Bayanihan and Belonging: Filipinos and Religion in Canada

"Alison Marshall is a wise ethnographer. She is keenly aware of her own positionality as both non-Filipino and a researcher interacting with her participants…Marshall is self-aware, and she knows that what appears mundane to some reveals just as much about the beholder as the object of their gaze."

Lydia Bringerud, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Journal of Folklore Research

"This study of Filipinos in Manitoba is highly recommended for its scholarly value and as an interesting read about energetic and hardworking new Canadians."

Terence J. Fay SJ, University of Toronto, Historical Studies

"In this work, Alison Marshall once again renders visible a portion of Canada’s multicultural and religiously diverse mosaic that generally receives little attention in the literature or even in public discussion. Whereas in her previous work that group was the ethnically Chinese population of the pre-1970s era, here she shows the diversity and complexity of the histories and biographies of those who have come to Canada from the Philippines. In telling their stories and letting them tell their stories, with emphasis on what has been important to them in their settlement in Canada, Marshall goes beyond vague conceptions and stereotypes to recover and profile what may be lost or invisible. The book makes a genuine contribution and should be recommended to anyone who wants to see what diversity in our country actually looks like in person and on the ground."

Peter Beyer, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa