Upon completion of my first field school and transitioning into my final semester as an undergraduate at Hunter College, I cannot fathom how much of a packed summer I’ve had. I’ve been back in the States for almost two weeks and I’m still trying to digest and process what it is that happened in Ifugao!
So here’s my recap:
-Learned practical applications of theories studied in class
surrounding Anthropology and Archaeology
-Learned how to excavate
-Learned how to accession
-Learned how to fall several times (off the terraces and into the
river)
-Learned how to get back up even more times (from falling- see
above)
-Learned to come to terms with parting from meaningful
relationships built in such a short period of time that I’ve no
doubt will last a lifetime
I initially joined IAP as a last minute applicant via IFR with the intentions of determining what it is I’d like to do after finishing my BA in Anthropology. I did that. However, IAP was so much more than I expected. I am forever grateful for the amount of learning that took place in the span of just a month. As a New Yorker attending a primarily commuter school, I learned to adapt to living in a room full of other people, having to conserve water and electricity, REALLY picking up after myself, and more importantly where I stand as the individual I am (an outsider) to a community that was so warm and welcoming (Ifugao).
As it turns out, this project revealed much more about myself than I initially intended it to. I approached it as a student and left as a more whole human being. More specifically, it helped me to acknowledge my Am-Fil identity (Doc, Post-Boklay Festival). See, before this trip, my “Filipino-ness” was something that I placed at the back-burner of my suite of identities. Before this journey, I was (still am) an active participant in politics and grassroots fundraising and I focused my efforts towards progressing human rights, specifically in the sphere of the LGBTQ community. I am a QPOC (Queer Person of Color), but I often times identified more with the former half of my identity as opposed to the latter half. This could have been for a number of reasons- my accessibility to queer theory and gender studies in NYC, my rejection of exploring organized Fil-Am groups in college, or maybe even chance.
Despite this preexisting circumstance, going to Ifugao made me stare at the Filipino element of my identity right in the face. This was the first time I had ever been to the northern part of the Philippines, and before this trip, I discovered how imperative it was to identify where your parents were from! I found myself telling people that my mom is from IloIlo in Visayas and my dad is from Manila. The simple discourse of doing so forced me to think critically about why Filipinos in the Diaspora do that… I’m still perplexed by this and cannot generate a straight-forward answer, but what I can do is certainly identify that the Philippines is not homogenous and there certainly exists aspects to it that I have yet to discover.
Anyhow, returning from this trip and sitting in a Starbucks in suburban Westchester right now makes me proud of this unique quality to my identity. I’m encouraged to speak Tagalog more frequently in my home, to hone and define what it means to be Am-Fil, and to be more interested in this element of my intersectional identity (i.e., QPOC). I feel like I’ve broken a boundary that has restricted me from exploring my Am-Fil identity and I could not be more excited for the future and what’s to come. Thank you so much IAP, SITMo, teachers, new-found friends, and IFR for allowing me to do this. See you soon :]
So here’s my recap:
-Learned practical applications of theories studied in class
surrounding Anthropology and Archaeology
-Learned how to excavate
-Learned how to accession
-Learned how to fall several times (off the terraces and into the
river)
-Learned how to get back up even more times (from falling- see
above)
-Learned to come to terms with parting from meaningful
relationships built in such a short period of time that I’ve no
doubt will last a lifetime
I initially joined IAP as a last minute applicant via IFR with the intentions of determining what it is I’d like to do after finishing my BA in Anthropology. I did that. However, IAP was so much more than I expected. I am forever grateful for the amount of learning that took place in the span of just a month. As a New Yorker attending a primarily commuter school, I learned to adapt to living in a room full of other people, having to conserve water and electricity, REALLY picking up after myself, and more importantly where I stand as the individual I am (an outsider) to a community that was so warm and welcoming (Ifugao).
As it turns out, this project revealed much more about myself than I initially intended it to. I approached it as a student and left as a more whole human being. More specifically, it helped me to acknowledge my Am-Fil identity (Doc, Post-Boklay Festival). See, before this trip, my “Filipino-ness” was something that I placed at the back-burner of my suite of identities. Before this journey, I was (still am) an active participant in politics and grassroots fundraising and I focused my efforts towards progressing human rights, specifically in the sphere of the LGBTQ community. I am a QPOC (Queer Person of Color), but I often times identified more with the former half of my identity as opposed to the latter half. This could have been for a number of reasons- my accessibility to queer theory and gender studies in NYC, my rejection of exploring organized Fil-Am groups in college, or maybe even chance.
Despite this preexisting circumstance, going to Ifugao made me stare at the Filipino element of my identity right in the face. This was the first time I had ever been to the northern part of the Philippines, and before this trip, I discovered how imperative it was to identify where your parents were from! I found myself telling people that my mom is from IloIlo in Visayas and my dad is from Manila. The simple discourse of doing so forced me to think critically about why Filipinos in the Diaspora do that… I’m still perplexed by this and cannot generate a straight-forward answer, but what I can do is certainly identify that the Philippines is not homogenous and there certainly exists aspects to it that I have yet to discover.
Anyhow, returning from this trip and sitting in a Starbucks in suburban Westchester right now makes me proud of this unique quality to my identity. I’m encouraged to speak Tagalog more frequently in my home, to hone and define what it means to be Am-Fil, and to be more interested in this element of my intersectional identity (i.e., QPOC). I feel like I’ve broken a boundary that has restricted me from exploring my Am-Fil identity and I could not be more excited for the future and what’s to come. Thank you so much IAP, SITMo, teachers, new-found friends, and IFR for allowing me to do this. See you soon :]
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