Philippine Perspective on Sexuality and Ethnicity

Women's Studies Colloquium

Sexuality And Ethnicity: Issues From A Philippine Perspective
talk by Lilia Quindoza Santiago

Can sexuality be a marker of ethnic identity? Conversely, does one’s ethnic origin define or confine one’s sexuality?

Ethnic peoples and communities in the world today, including modernizing and diverse societies like the U.S.A, face a number of socio-sexual issues. The refusal of major social institutions like government and the church to deal squarely with these issues stems from largely unresolved questions on the relationships between sexuality and ethnicity.

Writing on social location and ethnic identities, Ali Rattansi previously asserted that “identities, both individual and collective are almost always de-centered, and … that the particularities and peculiarities of any unique identificatory configuration need to be carefully plotted and narrated because of their complex historical and contextual features… (In Jo An Lee and John Lutz, “Situating “Race and Racisms in Space, Time and Theory, 2005).

My paper will attempt to deal with some very specific questions on the interconnections/intersections and contradictions of sexuality and ethnicity in the Philippine/Filipino context.

I will try to probe into fundamental questions like: (1) when sexuality discourses challenge long-held ethnic traditions, customs, and beliefs are there appropriate measures to be undertaken to keep ethnic identities at least stable and at most respectable? And, (2) when ethnic mores, traditions and beliefs endanger the reproductive health of peoples, or the environment can there be change or transformation of these beliefs without resorting to what may in the long run be “ethnic cleansing” or the extermination of these communities because their very own survival may depend on these “unhealthy” traditions, customs and practices.

This presentation will use mostly Philippine materials from Philippine experiences and perspectives and will discuss many evolving patterns of social and sexual life among selected and thriving ethnic and ethno-linguistic communities In the Philippines and in Hawaii.

Lilia Quindoza Santiago is currently Assistant Professor of Ilokano at the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages, College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature. She is author of several books, the latest of which is Sexuality and the Filipina (2007) published by the University of the Philippines Press.

Before joining the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dr. Santiago was full professor of Filipino and Philippine Litrerature at UP, a distinguished writer who has won literary awards for her essays, poems, and fiction. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia in 2005.

Event Sponsor
Women's Studies, Manoa Campus

More Information
Aya Kimura, 956-7464, kimuraa@hawaii.edu

Ongoing Events