Date Thesis Awarded

5-2010

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Anthropology

Advisor

Brad Weiss

Committee Members

Jonathan Glasser

Anne K. Rasmussen

Abstract

This paper addresses the transformation and negotiation of Filipino American identity through the analysis of Filipino restaurants in the D.C. metropolitan area. Despite having about a dozen Filipino restaurants and carry-outs in northern Virginia and southern Maryland, Filipino residents feel they are underrepresented in the dining scene, especially when comparing themselves to other Asian ethnic groups. When Filipino food is recontextualized from nanay's kusina (mother's kitchen) to carinderia (small restaurant), memory plays a powerful role in shaping customers' expectations and taste. This ethnographic account explores the questions surrounding how Filipinos shape and reconstruct their notions of family, home, and homeland in America. For instance, how are restaurants appropriate sites for the public demonstration of one's ethnicity? How are they compatible with Filipino ideas of "what makes a Filipino"? Finally, what does the perceived lack of restaurants say about the Filipino's self-identity and sense of "pride"?

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

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