At the twilight of my career, when I will be reflecting on the events that happened in my personal and professional life, I will most definitely consider the five months I spent at the University of Hawai’i Manoa as a Fulbright Visiting Senior Scholar as one of the most significant. The rewards of such experience were not only on its contributions to the advancement of my professional career as scholar of political culture, but also, and equally important, in its personal impacts on me as someone who considers Hawai’i as a second home and as a place which contributed significantly not only to my academic identity but also to my individuality as a person.
When I applied to Fulbright, I was fully aware that there was a tacit discouragement for applicants to visit the same University where they acquired their advanced degrees. Nevertheless, I submitted an application for a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Hawai’i, specifically with its Political Science Department, knowing fully well that I had to provide additional justification for such move. This was not difficult in my case, considering the nature of my proposed research project, which is to study the imaginations of selected Filipino-American students enrolled at the college level regarding the Philippine homeland, and considering that the University of Hawai’i has the highest number of students of Filipino ancestry in the whole United States. Yet, not articulated but was perhaps equally compelling was my desire to reconnect with my Alma Mater, and to give back to the Political Science Department a form of return service that would be a way of paying homage to the very institution that was instrumental in shaping my professional career as a critical scholar in cultural politics. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from UH Manoa in 1991. After almost 18 years, my return to the Political Science Department, now as a Visiting Scholar, was for me a significant way of giving back what I owe, as if to say that here I was, one of its products, coming back to contribute in my own small way to the Department that helped shape me as a scholar.
On hindsight, I really found the experience extremely rewarding. While I could have gained additional and different experience had I ventured to other Universities in the mainland, the emotional and psychic rewards of returning to my Alma Mater were for me more significant. On the logistical side, my familiarity with Honolulu and the University has enabled me to “hit the ground running.” I did not lose time adjusting to and getting familiar with the place. I already had a significant support network not only in the University community, but in the larger community in Hawai’i. These networks enabled me in my scholarly work, even as it also provided me the necessary social support mechanisms. Considering that the Fellowship was only for a short duration of five months, these logistical and social advantages became even more important.
To say the least, my research activity went smoothly, despite some slight delays brought about by a bureaucratic requirement for the University for me to get clearance from the committee on human subjects, a standard operating procedure for social science researchers to ensure that their researches would not violate ethical standards. I did not encounter difficulty in getting my sample of respondents, and neither did I encounter difficulty in the conduct of my interviews. By the end of March 2009, I already have finished my data gathering and was able to write the first draft of my research paper.
Aside from conducting research, and as part of my Fellowship, I also taught a Seminar Course on the Politics of Everyday Life in the Philippines. The experience was also extremely rewarding. I only had eleven students, thereby making the class more intimate. My students were mostly of Filipino ancestry. Beyond the experience of enjoying more advanced technologies in classroom teaching, which UH have provided, what was even more significant to me was the opportunity to share with my students, and to facilitate their re-connection to their homeland. In addition, I also learned a lot from them, particularly on their own perspectives about politics and culture in the Philippines.
What provided me an additional advantage was the relatively close linkage between the course I taught and my research project, thereby enabling me to use my class as a sounding board for the ideas and themes that were gradually forming out of the data I gathered from my research. I was also blessed with the opportunity to give two colloquia presentations, both of which provided me the opportunity not only to share my thoughts and perspectives, but also to draw from peers and the general public significant feedbacks regarding such thoughts and perspectives. The first colloquium which was held on 24 April and was sponsored by the Department of Political Science was on the use of popular culture, specifically on using the reality game show “Survivor Philippines” as template to analyze and theorize about the politics of identity and nation building in the Philippines. The second colloquium was held on 30 April and was co-sponsored by the Filipino and Ilokano Language and Culture Programs of the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature and the UH Center for Philippine Studies. It is in this second colloquium where I presented the results of my research. Earlier, on 3 - 4 April, I presented both papers in the Philippine Political Science Association Conference held in General Santos City in the Philippines.
There were also other activities that provided me more learning and sharing opportunities. One of these was the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Conference held in Washington DC on 19 - 21 April. I was also able to participate in many cultural events, of which I was able to interact with the community, thereby enabling me to establish new networks and re-kindle old ones. One of these was the Filipino Fiesta sponsored by the Filipino Community Center in Hawai’i on 9 May. I was also invited once to serve as a resource person in another course on Philippine politics, and to serve as judge in the song festival and drama competition sponsored by the Filipino Language and Culture programs for students enrolled in the Filipino language classes.
Needless to say, my stay in Hawai’i was a fruitful one. Beyond the academic aspects, and their significant contributions to my professional growth, I will also treasure the opportunity provided me to re-connect back to my friends and colleagues in Hawai’i, and the new networks that I have found in the process. I enjoyed my sunrise jogs around the campus at UH and my sunset walks along the beaches of Honolulu. It was also most memorable for me to have that single Sunday afternoon picnic at the beach with old friends from my East-West Center days, realizing that indeed only bodies age, but not the spirit and the soul. This somewhat made up for the five months I was away from my family. It is noteworthy that while I am having fun, that I was able to complete my academic pursuits on the side. Truly, my experience in Hawai’i was indeed one that befits a rewarding five months stay in paradise.
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