Joyce Mariano
Assistant Professor
Department of American Studies
University of Hawaii
United States of America
Biography
Joyce Mariano earned both of her advanced degrees from the University of Minnesota, graduating with a B.A. in Sociology in 2000 and a Ph.D. in American Studies in 2011. Prior to her position in American Studies at UH-Manoa, she held a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she began work on her book manuscript, “Charity Begins at Home”: Filipino Diaspora and the Politics of Giving. In addition to core American Studies undergraduate and graduate courses, she teaches courses on Filipino American experience and Asian American cultural politics. Her broad scholarly interests include Filipino American studies, immigration and globalization, critical philanthropy studies, transnational Asian American studies, diaspora studies, American empire, and the Philippines. The book manuscript “Charity Begins at Home” looks at transnational aid and philanthropic projects sponsored by Filipino Americans in efforts to improve the conditions of the Philippines. Mariano probes the multiple discourses of need, compassion, and solidarity that comingle with experiences of migration and memories of homeland, the benefits and exclusions of American citizenship, and the racialized disparities of global capital. She examines how Filipino American organizations translate these discourses of need and compassion through their social development projects and philanthropic programs, creating a network of transnational aid and a significant opportunity to theorize the materiality of diaspora. The chapters of the book work together to demonstrate how proclamations of diasporic responsibility and heartfelt expressions of “paying it forward” are embedded in larger histories and contexts of state policy regarding migration and remittances, economistic solutions to poverty, the cultural triumph of liberal individualism, and ever-changing U.S.-Philippine relations.
Research Interest
Filipino American studies Diaspora studies Asian American studies
