Filipino American

Filipino Americans (Fil-Am for short), the second-largest Asian American community http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-16.pdf, are Americans who trace their ancestry back to the Philippines, an archipelagic nation found in Southeast Asia south of Taiwan and east of the South China Sea, and have attained United States residency and/or citizenship. There are over 2 million Americans who identified their ancestry as Filipino. Most Filipino Americans reside in California and Hawai'i. In addition to California, Filipinos form the largest group of Asians in Alaska, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. And in addition to Hawai'i, they are the second largest group of Asians in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.

Cultural Profile

Despite race relations problems of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the American Northwest, most Filipino-Americans today find it easy to integrate with American society. Filipino nationals have been living in an American-molded society since the early 1900s. Culturally, the Philippines is the most Westernized country in East Asia and the least "Oriental", a legacy of over three centuries of Spanish and American rule. From the Spanish, Filipino culture has inherited a distinct Latin/Catholic flavor, and most Filipinos are distinguishable by having a Hispanic-sounding name and/or surname.

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Since the early 1900s the country has been heavily influenced by American culture. The Philippines was a United States territory and later a commonwealth from 12 December 1898 to 4 July 1946. Even after the Republic of the Philippines was established, the flow of popular American culture into the country continued unabated - from major league baseball and professional basketball to Coca-Cola, from MTV to Big Macs. English language instruction is required in most schools beginning at the elementary level, and the Philippines has one of the highest rates of English-speakers in the world. Philippines sports pages headline MLB and NBA sports scores from the mainland United States everyday. While elements of Americana have been embraced (or imposed) in Filipino society, there have been periods of anti-American sentiment in the Philippines. Nevertheless, there is minimal culture shock when Filipino nationals migrate to the United States.

Related Topics:
Territory - Commonwealth - 12 December - 1898 - 4 July - 1946 - Baseball - Basketball - Coca-Cola - MTV - MLB - NBA - Americana

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Language

Recent immigrants to the United States from the Philippines do not have much of a language barrier to overcome. Except for some communities in Hawai'i, the language barrier is almost nonexistent with the exception of various accents. In the Philippines, English is the official language of instruction and government, and is the second-largest secondary (non-native) user of English after India. While an overwhelming majority of Filipino nationals and Filipino Americans do speak English fluently, most also speak Tagalog, Visayan, Taglish, and Ilokano at home. Tagalog (also known as Filipino) is the sixth most-spoken language in the United States. Like most immigrant groups in the United States, fluency in Tagalog and various Filipino languages tends to be lost among second- and third-generation Filipino-Americans as they become further acculturated into mainstream American society.

Related Topics:
India - Tagalog - Visayan - Taglish - Ilokano - Filipino

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Education

Filipino-Americans tend to be highly educated. For example, the American Medical Association has deemed medical and healthcare education in the Philippines to equal that of training in the United States. Only Japan shares that distinction among the Asian nations. It is relatively easy for Filipino nationals to enter the American healthcare workforce, inspiring them to settle and seek United States citizenship upon arrival. With the shortage of American nurses beginning in the 1980s, clinics and hospitals in the United States have been hiring directly from the Philippines offering substantial salaries. According to the United States Census Bureau, 60,000 Filipino nationals migrated to the United States every year in the 1990s to take advantage of such professional opportunities.

Related Topics:
American Medical Association - Japan - United States Census Bureau

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40% of adult Filipino-Americans are college and university graduates holding advanced degrees in the arts and sciences. Some Filipino nationals come to the United States for a college or university education, return to the Philippines and end up migrating to the United States to settle. Many of the newer generations of Filipino-Americans born in the United States gravitate towards business and the professions, such as architecture, business administration, economics, education, engineering, medicine and nursing.

Related Topics:
Architecture - Business administration - Economics - Education - Engineering - Medicine - Nursing

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Economics

As a result of their level of education, most Filipino-Americans are now in the middle class, and the community enjoys substantial economic well-being. This is especially true for those working in nursing, where the United States suffers shortages.

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There is however an issue over pay parity in non-healthcare professions in the United States. Filipino-Americans architects and engineers are paid less than their Latino and African American counterparts. This is also true for those working in the corporate world and in education. The discrimination is found to be worse among Filipino-Americans seeking entry-level positions and for those who join the hotel/hospitality industry.

Related Topics:
Latino - African American

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Religion

Unlike most other Asian-Americans, Filipino Americans largely share mainstream American religious beliefs and values. This is in part due to the Philippines being one of only two Catholic-majority countries in Asia (the other being East Timor), which is also the nationally recognized religion. The introduction, and subsequent adoption, of Roman Catholicism and Christian values in the Philippines were the direct result of over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule in the archipelago. Filipino-Americans tend to be devout in their faith traditions: Attending church services every Sunday, reading the Bible and reciting the rosary, sending their children to parochial schools, and donating to Catholic charities. There are other religious faiths with smaller numbers of Filipino-American adherents, with the various Protestant denominations having the most members.

Related Topics:
Catholic - East Timor - Parochial school

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Settlement

First- and second-generation Americans originating from Asian countries have a tendency to form close-knit communities of their own in the United States, similar to those groups which preceded them. This has been historically true for the Chinese-American and Vietnamese-American communities. Filipino-Americans, however, have a tendency to settle in a more dispersed fashion, living in communities across the country without a need for establishing ties with other Filipino-Americans in the area. Based on several sociological field studies and surveys, there are more instances of Filipino-American families finding themselves in areas without other Filipino-Americans than experienced by other Asian groups.

Related Topics:
Chinese-American - Vietnamese-American

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However, there are instances where Filipino-Americans form close-knit neighborhoods of their own, especially in California and Hawaii. A few townships in these parts of the country have established "Little Manilas", civic and business districts tailored for the Filipino-American community.

Related Topics:
California - Hawaii - Little Manila

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