Not Home, But Here: Writing from the Filipino Diaspora.(Book Review)

Not Home, But Here: Writing from the Filipino Diaspora. Ed. Luisa A. Igloria. Manila: Anvil, 2003. 143 pages. $9.10 paper; $5.20 newsprint.

Over the past decade, anthologies of Filipino writing have become an important arena for discussions of diaspora. Not Home, But Here: Writing from the Filipino Diaspora does not merely add to the burgeoning collections of Filipino writing, but takes a different turn in de-centering the United States as its primary referent. While previous anthologies of Filipino writing highlight the differences between Filipinos in the Philippines, Filipinos in the United States, and American-born Filipinos, this anthology takes the subject of writing in the diaspora as its defining feature.

The fifteen essays by Filipino writers, poets, and academics (including one advertising executive turned shaman) hail from Spain, Korea, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Australia, and the United States, and invite critical thought on issues of writing as a Filipino abroad. In her eloquent introduction, Editor Luisa Igloria describes the goal of the anthology: to consider "related themes of separation, exile, expatriate life, (im)migration, (re)location and/or travel abroad--primarily in terms of how these experiences impacted on their lives and work as writers, influenced and defined their creative process, (re)defined, unsettled, questioned, and shaped their concepts of home, nation(ality), identity, allegiance, and possibility." Not Home, But Here is successful in providing a space for personal meditation and critical reflection on the complexity of diaspora. The essays are presented as individual pieces, rather than grouped by themes. Taking the concept of diaspora to form as well as content, many of the essays are hybrids of prose and poetry, while others take more explicitly the form of journal notes, lists, or a film script. As with any edited collection, the quality can be uneven at times, though the variation is not extreme.

If the discourse of diaspora highlights difference, then the anthology invites us to think about the various registers of that difference. Quite a few essayists focus on linguistic differences as a mark of diaspora. Bino Reluyo's well-crafted "Life at McDonald's (or Life is not English)" reflects upon the politics of speaking English and Spanish at McDonald's in Manila and New York City. Aimee Nezhukumatathil's "Speaking, Listening (and Swearing) in a language I Just Don't Understand" poignantly relates how mispronouncing the name of her mother's Philippine province (and being corrected by Filipina writer Jessica Hagedorn) made her question her authenticity. Edna Weisser's "London Boys and Other Filipinos" ponders the fate of Pinoy English at the hands of the British. In "Border Lover," Merlinda Bobis compares the possibility of writing in Bikol, Pilipino, and English in the Philippines to the feeling of being "surrounded by the English language" in Australia. By gesturing to the hybrid forms of English produced by the diaspora, the anthology also raises the related question of whether the meaning of the Filipino diaspora is limited to English-language texts.

Some contributors ...