[Hot Off the Press] Insurgent Communities: How Protests Create a Filipino Diaspora

New book Insurgent Communities argues the connection between social movements and the construction of the Filipino diaspora 

What does it take to create a diaspora? A new release from the Ateneo Press, Insurgent Communities: How Protests Create a Filipino Diaspora, offers a ground-breaking perspective on the formation of diaspora communities, in that they are not inevitable but are constructed through collective action. 

With analytical depth and intellectual nuance, Sharon M Quinsaat delves into the beliefs, loyalties, values, and grievances of Filipinos in the United States and the Netherlands and their shared experiences of struggle, solidarity, and belonging, which fueled these social movements—the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, the fight for migrants’ rights, and the formation of a collective memory of that authoritarian regime. Quinsaat deftly explores these movements as interconnected processes that lead to the complex creation of diasporic identities, especially with its concerns with homeland and history. This book is unique in that the author argues against the homogeneity of diaspora communities and instead advocates for them to be understood through a political lens wherein they are forged through contention, negotiation, conflict, and mobilization. Intertwined within the text is the overarching context of global capitalism, state power, and racialization. Throughout the book, the author also emphasizes the immense agency of the actors in their lives and within these social movements.

Insurgent Communities is a landmark contribution and is a highly relevant reminder of the power of collective identities as formed through political activism. In the foreword, Enrique Niño P Leviste writes, “By bridging rigorous theory with rich empirical detail, it demonstrates a rare ability to illuminate the lived complexities of migration while advancing border debates on transnationalism and identity politics.” This book will be an important reference for those interested in deepening their knowledge of diaspora communities and their relation to social movements. 

About the Author

Sharon M Quinsaat is a scholar of social movements and migration and an associate professor of sociology at Grinnell College. She has published her research in Mobilization, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Mass Communication and Society, Sociology Compass, and Asian Survey.

Insurgent Communities is available at the Ateneo de Manila University Press book shop in Bellarmine Hall and the press’s official website, Lazada, and Shopee stores.

Get your copy in paperback: Website | Lazada and Shopee