The Web throbs with a Pinoy Pulse

From the Chicago Tribune: Far-flung Filipinos are using the annals and byways of the Web to keep virtual tabs on their roots, and Fil-Am researcher Emily Noelle Ignacio is hot on her countrymen?s trail, having analyzed some 2,000 postings from an Internet newsgroup that bursts with talk of the homeland for her doctoral dissertation. The news forum touches on everything from history and race to patriarchy and colonialism, and is a great spot for venting out the frustrations of living in a Western society that clings to the misinformed image of the third world as ?filled with poverty-ridden savages needing a quick infusion of Western ways.?

Thanks to the Web, sociologists like Chicago-based Ignacio can cut travel time and research from the behind-the-screen comfort the Net provides instead of facing ?a gaggle of aunts and uncles? and their ?boisterous laughter.? Instead of going to Samoa or Borneo like others in her field, Ignacio?s use of the internet to find traces of her culture has brought new insight into Filipino-oriented sociological study. Her research shows that Filipinos ?have used subtle, cyber, but very real social connections to construct and reinforce a sense of ? identity with distant others,? according to Rutgers University Press.

Aiming to break through ?the one-dimensional images of Filipinos around the world,? brought Ignacio to the Net, a maxim that seeps forth from her new book, ?Building Diaspora: Filipino Community Formation on the Internet.?

Sick of sterotype, Ignacio believes that ?We need to discuss these things to break the cycle."

Every country, the Philippines included, has its strengths and weaknesses according to Ignacio, but one of her posted sources put more passion into this sentiment.

"Why do they always have to show that poor, dirty, shoeless Filipino child on this commercial [about alleviating world poverty]. Hypocrites! As if there aren't any poor people and dirty places in this country. There are many beautiful and modern places in the Philippines," smoked a post from "Mom" based in Chicago.

"Oh, that actually was my mother," said Ignacio.

The war against sterotype is far from over, but it's going to be a long restless battle with people like Ignacio picking up the gauntlet.