“Beyond These Campus Walls: Building & Expanding the Bulosan Center Internship Program Beyond the University”

• In Event: Reimagining Pedagogy: Teacher Agency, Spiritual Inclusion, and Community-Centered Education

Abstract

This research paper examines how the Bulosan Center for Filipinx Studies, one of the first grass-roots Filipino-American research centers in the United States, transformed its student community internship program during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. This transformation served as a space for expansion and radical visioning beyond the university by establishing partnerships with community organizations and nonprofits. This shift provided students across the Filipino diaspora with more diverse and meaningful internship opportunities that align with their interests and the needs of the community. By empowering students to seek out community partnerships and mentorship, the internship program reimagines a future of radical Filipinx Studies that challenges colonial white supremacist histories of the Philippines while building a vision for healing and interdisciplinary social justice. Students collaborate on projects and research with various community organizations such as GABRIELA USA, Migrante International, LEADFilipino, and the Critical Filipinx Studies Collective. With a more flexible and impactful internship program vision, the Bulosan interns were able to cocreate their own original social justice oriented research while developing tools, resources, and important data to be shared and co-owned with their community partners. This community-centered approach enabled students to gain valuable experience, develop partnerships for change, and contribute to the continued legacy of Ethnic Studies, education, and community-engaged Research. Furthermore, these internship experiences provided an avenue for student interns to reimagine what research looks and feels like, engaging methodologies and practices that directly challenge colonial conceptions of academia and move towards a more liberatory education future.

Author

• Wayne Jopanda, University of California - Davis