Queering Kapwa in the Classroom

• In Event: Redefining Asian American Success: Kuwentos of Radical Filipinx Pedagogies

Abstract

This paper explores the implementation of critical kapwa pedagogy in a course entitled Filipinx LGBTQ+ Identities and Experiences. This course resulted from multiple students’ feelings of marginalization in both Philippine Studies and Queer Studies classes that did not fully humanize their intersectional identities and was the first of its kind offered in the nation. With the increasing rhetoric and resulting legislation that is harming LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals, communities, and institutions of higher education, this case study offers an example of the way we can push back against this to provide spaces of hope, healing, and community in our classrooms.

Theory
This case study is rooted in critical kapwa pedagogy that asserts that as educators, “we have a choice of either perpetuating the divisions in our community or attempting to repair those relationships and bring about a collective healing from historical trauma” (Desai, 2016, p. 39). Virgilio Enriquez (2004) describes kapwa as the unity of the self with the others through a recognition of the shared self. He argues that kapwa is at the “core of the Philippine [/Filipinx(American)] value system“ (p.xi). This paper examines how kapwa was cultivated and sustained in a digital context. It also looks at how the application of critical kapwa pedagogy is responsive to the needs of students from multiple intersecting non-dominant identities.

Methods/Sources
Following kuwentuhan methodology (Francisco-Menchavez, 2022), this paper explores the experiences of the department chair, professor, and students who piloted this first course. This paper will incorporate the narratives or “kwentos” of all the different individuals involved in the course—the department chair, professors, and students. In this paper, the author places themself in dialogue with the other stakeholders to expand our understanding of the impacts of critical kapwa pedagogy on both teachers and students.

Findings & Significance
Together our collective kwentos reveal a larger understanding of what kapwa means in the context of for LGBTQ+ Filipinx Americans and the larger Filipinx American community. This paper provides evidence of how applying critical kapwa pedagogy across the barriers of time and space, even via a virtual format, can provide a space for radical vulnerability, healing, and hope that our students and teachers really need.

Author

• Maharaj Desai, California State University - East Bay