March 26 and 27, 2021

This workshop will also highlight the diversity of histories in the Philippines by inviting instructors to cover discussions on women, non-binary and the minority experiences of Muslims, the indigenous (collectively referred to as Lumads), and the Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines. Participants are invited to reflect on history through art. 

MEAH ANG SEE

Meah is a Chinese-Filipino historian, museum director, community organizer, and educator. She is also a sought-after speaker on TV and news outlets in the Philippines. She has been a teacher for 20 years, teaching other people to become teachers. She also teaches other teachers how to teach reading to children (woah, is that confusing?). Meah is currently Assistant Professor at Dela Salle University. She finished her MA in Education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is also doing her PhD.

Meah is from a family known for their decades of civic leadership on behalf of the Chinese-Filipino or "Tsinoy" community in the Philippines - campaigning, among others, to bridge understanding between the ethnic Chinese-Filipinos and the broader Philippine society. In one of her CNN Philippines appearances, she talked about the rich pre-colonial trade relations between the Philippines and China since the 10th century. Managing Director at Bahay Tsinoy* Museum, she found herself learning and realizing, after 16 years of working there, that a lot of what her ancestors went through in the past is what gives her the life she has now. So, while she has not always liked history, her work at the Museum made her realize its importance to one's personal journey.

Her favourite hobby when she disconnects from her computer is to make jigsaw puzzles. She's trying to complete a 1000-piece glow-in-the-dark puzzle for three weeks now.

*Bahay is the Tagalog word for home, and Tsinoy comes from Tsinong Pinoy, the Tagalog colloquial term to refer to Chinese-Filipinos.

MARY DOROTHY JOSE

Doti advises government agencies, media, and publishers on women, feminism, and Philippine history. She is one of the champions of the Pantayong Pananaw feminist perspective. Pantayong Pananaw considers that Philippine history must be studied from the Filipino perspective using the Filipino language, started by historian Dr. Zeus A. Salazar.  

She teaches at the University of the Philippines Manila, where she is an Associate Professor in Philippine history and Area Studies. After finishing her BA in History and her MA in Asian Studies from the University of the Philippines Diliman, she proceeded to do a PhD Philippine Studies in the same university, which she recently finished this year.

In 2018, she was at the University of Michigan Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) as a Hughes Fellow to research Filipina images in colonial photography. Currently, she is the primary investigator of the research project The Origins of the Women's Movement in the Philippines and Thailand.

Doti has been bitten by the K-Drama bug, started indoor gardening during the Covid19 pandemic, and looks forward to meeting friends over a cup of coffee while wearing her Sunday's best, even if it's not Sunday.

YASMIRA MONER

Yasmira wears many hats in the community: educator, peace activist, and in her personal and professional roles, as one of the bearers of the Bangsa Moro* community's cultural, political, and development aspirations. Born and raised in Mindanao, she is active in promoting the youth's role in building a just and lasting peace in Mindanao. She leads training workshops and webinars on conflict-sensitive and peace-promoting approaches and regularly contributes on these topics to media, academic discussions, and government programs.

She teaches Political Science at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, where she is Assistant Professor and Acting Director of the Institute for Peace and Development. In 2018, she completed an MA in Governmental Studies at the Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in Indonesia. Learning about history for her means re-discovering the roots of our contemporary society and HERstory.

She loves drinking coffee any time of the day and is a self-confessed karaoke queen!*Bangsa Moro is a reclaimed term and is being used as an organizing and unifying call for different ethnic communities of Muslims in the Philippines.

BABETTE SANTOS

Babette Santos is a proud queer decolonizing Momma artist in dance, music, Southeast Asian martial arts, and Visual arts, raising their kids in the ancestral lands of Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-waatuth peoples on the Unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver). Babette identifies as a 2nd generation mestiza Filipinx of Bisayan, Kapampangan, Chinese, Spanish Jewish ancestry and was adopted into the Bagobo Tagabawa tribe. They were born in Treaty 1 (Winnipeg) and raised by Berdita and Bert Santos throughout Canada and Germany. Their Dad was a registered nurse and drugs rehabilitation counsellor who was one of the first Filipino officers in the Canadian Armed Forces. Babette's parents instilled Filipino heritage by seeking out Filipino communities outside of military bases to feast, sing, dance and play music in sustaining their culture. Through these, Babette first found out their passion for dance at the age of four.

Their dance roots also include breakdancing and hip hop. But Babette’s neo-ethnic indigenous dance started under Elenita Dumlao’s mentorship of Kathara Dance Theatre Collective.

It is with honour that they serve in the community as Artistic Director of Kathara Pilipino Indigenous Arts since 2002. The practice of art and activism was first introduced to Babette in Halifax, Nova Scotia, by their dance group and high school mates of Black ancestry, the Power Troop.

They continue to pursue Artivism up to this day. In 2020, as the pandemic caused mental health struggles for many, including those in their family, Babette and their 15-year-old teen Jade launched, through BC-based Artstarts grant, the Socially Outward podcast. The podcast aims to give Vancouver’s BIPOC and Queer youth a platform to break the silence & stigmas surrounding mental health.

Through the same grant, Babette is currently producing Kapwa Kids on Coast Salish for kids and families, an educational series that shares indigenous knowledge and inspires a connection to the environment through arts and culture. Kapwa Kids features Babette’s first teacher in Filipino Martial arts with grandmaster Datu Shishir Inocalla who was played Michelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. In 2011, Babette was awarded best in dance by Bright Lights in Vancouver.

34 participated:

• 21 for ages 6 to 9 in the Hamilton area

• 4 history speakers, 3 based in the Philippines and 1 based in Vancouver, British Columbia

• 2 Hamilton-based art facilitators (Co-Founder, Jessica Vinluan), and Mayumou

• 4 moderators from the Filipino McMaster Student Association

• 1 guest observer, Filipina Canadian settlement worker at the YMCA Hamilton

• 1 guest keynote speaker, Ja'miil Millar, overseeing our fiscal sponsorship with the YWCA Hamilton, its Youth Programming Coordinator

• Co-Founder Anabelle, co-coordinating the event

• and countless parents who were listening in and joining their kids in the art activities

Indigenous female-owned Beam Paints, based in Manitoulin Island, ON gave us generous educator discount rates for the paints used in this workshop.

The workshop was also promoted by the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic School Board on their website.

Feedback from participants, parents, speakers, and moderators highlighted the strong feeling of being more connected and empowered in the midst of our community, and the interest to continue learning about their roots.

We had a virtual art gallery here in this link https://www.filipinasofhamont.com/virtual-art-gallery