DJing as a Filipino thing- 4/11

In the Chapter DJing as a Filipino Thing, I was particularly interested in the discussion about how invisibility of Filipinos in the pan-ethnic Asian American identity may motivate Filipino youth to rely on hip-hop as a way to negotiate their status (57-58). As a Filipina-American identified individual myself, I resonated with their experiences of feeling excluded in the pan-ethnic identity because it merely clusters us into a group and fails to acknowledge the Philippines' history of Spanish and U.S. colonization. Even when looking at the educational and life outcomes within the Asian groups, we see a stark difference between Southeast Asians and East Asians (and even within those ethnic subgroups). Although utilizing hip-hop, spoken word, and other alternate forms of art may have originated from Black culture, it serves as an outlet for my own Filipino-identified peers to share their narratives - some acknowledge "colonial mentality" in their experience as Filipinos. In addition, this reading led me to think about the ways in which some people view non-Blacks who perform dance moves and popular dances associated with the Black culture as demonstrating cultural appropriation; I then wondered whether other studies on this subject matter exist as well.