Trends, Themes, and Threads: A Critical Meta-Analysis of Filipina/o Americans and Education Research

• In Event: Dis-Orienting Asian Pacific America: Emerging Perspectives on the Asian American and Pacific Islander Educational Experience

Abstract

Objectives:
This study involves a critical examination of literature within the last 50 years pertaining to Filipina/o Americans in education. In particular, we engage in a meta-analysis of the research literature to uncover prominent themes, patterns and trends providing insight to how Filipina/o Americans’ position in U.S. education.The legacy of Filipino/a Americans in the United States is long and complex, contingent upon how they are placed within the larger context of U.S. race relations. This is especially true in the case of their participation education. Despite their continued tenuous relationships with the U.S., and being the largest Asian American immigrant population, there exists a void in analyzing what and how research portrays Filipina/o Americans and education. Therefore, the authors seek to identify the instances of resistance, agency, and hope; elements of an education system that we maintain, is not only imperative but possible for the next generation.

Research questions guiding our review include:
1) What is the state of Filipina/o Americans in education research?
2) How, if at all, are culture, history, race, and ethnicity accounted for within studies?
3) Methodologically, what are the possibilities of an interdisciplinary approach to meta-analyses?

Theory:
Critical race theory in education (Dixson & Rousseau, 2006; Solórzano, 1997) and Ethnic Studies frameworks (Lowe, 1996; Rodriguez, 2010) were used to guide review design and analyses. Our approaches were informed by previous reviews about Asian American populations (Ngo & Lee, 2007; Halagao, et al., 2009) serving as models that contend with similar concerns explicit in our research questions. These frameworks productively situate Filipina/o Americans as an underexamined population in ways that account for historical legacies compounded by issues of war, imperialism, and colonialism.

Methods/Data Sources:
Data were collected primarily from peer-reviewed journal articles through the EBSCO database. Our focus was to identify Filipina/o American educational experiences, whether or not they were discussed as an individual entity or as a compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Primary search parameters included: “Filipino” of “Pilipino” combined with “education.” The vagueness of these were intended to account for differences in racial/ethnic identification that are often treated semantically (Pilipino v. Filipino; Filipino v. Filipino American). Our initial search returned 1,238 articles. Studies were then eliminated based on criteria such as: 1) no relation to field of education research; 2) subjects not Filipina/o Americans; studies conducted outside the U.S.; and 3) duplicates.

Results and Significance:
This study highlights the complexities associated with understanding the Filipina/o American population and maintains the need to consider how sociohistorical forces shape the educational conditions and experiences of Filipina/o Americans students and communities. Findings from this meta-review suggest insight towards: 1) the need to challenge ahistoricism to comprehend the nuances of racialization for Filipina/o Americans; 2) key exemplars for culturally relevant and responsive teaching focused on Filipina/o Americans. Findings from this study suggests innovative directions the field can respond to lacuna of education research about Filipina/o Americans in critical and holistic ways.

Authors

• Dina C. Maramba, Binghamton University - SUNY

• Edward Ryan Curammeng, University of California - Los Angeles

• Xavier J. Hernandez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign