David Scott’s (1995) narrative of postcolonial modernity questions the intentions of the economy in which we live, where colonialism suggests a practice of power in which the colonized is included or excluded. To understand Scott’s (1995) Colonial Governmentally theory, it is necessary to explore colonized space as being denied voice, autonomy, and agency linked to notions of erasure and repression resulting in being “polished”, “disciplined”, and “civilized”. One claim that I want to dissect is when Scott explores the idea that “in order to understand the project of colonial power at any given historical moment one has to understand the character of the political rationality that constituted it” (Scott, 1995, p. 204). This statement can be heavily identified with the structure that the San Francisco political system is built upon when tension arises between stakeholders, decision-makers, and social justice workers and activists. Scott demonstrates the existence of colonial governance when power is practiced as a form of using tactics for private interest rather than laws, and in San Francisco, this process is enacted when land use development projects built for specific groups of people are produced by stakeholders who prioritize the extraction of wealth over the concern for the community which erases the Filipino community’s attempt to practice kapwa and silences the voices of Filipino residents, families, youth and seniors. SOMA Pilipinas (2023) uses its platform to challenge these political barriers by holding the developers accountable for the lack of community development in a city that claims to be diverse. This can be evident when the City established the development of the Yerba Buena Center, The Moscone Center, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to attract businesses and tourists displacing nearly 4,000 elders, retirees, Filipinos and other working-class people living in the SoMa neighborhood. Residents organize against urban renewal and formed the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO) which successfully fought to have replacement low-income senior housing built to offset the destruction of existing housing (SOMA Pilipinas, 2023).

Sociology and Sexualities Professor Valerie Francisco-Menchavez (2018) Community of Care applies queer theories of kinship and familism regarding the transnational care of migrant women through a social lens rather than a biological one. Francisco (2018) suggests that feelings of isolation in connection to internalized notions of migration and displacement from their homeland are linked to the migrant experience in the Filipino labor diaspora. This in turn shapes and redefines migrants’ interactions with their peers rearticulating their perspective of care within their networks. When applying Francisco’s Community of Care concept in relation to my field study, I want to address the need for “chosen family” and familism as a central value in the Filipino community to contrast the postcolonial power-dominated world. Francisco’s (2018) community of care model exists within SOMA Pilipinas by the way I redefined my network of care when I discovered certain community members revealed familial characteristics in the form of love and support. By articulating the idea that we treat one another as if we were each other’s biological family members, I am able to connect themes of identity, membership, and acquaintance when community members bond over shared experiences and familiarity with home. By synthesizing Francisco’s (2018) claims, the SOMA Pilipinas community creates space for kinship from the endless passion, inspiration, and shared trauma of historical migration and displacement that motivates the community worker to keep the fire burning for their chosen family in the South of Market and biological family in the homeland. 

Filipina/o/American Philippine Studies educator Maharaj “Raju” Desai (2016) identifies his findings of critical kapwa as a means to revolutionizing ideology, epistemology, and spirituality in order to combat the daily manifestations of the residual hegemonic trauma in our lives, families, and communities caused by colonization. These ideas not only connect to SOMA Pilipinas in its entirety, but I can contrast the characteristics of Scott’s (1995) colonial governmentality when Scott states “the economy no longer understood the level of family”. Desai (2016) explicitly states that communities under the presence of kapwa strive for collective healing from historical trauma. By looking into the neocolonial relationship that exists between the U.S. and the Philippines it is easier to identify patterns in hierarchical relationships and differences in motives when Filipinos are seen as an ethnic minority in the States, but will continue to prioritize the demand for domestic labor as a means to support family. To connect these themes to my field study experience, community members located within SOMA Pilipinas are all motivated by pursuing their very best labor as a way to move up in society as well as move forward from the brutalities of colonialism.