Engaged, But Not Immersed: Tracking the Mediated Public Connection of Filipino Elite Migrants in London

Abstract

While most of the literature highlights the social, economic and cultural aspects of Filipino migration, this study explores its political dimension by focusing on the public connection of Filipino elite migrants in London. Unlike other types of Filipino migrants, such as Americanized balikbayans and ‘low-skilled’ labour migrants, elite migrants are expected to return physically to the homeland as part of their nationalistic duty to ‘lead the nation’. From their interviews and participant observation, the authors discover that overseas scholars indeed maintain a strong interest in homeland political issues through heavy news consumption on the Internet. However, this has also fostered an ambiguous kind of public connection. On the one hand, elite migrants remain engaged with issues that they hope to address on their eventual return, but on the other hand they are not immersed with ‘other’ Filipino people in the diaspora. Their political engagement involves talk and mediated conversations with limited face-to-face collaborations with other migrants. This kind of public connection lends itself to longdistance particularistic communication and a great volume of discussion, but limited and short-term forms of public activity. The authors argue that elite migrants' practices of political engagement are inscribed in continuing socio-historical – and fundamentally classed – divides in Philippine society. Further, rather than enabling cross-class communications and connections, the media are frequently used by elite migrants to maintain political, economic, social and cultural divides.

• public connection
• elite migrant
• political engagement
• media consumption
• ilustrado
• class

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jonathan Corpus Ong

Author details: Jonathan Corpus Ong is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, UK. E-mail: [email protected].

Jason Cabañes

Jason Cabañes is a PhD student at the Institute of Communication Studies, University of Leeds, Clothworkers' Building North, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Both authors are also affiliated to Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.