Philippine-Canada Diasporic Sustainable Entanglements

Diasporic Sustainable Entanglements:
Philippine-Canadian Entrepreneurs Craft Altruistic Transnational Enterprises

The experiences of small-to-medium size Philippine-Canadian entrepreneurs are part of a broader international migration pattern that has characterized the Philippine social and economic order since the 1970s when government policy encouraged Philippine out-migration. Research on Philippine migrants has primarily investigated men’s work as labourers in natural resource industries and women’s work as domestic or health care workers. These studies address the regular remittances that migrants send to the Philippines, the deskilling of Philippine migrants’ labour and professions, and issues of assimilation. In these studies, Philippine migrants’ potential to achieve social and economic mobility in Canada, for example, is perceived as rather grim. My research on smaller-scale Filipino-Canadian enterprises demonstrates however, that many migrants, historically associated with displacement and marginality, embrace alternative activities that simultaneously enable business viability while creating ontological space for a sustainable socioeconomic sphere.

I engage this issue by analyzing the everyday commerce and relations based on trust of Philippine-Canadian businesses that offer prepared foods, dry goods, and communication services between the Philippines and Philippine communities in Toronto. These enterprises include smaller-size Filipino-Canadian neighborhood convenience stores and prepared-food outlets. I argue that by personally nurturing multiple socioeconomic connections between consumers and the Philippines, these merchants dispel any dominance of a singular capitalist business practice that privileges profit maximization. Instead, these Filipino-Canadian businesses informalize formal trade by wrapping their commodity transactions in participatory personalized shopping experiences. They provide customers with credit, sell home-made Filipino foods that community members deliver daily, sell seasonal vegetables delivered from community gardeners, provide in-store seating for informal gatherings, and facilitate transnational connections (e.g., remittances, health services) to enhance community well-being. Seeking to appeal to second generation Philippine-Canadians while maintaining their base in the immigrant population these merchants choose which mainstream practices to maintain and which to let go. Since the COVID-19 pandemic of mid-2020, in particular, businesses’ altruistic practices have proven to be key to meeting the shifting needs of their customers and to maintaining client loyalty. By privileging sustainable business practices, these Filipino-Canadian food provisioning entrepreneurs have moved their on-the-edge enterprise activities to more visible positions such that their experiences can inform fruitful policy formation for those seeking a range of viable and alternative employment options.

 

This project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant (2021-2024), entitled: Resilient Urban Communities & Local Food Systems after COVID-19: Developing Knowledge Partnerships Beyond the Pandemic.

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Photo Captions: All photos by B. Lynne Milgram.

Figure 1 (Banner). A display of Philippine imported foods at a supermarket, Toronto, 2021.

Figure 2. A neighbourhood Philippine-Canadian convenience store, Toronto, 2019.

Figure 3. Desserts are displayed at a Philippine prepared food store, Toronto, 2021.

Figure 4. A woman sends remittance funds back to the Philippines, Toronto, 2019.

Figure 5. Customers shop for food at a Philippine prepared food store, Toronto, 2019.

Figure 6. A selection of Philippine “street food” is displayed in a supermarket, Toronto, 2021.

 

A display of Philippine imported foods at a supermarket, Toronto, 2021.
A neighbourhood Philippine-Canadian convenience store, Toronto, 2019.
Desserts are displayed at a Philippine prepared food store, Toronto, 2021.
A woman sends remittance funds back to the Philippines, Toronto, 2019.
 Customers shop for food at a Philippine prepared food store, Toronto, 2019.
A selection of Philippine “street food” is displayed in a supermarket, Toronto, 2021.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 2:45pm

Women and the Transnational Trade of Contemporary Philippine Textiles

Fashioning Frontiers in Artisanal Trade:
Social Entrepreneurship and Textile Production in the Philippine Cordillera

Developments in the multi-platform character of contemporary Cordillera woven textiles of the northern Philippines have been ongoing since the early 1990s when the Philippine government promoted policies to ‘fast-track’ the development of the countryside. Subsequent regional and national government policies, especially those relevant to indigenous peoples’ (IP) knowledge and technology, continue to support communities to document and revitalize local cultural practices. Individual entrepreneurs and leaders of non-government organizations (NGO) with expertise in craft production have thus been encouraged to establish businesses that can take advantage of the rising global demand for local artisanal goods. In this light, a new group of Philippine social entrepreneurs have emerged who champion business transparency, quality production, ongoing producer–buyer relationships, and community welfare. Yet, in order to facilitate artisans’ work and social welfare options while responding to shifting consumer trends, these social entrepreneurs must adeptly manage the constraints of local production within the broader political and economic context of periodically variable state support.   

This project investigates these frontier enterprises in Ifugao and Benguet provinces. I argue that to understand the nuanced dynamics of such contemporary textile production and trade means exploring how Philippine artisans and entrepreneurs operationalize work opportunities and negotiate market precarity given shifts in raw material availability, labour conditions, market demand and the material representation of local cultural identity. I suggest that these interdependent forces keep entrepreneurs and artisans in a reciprocal relationship of trust – but one that experiences periodic ruptures, such as when financial need sees artisans sell to one entrepreneur goods promised to another. To meet changing consumer tastes, artisans and entrepreneurs also refashion any concept of a static ‘authenticity’ by incorporating textile designs that speak both of modernity and local indigenous identity. The cultural turn privileging ethical consumption thus suggests these social entrepreneurial initiatives can resolve push-pull tensions to yield an industry for, and more responsive to, artisans’ and consumers’ needs.

 

See Published Journal Article:

2020    Fashioning Frontiers in Artisanal Trade: Social Entrepreneurship and Textile Production in the Philippine Cordillera. South East Asia Research 28(4): 413-431. (Special issue: The Philippine Cordillera. Cristina Juan, guest editor).

https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2020.1834336

 

(under review) Other Journal Articles & Book Chapters on this topic:

1. “Gender and Advocacy: Assessing Marketing Alternatives for Contemporary Philippine Textiles.” In Gendered Threads of Globalization. Melia Belli, ed. Manchester, UK: University of Manchester Press.

2. “Marketing Contemporary Textiles in the Rural Northern Philippines” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of World Textiles. Volume 6: Trade and Industry.

3. “Assessing Digital Alternatives and Social Entrepreneurship in the Transnational Trade of Philippine Design.” In New Media & Society. Griet Steel, ed.

 

This project has been supported by:

1. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant (2015-2019), entitled: Alternative Transnational Economies (ATE): Exploring the Progressive Potential of Canada-Philippines Migrant Connections. PI - Dr. Philip Kelly (York U); Co-applicant: Dr. B. Lynne Milgram (OCADU).

2. OCADU Faculty Research (SEED) Grant (to March 31, 2022), entitled: Engaging Social Entrepreneurship Through Philippine-Canada Artisanal Trade.

 

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Photo Captions: All photos by B. Lynne Milgram.

Figure 1 (Banner). A woman weaves on a backstrap loom in her home. Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines. 2015.

Figure 2. Women weave on backstrap looms in a workshop. Kiangan, Ifugao, Philippines. 2019.

Figure 3. Women sell their woven textiles in a town street market. Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines, 2019.

Figure 4. A man weaves on a floor loom in a workshop. Baguio, Benguet, Philippines. 2019.

Figure 5. Textiles displayed in a workshop showroom. Kiangan, Ifugao, Philippines. 2019.

Figure 6. Philippine entrepreneurs display northern Philippine textiles at City Hall, Toronto. 2016.

Woman weaves on a backstrap loom
Women weave on backstrap looms
Women sell their woven textiles in a town street market, Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines.
A man weaves on a floor loom
Textiles in a showroom
entrepreneurs sell textiles in Toronto
Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 2:45pm
https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2020.1834336

Social Entrepreneurship and the Arabica Coffee Industry in the Northern Philippines

Social Entrepreneurship and the Arabica Coffee Industry in the Northern Philippines

Private, government, and corporate sectors increasingly seek to mitigate the precarious economic and environmental conditions their businesses have caused. Given the shortcomings of conventional approaches to achieve meaningful social change, social entrepreneurship has emerged as an alternative approach to answer this call. Combining business, private investment, and social movement models, social entrepreneurs work collaboratively with communities to augment peoples’ livelihood and their social welfare (e.g., providing crop, house, and health insurance). This research project draws on social entrepreneurship scholarship to analyze entrepreneurs’ initiatives in the northern Philippines’ emergent specialty Arabica coffee industry.

I explore the extent to which entrepreneurs can operationalize opportunities and mitigate constraints as they expand from their small start-up premises while maintaining their social welfare mandate. Given that current demand for premium green coffee beans outstrips supply, entrepreneurs may find themselves in competition with one another to obtain farmers’ produce. This situation coupled with that in which the elements of the Philippine government’s social safety net cannot reliably secure peoples’ subsistence needs means that farmers may betray their allegiance to the entrepreneurs who supported them. I ask: do social entrepreneurs’ efforts simply alleviate symptoms rather than address root causes of inequality? Entrepreneurs’ efforts to date, however, have led to positive industry outcomes. This suggests that pursuing such cross-sector advocacy and tinkering with a social entrepreneurship model can potentially curtail challenges to enterprise sustainability.

See Published Paper:

2021    Social Entrepreneurship and Arabica Coffee Production in the Northern Philippines: Navigating Opportunities and Constraints. Human Organization 80(1): 72-82.

This project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant (2020-2024), entitled: Thirsty for Alternative Sources of Agri-Beverages? New Commodity Provisioning from the Rural Philippines and Vietnam.

 

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Photo Captions: All photos by B. Lynne Milgram, 2019. Benguet province, Philippines.

Banner image:  Depulping Arabica coffee cherries to remove the outer fruit from the seed.

Figure 1. Washing and sorting freshly harvested Arabica coffee cherries.

Figure 2. Gauging the moisture content of drying Arabica coffee beans.

Figure 3. Drying Arabica coffee beans in different specialty batches.

Figure 4. Washed and “naturally-dried” Arabica coffee beans.

Depulping Arabica coffee cherries to remove the outer fruit from the seed.
Washing and sorting freshly harvested Arabica coffee cherries.
B. L. Milgram and associate sifting through drying coffee beans
Drying Arabica coffee beans in different specialty batches.
Washed and “naturally-dried” Arabica coffee beans.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 2:30pm

Rescheduled - Sabbatical Talks: Dr. Lynne Milgram and Dr. Charles Reeve

Thursday, January 23, 2020 - 3:00pm

Please join the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences and School of Interdisciplinary Studies for two sabbatical talks:

“Social Entrepreneurship, Specialty Coffee Production, and Transnational Trade in the Northern Philippines”
Dr. Lynne Milgram

3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M
While the fair-trade-certified coffee movement created advantageous terms for producers, its perceived inadequate concern for higher quality and its uneven producer-vendor relations have given rise to social entrepreneurial initiatives marketing more directly-traded, specialty coffee. The latter’s practice champions business transparency, high quality, and sustainability. As these enterprises expand, however, questions arise regarding the extent to which operations can scale up from their start-up premises and still maintain quality standards and a social justice mandate to engage socioeconomic infrastructure change for producers?
Engaging these issues, this paper analyzes new northern Philippine Arabica coffee enterprises that employ “fairly traded” practices. I argue that while social entrepreneurs have established more equitable terms for their local and transnational trade, people’s subsistence needs can challenge enterprise sustainability. By shortening commodity chains, paying higher prices, and providing cultivation training, Philippine social entrepreneurs have enabled farmers’ engagement in alternatives to conventional mainstream and fair trade markets. Yet, Philippine farmers’ lack of income diversity, weak government support, and competition among traders for limited supplies, can frustrate entrepreneurs’ efforts. Given coffee culture’s growing third wave, I explore whether Philippine entrepreneurs’ timely initiatives might still resolve these push-pull tensions to yield an industry for, and more responsive to, stakeholders needs.
--

“Artists, autobiography, auto fiction”
Dr. Charles Reeve

4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
An “embarrassment,” Paul de Man said. “Disreputable” and “self-indulgent.” He was speaking about autobiographies, and no doubt his assertions would intensify if he focused specifically on artists’ autobiographies, given how that sub-genre doubles down on unreconstructed Romanticism. Omissions, misrememberings and outright lies notwithstanding, though, artists’ autobiographies have been popular ever since the Vita of Renaissance sculptor Bevenuto Cellini was unearthed and published in 1728. If anything, as Julie Rak shows, autobiography enjoys more popularity now than ever before—and artists’ accounts contribute robustly to that popularity. Why? What launched that interest in the first place and what sustains it now?

Venue & Address: 
OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Room 258 (George Reid Wing)
Website: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/432007204130130/
Email: 
folas@ocadu.ca
Cost: 
Free
Poster for Sabbatical Talks: Dr. Lynne Milgram and Dr. Charles Reeve

Startup Open House

Startup Open House at Imagination Catalyst
Thursday, September 27, 2018 - 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Coinciding with this year’s Elevate Startup Open House event, come out to mix and mingle with startups from the Imagination Catalyst program - present and past - as well as network with our exceptional advisors, mentors and investors.

The event runs from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM in our new innovation campus at Daniels Waterfront: City of the Arts building at Queens Quay East and Lower Jarvis.

RSVP HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-open-house-tickets-50078963528
 

Venue & Address: 
Daniels Waterfront: City of The Arts 130 Queens Quay East Toronto, Ontario M5A 3Y5
Website: 
https://www.ocadu.ca/research/imagination-catalyst.htm
Email: 
ic@ocadu.ca
Phone: 
416-977-6000 x4258
Cost: 
FREE
New Waterfront innovation campus