The month of October marks Filipino American History month, to commemorate the first arrival of Filipinos in the present-day state of California in 1587.
The new exhibit, which opened in the Anchorage Museum on Saturday traces the oral story of Filipinos within the state. Mana refers to the Tagalog word meaning “inheritance” and also the name of the project created by Shayne Nuesca, Tasha Elizarde and Joshua Albeza Branstetter.
Nuesca states that the trio had each written a separate account of Filipino history. The project was born when they teamed up to work together.
Listen:
This interview was edited to improve clarity and length.
Shayne NuescaWe were looking to share the tales of our elders Filipinos from Alaska, which would otherwise go under the radar in popular forums. So these are stories that were handed down through oral tradition. This is how stories are told through generations, within our own culture. There were also elders who passed away, which drove us to begin this project and record the stories of the elders remain with us.
Wesley early:Josh The project encompasses a large portion of Alaska. There’s Anchorage and Kodiak and all the way to Fairbanks and then down to Juneau. Did you discover that people were willing to sharing their experiences? Did you observe that there was perhaps a little doubt?
Joshua Albeza Branstetter There was a bit of initial hesitation. Many of the elders had never met us before, and they didn’t be aware the fact that I am Filipino American when we first approached them. Many of them have had varied, long tales and histories that they’ve not told anyone. A lot of it is due to not being confident enough to tell their stories. There’s an amazing word that Shayne taught me recently. It’s “hiya”. Many Filipino words are essay, however it sort of takes the idea of shame as not to talk to much and do not talk too many times. Our elders also have stories they’ve not been able to talk about. They had no platform to. They had to trust us first. Once they trusted us then we discovered… Then I have learned many things. A lot about myself as well as our community.
We:Tasha You are all Filipino. Even though you all have backgrounds in different forms of media, including photography, filmmaking, writing or journalism, I’m sure there aren’t a lot of great opportunities to make big projects on people with similar characteristics to you. Did you feel any extra stress, or any other excitement in doing something similar to this?
Tasha Elizarde It was a pleasure to be happy, mainly because there’s very few opportunities to tell the stories of our community no matter what spaces exist for media production in Alaska. For instance, there’s only one book about Filipinos in Alaska that’s been published by Thelma Buchholdt. The book is out of circulation. This is a good indicator of what kinds of opportunities exist to tell the kind of stories. The author had written the book as a result of a moment when she thought, “Why do we have no archive?” And so we’re returning to that same question again and asking “Why are we still not able to find an archive after so many yearswhen the book was first published around thirty years ago after a long time and we don’t have an expansion of that archives?” And so what we’re doing through Mana is creating a bigger archive. Connecting with people who are today, creating these connections that extend in the distant past. This is one thing which… is not a chance that many people take advantage of. However, we were able to come up with the idea ourselves. The reason I was so happy to work with Shayne Josh and Shayne Josh to be given the opportunity to tell stories that are vital. When we talk to them, they’re thrilled to feel that they’re valued and are able to build connections with children who remind them of how much they are valued and respected and that other people be interested in them as well.
WEJosh You know you were able to visit a variety of states to meet people from different areas and hear their experiences. Are there any stories that was a surprise, that you learnt something new or impressed you?
JABI think one story that truly stuck with my was that about Camila Cook. She is an older woman of mine in Anchorage. She always calls my “darling,” and I am in love with this. When I questioned her, she lit her cigarette and she put it into her mouth in a reversed manner and then put the cigarette back was in. And I asked her, “Lola, what are you doing?” And she’s like, “it’s just a thing that’s cute. It was a common practice as a kid and I continue to do it to this day.” It’s my opinion that the particularity of our stories truly creates a commonality among our community. We already have the exhibit and one of our staff has never been to it, and was there yesterday. She also said that she stopped by Camila’s and when she saw the reversed cigarette, before having even read the book, she said, “Josh, it sent me back to 40 years ago, because I can remember the way kids did this.”
WESo Shayne – I believe my final question is: What do you envision the end-goal of this initiative is? Do you view it as more of a source for an entire audience to learn more about their peers Alaskans and their neighbors? Or do you view it as a personal resource that can assist Filipino people better understand their own personal history?
SNS:I definitely see it as both. It’s a way for the general public to get acquainted with our past and the culture of Filipinos as well as an insight into the past of Filipinos in Alaska. It’s also an opportunity for Filipinos living in Alaska to examine themselves I believe and also to consider their families and to open the doors to discussions about, the stories that have gone before them. For myself, and I’m unable to be the only one on my team it was a remarkably healing experience for myself. I moved to America when I was just six years old young and had experienced the loss of my culture. I was as if I was crossing two cultures. So, listening to the elders’ stories of their experiences and connecting their experiences my own experiences as a young child I felt as if those experiences were accepted as valid. Every emotion I felt, and all the hardships I experienced as a kid it was as if I was receiving an embrace from people who weren’t even my relatives and they told me that they had validated my experiences without knowing.
“Mana the History We Inherit” opened at the Anchorage Museum on October 27, 2017. 27. The exhibit will remain in the museum until the end of January.
The editor’s note is that Shayne Nuesca used to be a KTOO employee. Tasha Elizarde works for KTOO. KTOO is not associated in any way with this exhibit.
