College campuses provide powerful networking tools to connect Asian Americans with their ancestral homelands. Student organizations are a powerful pillar that creates community between Asians who may have had few opportunities outside family to learn about their Asian heritage. As a Filipino American and member of SLU's Filipino Student Association, I explore the practice of Filipino students from different colleges building cross-campus solidarity. The field site in question, the Midwest Filipino American Summit, displays the concerns of liminal, transnational identity that young Filipino Americans reconcile. By blending traditional dances with modern music and styles, concentrating uniquely Filipino American material culture, and promoting cultural-justice workshops, Filipino American students display an attentive gaze to their county's past while adapting this culture with contemporary tastes. These strategies build an imagined community that is even able to envelop other Asian Americans, molding cultural awareness in a setting that mostly attracts member students for potential fun.
Trevlan MacGregor (he/him/his) came to St. Louis from his home of Dallas, TX. He hopes to be a social studies teacher, inspired by Jesuit education's social justice themes. At SLU he will obtain a degree in three majors: History, Anthropology, and Chinese Studies. When Trevlan is not playing historical strategy games, he's playing board games or reading up the lore of his current obsession.