Vested Transnationalism in Pinay Lives

This paper offers the notion of “vested transnationalism” in the lives of immigrant and migrant Filipino women or Pinays in Canada. This means that transnational practices are vested in personalism and a sense of community, essentially translating into a symbolic attachment to an “imagined” nation, both in Canada and in the Philippines. Whether members of the immediate family, members of the extended kinship system, or fictive relations many comprise the beneficiaries of personal and collective activities of community groups, hometown associations, local churches through which Filipino women traverse transnational spaces. This paper also explores the forms and practices of Filipino transnationalism demonstrated in the lives of Pinays in Canada – as seen in families, remittances, balikbayan goods, media and popular culture, dual citizenship, and absentee voting as well as philanthropy, mission work, and advocacy. Data from this presentation is based on interviews and focus group discussions among Pinays in western Canada.