Nico A. Canoy

‘Intimacy is not free of charge’: An intersectional analysis of cultural and classed discourses of intimacy among gay and transgender identities

Using intersectionality as a lens, this small-scale study seeks to examine the nature and salience of cultural and classed discourses of intimacy among different gay and transgender identities in the Philippines. Utilizing a sequential mixed design, four culturally distinct groups of participants were sampled and interviewed. Results show five cultural discourses, namely: desire for the body, desire for the soul, equitable transactions, invested partnerships, and gender role identity. This article contributes to debates about the utility of intersectionality by providing theoretical and methodological reflections on competing discourses within intersections, implications for shifting cultural discourses among intersecting groups, and cultural and sexual othering.

Struggling to care: A discursive-material analysis of negotiating agency among HIV-positive MSM.

A discursive-materialist framework of agency asserts the mutual constitution of agency within cultural discursive, economic, and embodied material structures. Understanding how HIV-positive men who have sex with men in the Philippines negotiate agency vis-a-vis wider social structures, we utilized Foucault’s care of the self to locate agency in relationships with the self, others, and the broader world. Using data from narratives of 20 Filipino HIV-positive men who have sex with men, we analyzed the negotiation of agency as HIV-positive as embedded in the unique discursive terrain of Roman Catholicism and the economic materiality of a developing country. Three main processes of negotiating agency are elaborated: (1) questioning the spiritual self and the sexual body in the relationship with the self, (2) navigating interpersonal limits to care giving in the relationship with others, and (3) reclaiming human dignity in health care in the relationship with the broader world. Theoretical insights on the discursive and material constitution of healing in light of discursive and material challenges are discussed.

Recycling Identities: A Narrative Inquiry on Consumer Decision Making Among Urban Poor Families in the Philippines

The purpose of this article is to explore consumption-related decisions of urban poor families. Using a combination of in-depth interviews and visual narrative exercise, stories of six urban poor families living in Payatas, Quezon City, were analyzed. Key findings show that consumption-related decisions of participants follow a double cyclic narrative of just right spending. Community shared practices enable participants to survive by managing tensions between making ends meet and sustaining a public ideal of living a simple life. The researchers provide reflections on the socio-economic reproduction of a public ideal and rethinking the role of psychology in poverty reduction policies.

The Daily Grind: A Rhizomatic Approach to Narratives of Managing Commuter Stress During Traffic Congestion in Metro Manila

Robust literature on commuter stress has shown the multiple impact of daily commuting in peoples lives. Framed within a rhizomatic approach to narratives, we analyzed stories of 11 working and 9 student Filipino commuters by looking at the ways they act on or reconstruct themselves to manage stress. In urban Metro Manila, our findings showed three narrative “stress entryways”: getting caught by the wave, seating privileges, and stuck in transit. Theoretical and practical implications of findings on commuter well-being (e.g., keeping emotions in, releasing tensions), technologies of the “fit” commuter, and enriching conversations in traffic psychology and urban living are discussed.

Transformation in Philippine local government

ABSTRACT This research examined the challenges, enablers and outcomes of organisation transformation in Philippine local governments. We combined a multi-case study research design and backward mapping approach in collecting and analysing narratives from 55 leaders in 9 Filipino local government units (LGUs) that have successfully undergone transformation. Results show that the transformations of the LGUs appear to have been catalysed by three interrelated elements: vision, LGU leadership and citizen engagement. The transformation in the local governments concentrated on multiple foci of reform including structure and systems improvement, culture change, human-resource development as well as policy and programme development. This holistic approach enabled the transformation of bureaucratic and unprofessional government service to transparent, professional and efficient public service that engendered pride, transparency and social equity. Implications of the proposed model for transforming LGUs and in developing LGU leaders for good governance are discussed.

Falling into poverty: the intersectionality of meanings of HIV among overseas Filipino workers and their families

Abstract Many years of labour migration have opened opportunities as well as exposed overseas Filipino workers to health vulnerabilities. In the light of the increasing number of HIV cases in the country, these workers may be conceived as an at-risk group in need of careful attention. This study, which focuses on the experiences of HIV-positive overseas Filipino workers, describes the meanings HIV carries, together with implications for workers’ identities as they return home to their families. Recognising that HIV may affect different groups in different ways, we analysed 13 accounts from heterosexual men and women and gay men from the lens of intersectionality. We found three major storylines, namely: the ‘fallen hero’ and the struggle of losing the body for heterosexual men; ‘children in poverty’ and the struggle of losing the mind for heterosexual women; and the ‘crushed dream’ and the struggle of losing dignity for gay men. Surviving with HIV and poverty in the context of continuing heteronormative familial duties suggests the need for family-centered interventions for HIV-positive overseas Filipino workers.

The challenge of continuous user participation in eBayanihan: Digitizing humanitarian action in a nationwide web mobile participatory disaster management system

Disaster is a complex problem that needs to be addressed using a multidimensional and multiplatform framework in collecting information from disaster agents. Social media has been an additional source of information from the ground. eBayanihan is designed to add the human dimension by providing a mobile and web based reporting tool for citizen reporting aside from collecting information in social media. The system serves as a real time dashboard for government agencies assigned to monitor communities during disaster events. However, success of community based computing systems such as eBayanihan is measured by continuous participation from its users. Appropriate motivation is relevant assuring continuous participation. This paper presents a new method of designing a community based computing environment that uses motivation analysis in determining the most probable critical software features that will maximize continuous user participation. The features to be evaluated were extracted from the development team and an initial survey was conducted to determine user motivations based on the volunteer functions inventory. Initial factor analysis revealed three motivation types, namely: civic responsibility, career, and protection. A second survey evaluated the usefulness of each feature in usage scenarios based on the motivation types identified in the first survey. Results indicate that Posting Messages in an Open Forum, Reputation Rating by Peers and Event Notification via FB, Twitter or Text are affected by two factors, namely user motivation and scenario, further validated in usage statistics in eBayanihan.

Positioning Analysis of Filipino Family Narratives in the Context of Prisoner Reintegration

Prisoner reintegration may be viewed as a crisis situation that may lead to a period of instability within the family. Existing researches in this area remain focused on the individual perspective of ex-offenders rather than the experiences of receiving families back in their households. In this study, we aim to examine the reintegration experiences of the family as a group from an initial state of chaos to equilibrium upon the reentry of an incarcerated parent. Using a sample of 12 interviews of family members left behind by incarcerated fathers, three major storylines relating to the family’s struggle for moral re-ascendancy in the context of parental reintegration are identified: othering, rehabilitation, and restoration. We explain the interlocking emotional, discursive, and material forms of labor embedded in the process of prisoner reintegration. Policy implications on social and institutional aid to the families of reintegrating fathers are also discussed.

Perspectives on Protest in South and Southeast Asia

In democratic countries, civil society is provided with a constitutional right to peaceful assembly. However, this right, though universally defined and accepted, still needs to be understood based on experiences and beliefs of ordinary citizens. This chapter discusses perspectives on protest of ordinary citizens from seven countries in South and Southeast Asia. We begin by providing a background on protest, its description, and forms and then relate it to existing frameworks for studies of collective action. We also discuss recent historical protest movements in South and Southeast Asia. Analyses of qualitative survey responses indicated that prevailing views in the region are more pro-protest than anti-protest. Pro-protest themes included focused on protest as a way to achieve peace, as a socially sanctioned right, and as socially justified action. Women were more likely than men to view protest as socially justified while men were more likely than women to view protest as a socially sanctioned right. Also significantly more antiwar protestors than non-protestors participants displayed pro-social agency, personal initiative, and activism when responding to a scenario about police beating peaceful antiwar protestors.

Perspectives on Invasion in South and Southeast Asia

Asia, commonly called the region of the rising sun, is the world’s largest continent and home to half of the word’s population (Zaide and Zaide 2006). Much of its history speaks of early civilization prior to Western invasion and colonization. For one, Asia is often considered a cradle of mankind because of the discovery of the Homo erectus fossil remains in Indonesia. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity are among the many religions with Asian lineage spread across neighboring regions. Various forms of art and culture were also present prior to Western invasion, providing evidence of thriving nations with unique traditions, culture, language, and forms of government.