Book Chapters by Christianne F. Collantes
This chapter is about middle-class millennial Filipino women and their experiences of mediated gl... more This chapter is about middle-class millennial Filipino women and their experiences of mediated global intimacies in the Philippines postcolonial capital of Manila. It focuses on their use of mobile technologies in exploring relationships with foreign men, and Westerners particularly. Drawing on an 18-month ethnographic research, this chapter sheds light on how the women use mobile apps to enact a distinct and temporary resolution to the challenges of experiencing global intimacies in a postcolonial city. Specifically, they construct what we call 'digital flyovers', that is, digital infrastructures borne out of dating apps and other mobile media that allow them to bypass what they think to be 'uncosmopolitan' Filipino men and to connect with foreign romantic prospects who share their own 'globalised' backgrounds and sensibilities. We show that, on one hand, these digital flyovers demonstrate how the women do have the privilege of accessing spaces conducive to cosmopolitan global intimacies, something that is elusive for most people in the Philippines. We also underscore, on the other hand, that these digital flyovers do nothing to change the 'foundations' of the society beneath them, which means that middle-class Manila's distinct social dynamics continue to persist in their romantic and sexual lives.
Papers by Christianne F. Collantes
Mobile Media and Social Intimacies in Asia, 2020
This chapter is about middle-class millennial Filipino women and their experiences of mediated gl... more This chapter is about middle-class millennial Filipino women and their experiences of mediated global intimacies in the Philippines postcolonial capital of Manila. It focuses on their use of mobile technologies in exploring relationships with foreign men, and Westerners particularly. Drawing on an 18-month ethnographic research, this chapter sheds light on how the women use mobile apps to enact a distinct and temporary resolution to the challenges of experiencing global intimacies in a postcolonial city. Specifically, they construct what we call ‘digital flyovers’, that is, digital infrastructures borne out of dating apps and other mobile media that allow them to bypass what they think to be ‘uncosmopolitan’ Filipino men and to connect with foreign romantic prospects who share their own ‘globalised’ backgrounds and sensibilities. We show that, on one hand, these digital flyovers demonstrate how the women do have the privilege of accessing spaces conducive to cosmopolitan global intimacies, something that is elusive for most people in the Philippines. We also underscore, on the other hand, that these digital flyovers do nothing to change the ‘foundations’ of the society beneath them, which means that middle-class Manila’s distinct social dynamics continue to persist in their romantic and sexual lives.
Beyond Yellow English, 2009
Purpose This paper aims to offer Sitio San Roque, an informal settlement in the Philippines as a ... more Purpose This paper aims to offer Sitio San Roque, an informal settlement in the Philippines as a case study to explore long-term "forgetful" urban development planning in the Philippines, and the renewed visibility of the urban poor under COVID-19 lockdown. It connects scholarship on informality to issues of housing and political rights in Metro Manila to further investigate how vulnerable communities in the Global South are faring in the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This is an exploration of Sitio San Roque, an informal settler community in Metropolitan "Metro" Manila, Philippines. This paper refers to recent journalistic reports pertaining to the community's ongoing evictions and arrests while under Metro Manila's "enhanced community quarantine." Furthermore, it converses with literature from disciplines including health-care policy, urban studies and recent studies on COVID-19 and vulnerable communities to critically discuss the plig...
This chapter details the Church’s rise to political relevancy and the events surrounding the Peop... more This chapter details the Church’s rise to political relevancy and the events surrounding the People Power Revolution of 1986. As an influential civil society institution, the Church has contributed to polarizing public discourses on the RH Law and helped to shape state legislation on family, marriage, and abortion. Collantes then discusses how the Philippines’ economic development and global restructuring since the 1970s have dramatically transformed the social geography of the Philippines. Export labor migration, in particular, continues to propel the dispersal of Filipinos across great distances. Collantes shows how the Church’s relevance in civil society and politics—in addition to the country’s globalizing economic landscape—continue to impact intimacies in Metro Manila as well as the country’s complicated reproductive politics.
Collantes looks at three small families in the province of Cavite, who negotiate their intimacies... more Collantes looks at three small families in the province of Cavite, who negotiate their intimacies and reproductive decisions because of remittance arrangements with overseas relatives. Specific gendered discourses also prevail and accompany the influx of financial support from abroad—the women are expected to either be ideal mothers and wives, or to also send back remittances as overseas migrants. The men, on the other hand, grapple with uncertain labor opportunities even with this steady inflow of remittances. Through ethnographic storytelling and detail, Collantes shows how marital relations and reproductive predicaments (for example, women’s decisions to have tubal ligations or postpone motherhood) are affected by both global economic trends and expectations of gender and sexual labor in the transitioning terrains of Cavite.
In her final week prior to leaving Metro Manila, Collantes is confronted in the field by friends ... more In her final week prior to leaving Metro Manila, Collantes is confronted in the field by friends who challenge her own personal decisions to remain discreet about her personal intimacies. This Afterword serves as a critical reflection on the politics of discretion and disclosure, and on the methodological challenges and implications of conducting research on reproduction, sexuality, and intimacy in different geographical sites.
This chapter explores spatial and social tensions in Quezon City, an expanding and rapidly develo... more This chapter explores spatial and social tensions in Quezon City, an expanding and rapidly developing city within the Metro Manila region that is also addressing its high number of informal settler communities. Against this backdrop of urban change and global “growth”, a group of women who live in an informal settlement tell stories of abortion, sexual conflict, contraceptive use, and their own personal faith. Their intimate livelihoods are deeply affected by threats of eviction, but are also organized around the absences of their partners who themselves work as casual laborers in development sites within the metropolis. Sexual relations and family planning are timed by the demands of “flexibilized” labor and “3G” economies, rather than just religious discourses on “life” and “death”.
In her conclusion, Collantes meditates on the ways in which reproductive dilemmas encompass the c... more In her conclusion, Collantes meditates on the ways in which reproductive dilemmas encompass the complicated and sometimes ambivalent sentiments related to family planning, sex, and personal faith. While the public debates on the RH Law and in religious discussions highlight two dominant sentiments (e.g. “life” versus “death”/“pro RH” versus “anti RH”), this chapter reflects on the wider spectrum of reproductive experiences and political views.
In this chapter, Collantes begins to explore the tensions, contradictions, and incongruities of i... more In this chapter, Collantes begins to explore the tensions, contradictions, and incongruities of individual sentiments about reproductive health and religion. Despite the “either/or” dialectics of the RH Law debates, individuals from parishes, faith-based organizations, and academia complicate the binary rhetoric on faith and family planning with their own ideas and views on reproduction. In addition, Collantes discusses the concepts of responsibility and self-discipline (“masipag”), which “pro life” discussants argue to be necessary to natural family planning and to the preservation of the country’s moral fabric. Even without direct references to the workings of global markets, such viewpoints on reproduction, family, and individual sexual conduct are underlined by neoliberal ideology, which guides and upholds global development and restructuring.
… English: toward a …, 2008
Reproductive Dilemmas in Metro Manila
Critical Asian Studies, 2017
South East Asia Research, 2016
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Book Chapters by Christianne F. Collantes
Papers by Christianne F. Collantes