Insurgent Communities - by Sharon M Quinsaat

About the Book

"The term "diaspora" is used so commonly that its definition, a community of people living away from their ancestral homeland, seems self-evident. But how do migrants come to form a group, and how do they understand that homeland? In this book, sociologist Sharon Quinsaat sheds new light on the meaning of diaspora through the stories of Filipino migrants who, on first arrival to their new homes in the Netherlands and the US, don't necessarily connect to their Filipino identity or other Filipinos. They maintain ties to the homeland through family, often in the form of remittance payments, but they don't see themselves as part of a Filipino community abroad. After all, how much common ground could there be between a masters student at a private US university and an undocumented domestic worker earning less than minimum wage? Quinsaat shows that these gaps are bridged when Filipinos become engaged in political activism. Quinsaat analyzes three distinct protest movements--against the regime of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, for migrants' rights abroad, and around cultural memory of the Marcos regime--that strengthened Filipino identity among migrants as they gathered collectively to make shared demands in public. These movements bring together very different migrants with a newfound shared goal, requiring them to openly address their different experiences and relationships to their homeland and its history. Social movements thus provide an essential space not just for coming together as diasporic subjects, but for openly negotiating and working through the diversity of migrants' experiences. She also shows that this local engagement with other migrants in a new country of residence quickly ties into a global network of activism. Activist groups forge connections with others living abroad, creating new diasporic identities that crisscross the globe by way of shared political commitments. Spanning five decades, Quinsaat's project helps us understand not just a major migrant group, but how people come to see themselves as part of a collective"--

Book Synopsis

Sociologist Sharon M. Quinsaat sheds new light on the formation of diasporic connections through transnational protests.

When people migrate and settle in other countries, do they automatically form a diaspora? In Insurgent Communities, Sharon M. Quinsaat explains the dynamic process through which a diaspora is strategically constructed. Quinsaat looks to Filipinos in the United States and the Netherlands--examining their resistance against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, their mobilization for migrants' rights, and the construction of a collective memory of the Marcos regime--to argue that diasporas emerge through political activism. Social movements provide an essential space for addressing migrants' diverse experiences and relationships with their homeland and its history. A significant contribution to the interdisciplinary field of migration and social movements studies, Insurgent Communities illuminates how people develop collective identities in times of social upheaval.

Review Quotes

"Insurgent Communities is an absolute must-read. Through the meticulous examination of Filipino migrant activism in the US and The Netherlands, Quinsaat effectively demonstrates how contentious politics forge diaspora movements. Her impressive fieldwork, interviews, and archival research effectively illustrate how episodes of contention reconfigure migrants' sense of their 'imagined' communities, identities, and corresponding solidarities. Using rich accounts that highlight the lived experiences of Filippino activists, she shows how these episodes motivate migrants to act collectively to increase their rights and political influence, both at home and abroad. By shedding light on how diasporas are constructed and become effective forces for change, Quinsaat's book makes an outstanding contribution to the study of social movements, culture, migration, and transnational sociology."-- "Dana Moss, author of 'The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism Against Authoritarian Regimes'"

"Joining theories of migration and social movements, Insurgent Communities explores how diasporic identities are politically made and remade. Anti-Marcos insurgents had to convince Filipinos in the United States and the Netherlands that loyalty to the Filipino nation required opposition to the Philippine state, and Sharon Quinsaat's account of how they did that is compelling."-- "Francesca Polletta, author of Inventing the Ties that Bind: Imagined Relationships in Moral and Political Life"

"Insurgent Communities is a book I could not recommend more. It is a brilliant sociological study on the political activism of Filipinos inside and outside of the homeland. A must-read for scholars of migration and social movements, it illustrates how a diaspora is not just a shared identity, but instead a political accomplishment."

-- "Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, author of Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States"

"This is an entertaining and powerful book on Filipinos living in the United States and the Netherlands, full of wonderful conversations, but it also shows how we all put bits and pieces of meaning together from many sources to craft a world and our identity in it. Specifically, Quinsaat shows how immigrants become a self-conscious diaspora through activism, which has never been a more important question than it is today."-- "James M. Jasper, author of The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements"

"With Insurgent Communities, Sharon Quinsaat provides us with a bold and insightful analysis of how a diaspora is invented through the political mobilizations of migrants. Skillfully articulating political sociology, transnational studies and migration studies, the book is a masterful empirical study of Filipinos' anti-dictatorship actions in the Netherlands and in the United States, as well as a profound and original reflection about the social and political construction of migrant communities." -- "Stéphane Dufoix, University of Paris-Nanterre"

About the Author

Sharon M. Quinsaat is a scholar of social movements and migration and an associate professor of sociology at Grinnell College. She has published her research in Mobilization, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Mass Communication and Society, Sociology Compass, and Asian Survey.