Come Back Home Soon

An essay in Filipino Studies: Palimpsests of Nation and Diaspora, edited by Martin F. Manalansan IV and Augusto Espiritu. New York: New York University Press.

This essay ruminates on the contradictions generated by specific travel abroad events on three levels: a voyage to a country that is deeply regarded as “homeland” even though one has not been there before, a “homecoming” experience that enables a discovery of one’s lost identity as it breaks apart a sense of filial loyalty to one’s country, and a unique expedition that stretches one’s imagination of the meanings and practices of building transnational communities.