4/18 reading: “Betrayal, Class Fantasies, and the Filipino Nation in Daly City

In Vergera’s “Betrayal, Class Fantasies, and the Filipino Nation in Daly City,” Vergera explained some of the ways that Filipinos viewed leaving the Philippines for the United States.  As the excerpt’s title suggests, Some Filipinos viewed leaving for the United States as an act of betrayal, and that going to the United States implied selfish personal interests.  And that “Remaining home, in turn, is linked with the invocation, preservation, and consequent reification of ‘traditional’ Filipino character traits depicted as nothing but positive.”  While there are arguments for Filipinos leaving for the United States revolve around selfish interests in money, there are also some contradictory reasons for staying in the Philippines.  This can be seen in how there were some interviewees who didn’t want to leave the Philippines because they already lived in decent luxury, and had things such as maids and orchids.  This is in a way contradictory to the idea that Filipinos who stayed in the Philippines didn’t have ideas of self interest.

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