Updated: 10:00 PM, July 26, 2020
Updated: 12:53 PM, July 22, 2017
Vancouver, B. C.
‘Basketball, Beauty Pageants and the Sexualities of Filipinos in Canada’
By Ted Alcuitas
May Farrales successfully defended her dissertation in a gruelling two-hour oral examination yesterday (July 19) at the University of British Columbia.
Her dissertation, ’Basketball, Beauty Pageants and the Sexualities of Filipinos in Canada’, examines the sexualities of Filipinos in Canada.
Farrales argues that the gender and sexual concepts of Filipinos are brought to Canada through labour migration. It is then “rescripted to racial, gender and sexual regimes in Canada”.
Farrales situated her research into three areas: Filipino basketball leagues, beauty contests and religious pageants and the queer community.
She concludes that the sexualities are influenced by the colonial history of the Philippines and are renegotiated in the “white colonial logics’ in Canada.
Farrales completed her BA in Geography at Simon Fraser University and her MA in Geography at the University of British Columbia.
Her field of study is in Geographies of race, sexuality and gender.
Her awards includes Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, Four-Year Fellowship, J. Lewis Robinson Memorial Scholarship and the Dr. Lakhur K. Jassal Graduate Travel Awards in Arts.
The Vancouver resident has been active in the Filipino community notably the struggle for caregivers waged through the Philippine women’s movement.
She has presented papers on her field of study in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton and in Seattle and San Francisco.
Her Master’s thesis examined the phenomenon of high school drop-outs among Filipinos in Vancouver.
Dr. May Farrales’ graduation follows a growing trend of Filipinos pursuing and completing doctoral studies.
Among them are: JP Catungal, Nora Angeles, Marilou Carillo, Aprodicio Laquian, Ethel Tungohan and Danielle Bisnar.
A number of Filipino PhD and M.A. students are currently enrolled at the University of British Columbia.
They include Dada Docot, Teilhard Paradela, Amber Heckelman, Ron Darvin, Dennis D. Gupa, Karla Comanda, Christine Noelle Peralta and James Pangilinan.
Congratulations to Dr.May Farrales!
I must add that it is rather ironic or maybe very fitting that her thesis is proven correct based on the ad below the article that “Congratulates the Miss Philippines 2017” pageant contestants.