FILIPINIANA REPORTING & ESSAYS

Identity crisis: What is an Australian-Filipina?

Kathleen de Leon Jones, former member of children's group Hi-5.

Kathleen de Leon Jones former member of children’s group Hi-5 was only a year old when her family migrated from the Philippines to Sydney. Being a full-blooded Filipino who’s lived in Australia all her life, the two cultures in her identity are well integrated.

“My parents were very happy for us to explore where we were living and how we were living and because I went to a very multi-cultural school they were open to a lot more of what I brought home,” she says. “When you start discovering boys and that, it would all come in, that very Catholic and very Filipino way of living.

“Before I married Daniel it was all, ‘You can’t live together … la la la,’ that kind of thing but my parents, more so now, are very open to the cultures. Because they grew up with me being so rebellious, they’re a lot easier on my sisters. This is the thing, they were kind of strict to a certain degree but I look back and think I’m glad they were because I’m glad with the way I’ve turned out.”

When asked if the rebelliousness was because of the challenges of integrating the often-clashing Australian and Filipino cultures, Kathleen is quick to say, “They were just normal teenager stuff. Not really something related to being Filipino.”

ArleneChai_book

Arlene J. Chai is a published author who wrote the best selling novel The Last Time I Saw Mother. She’s been calling Australia home since 1985 and unlike Kate and Kathleen, was raised and educated in the Philippines. She says, “I’ve never de?ned myself in terms of my nationality. My parents are actually Chinese and even though I grew up in Manila and I was educated there, I never thought about my parents being Chinese and what I was conscious of was me as a person. So if you’re asking me what my identity is, or what I think an Australian-Filipina is, I can’t quite answer that question.

“National identity is not an obsession I have. It’s not something that is topmost in my mind. Maybe that’s a measure of how integrated I am with where I live. Some people may say that’s bad that I don’t remember my roots. But what are my roots? They go back so far.

“But you can’t say that I don’t remember my roots because if you read my writing it’s there. You carry it somewhere, you’re just not consciously thinking of it. What is a Filipino if not a mix of so many cultural influences?”