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Topic

The Intergenerational Transmission of Colonial ºìÐÓÊÓƵity Within Filipino Canadian Families

Department of Psychology

Date & location

• Monday, January 20, 2025

• 1:00 P.M.

• Clearihue Building

• Room B021 and Virtual

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Catherine Costigan, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. CindyAnn Rose-Redwood, Department of Psychology, Uvic (Member)

• Dr. Fred Chou, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, UVic (Outside Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Leonara Angeles, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, University of British Columbia 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Monica Prendergast, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UVic

   

Abstract

Filipinos have been subjected to centuries of colonization that have led to colonial mentality, a form of internalized oppression. While the process of intergenerational transmission has been theorized, little research has studied the intergenerational process itself. The study uses pakikipagkuwentuhan, a storytelling method from Sikolohiyang Pilipino or Filipino Psychology. Three separate Filipino Canadian families who had at least one adolescent born in Canada participated in the storytelling process. Family members were interviewed separately, and then interviews were analyzed to construct three family narratives illustrating the intergenerational transmission of colonial mentality. The narratives had five themes or messages demonstrating how colonial mentality is transmitted intergenerationally: Don’t Look Filipino, We’re Not Enough, We Are Not the Same, It’s Better in Canada, and That’s Just the Way We Are. Participants simultaneously expressed five themes of how colonial mentality is resisted intergenerationally: That’s How We Were Raised, We’re in This Together, I am Filipino Canadian, We’re More Than Our Stereotypes, and It’s Not About Survival Anymore. These findings demonstrate how the transmission of and resistance to colonial mentality can occur simultaneously. Furthermore, the narratives provide evidence that colonial mentality may be an adaptive strategy for surviving oppression in postcolonial Philippines and Canada. While Filipino Canadian families engage in colonial mentality for survival, they simultaneously maintain collective oppression, demonstrating the complex tension between individual survival and collective liberation. Rather than blaming Filipinos for their own oppression, the findings underscore how Filipino Canadian families continue to survive historical and contemporary systemic oppression that should be dismantled.