Curriculum Questions

The materials posted about here raise any number of cross-disciplinary and transnational/local questions. Here are a few:

  • What was the relationship between the Philippine press–its editors, publishers, and writers–and the Filipinx American press pre-WWII?
  • How does the study of advertising in early print media contribute to our understanding of Filipinx American communities and their allies – then, and now?
  • What has been the relationship between Filipinx reportage and literature?
  • What was/is the role of testimonio in Filipinx periodicals?
  • What role did early 20th century ethnic newspapers and journals play in stimulating and supporting literary production and other art forms among marginalized writers and artists?
  • What can we learn from examining the modes of material production (e.g. types of presses, staffing, promotion and subscription drives, relationships between local printers and publishers) of early ethnic newspapers?
  • How did gender figure in determining whose writing appeared, and in what context and form, in the periodicals?

The relevance of these materials to our 21st century experience should also be explored: How can the study of 20th century Filipinx American periodicals contribute to our understanding of the more fluid production, dissemination, and content of diasporic Filipinx reportage and digital media in the 21st century? Is the print newspaper form still relevant among Filipinx Americans today? To what extent is there continuity between the activism of Filipinx American newspapers of the past and today’s digital media? What has been gained, and what has been lost?