Manong Generation Analysis

Behind every mainstream cultural representation, there are private stories and local memories that are silenced and forgotten. My cultural memory project is a puzzle that includes representations of mainstream historical narratives along with memories of individuals that are associated with the Manong Generation. The puzzle reflects the challenge and importance of putting pieces of information together to correct common beliefs and create a voice to silent narratives. The Manong Generation refers to Filipino immigrants who came to the United States during 1920s-30s. Their historical narratives only focus in their agricultural life style. However, memories of these manongs show that they were not simply farmers, but individuals who made great

The common views about them are “low income, poorly educated group of bachelors,” which implies inferiority (Lott 15). Although the manongs were poor, their memories show that they are full of cultural capitals that are essential, such as aspirational, linguistic, and resistant (Yosso 77-81). These are represented by the airplane, English textbook, and army as there were evidences of speech of one manong showing his desire to become a pilot, memory of manong learning English, and manongs as soldiers (Lott 19). Unfortunately, mainstream narratives only focus on dominant cultural capital or knowledges deemed valuable by the society (Oliva-Alvarado, “Postmemory, Cultural Wealth”). However, by using the memories of these manong and placing values in their cultural capitals, we can say that the manongs have essential skills, knowledges, and

The picture at the bottom left corner represents the strike led by Cesar Chavez. Beside the image is a rewind symbol next to an organized meeting. This organized meeting represents the Delano Grape Strike, which launched the United Farm Workers Union (Lott 34). This strike was led by the manongs under Lary Itliong and Philip Bera Cruz to demand fair wages. The Delano Grape Strike, though not commonly known in history, shows that the manongs were active civic participants and play a key role in fair labor practice. Another forgotten story is the anti-Filipino sentiment. In the middle of the puzzle are images that serve as a reminder of the hate that the manongs endured in the United States (Tiongson 1). Beside these hate phrases are the symbol of solidarity. Narratives from the manongs and their family show that they addressed each other with titles, like “tata (elderly),” even though they were not relatives. This practice of giving titles to everyone as if they are part of the family is a tradition in the Philippines. Therefore, it suggests that the manongs brought their cultural memory in the US to find strength from each other. Overall, these forgotten stories show that despite being subject to discrimination, the manongs preserve and unite ensuring multi generation of Filipino