Transnationalism,emotion and second‐generation social mobility in the Filipino‐Canadian diaspora

Through the case of Filipino‐Canadian youth experiences, this paper examines socio‐economic mobility among the children of immigrants in the context of transnational social fields and emotional engagements with the diasporic homeland. The Filipino‐Canadian experience is distinctive in terms of immigration patterns, settlement trajectories, policy frameworks and the historical and contemporary construction of ethno‐racial identities. Using educational attainment as a proxy for a wider process of social mobility, the paper shows that outcomes among Filipino youth have been anomalously poor. The explanations for this situation are multiple, but this paper draws particular attention to the ways in which negative emotional engagements with the Philippines as a diasporic homeland may shape self‐esteem and aspirations among Filipino youth in Canada and thereby play a role in social mobility.