhibited during workdays. Although these fashion makeovers only last less than 24 hours, in their leisure time Filipina domestic workers transgress the weekday restrictions of their employers while marking their own personal self-transformation as ultra-modern, independent women with consumer power and cosmopolitan tastes

The Politics of Visibility and the Politics of Appearances: Filipina Migrant Consumer Power and Its Limits

This article examines the way Sundays at Lucky Plaza Singapore are an anomaly where conceptual hierarchies are temporarily turned upside down, albeit only one day a week. It is divided into two themes—the politics of visibility and the politics of appearances—illustrating how Filipina domestic workers have been able to demonstrate consumer power and reject society’s attempts to fashion them into invisible minorities and unattractive women. Deriving theoretical inspiration from historians writing about Early Modern Europe, this study reveals how carnival and misrule can unsettle social hierarchies temporarily as well as initiate social change despite the limits of consumer power

The Politics of Visibility and the Politics of Appearances: Filipina Migrant Consumer Power and Its Limits

This article examines the way Sundays at Lucky Plaza Singapore are an anomaly where conceptual hierarchies are temporarily turned upside down, albeit only one day a week. It is divided into two themes—the politics of visibility and the politics of appearances—illustrating how Filipina domestic workers have been able to demonstrate consumer power and reject society’s attempts to fashion them into invisible minorities and unattractive women. Deriving theoretical inspiration from historians writing about Early Modern Europe, this study reveals how carnival and misrule can unsettle social hierarchies temporarily as well as initiate social change despite the limits of consumer power

Coetzee and the Filipino Woman

Abstract: The character Anya in J.M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year whether knowingly or unknowingly, reinforces white Australian stereotypes of the Filipino woman that Filipina feminists in Australia have tried valiantly to dismantle since the late 1980s. Placing Anya in the context of the history of Filipinas in Australia underscores the unique politics of race and gender that this group experienced. The stereotype of the sexualized Filipina that Anya represents contrasts greatly with the lived experiences of Filipina migrants in Australia, and Filipino cultural constructions of the feminine. Hence, while Filipinos will be offended by Anya, the danger is that Coetzee's Anya normalizes and affirms the white male construction of the sexual Filipina to a non-Filipino readership, further entrenching this image of the Filipina in the popular imagination of white Australians

Dress as Symbolic Resistance in Asia (Editorial)

During the past decades, Asian Studies scholars have made outstanding contributions on the topic of how political elites have promoted changes in clothing in their projects of modernising their citizens or creating new nationalist identities (such as by inventing national dress). But the visual power of the politics of appearances allows also marginal and oppressed groups to send powerful messages. This special issue proposes to shift the analytical lens from the way sartorial changes have come from above - i.e., from political elites in power - to examining instead how resistance movements, including women's movements, social movements, minorities and marginalised groups, utilise the semiotics of dress to advance their agendas from below. Thus, this issue underscores the importance of dress, bodily deportment, fashion and etiquette, analysing how these have been intrinsic to the performance of social, political, cultural, religious and gendered identities, and in challenging the status quo. The focus here is on how dress and fashion are marshalled for the performance of collective action, socio-political dissent, alternative politics and identity politics