University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

MEDIA RELEASE

CSUN Fulbright Scholar Temporarily Returns Home to the Philippines

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Oct. 31, 2007) — When California State University, Northridge Asian American Studies professor Enrique de la Cruz left the Philippines to attend graduate school in the U. S., he planned to return to his country after completing his studies. He couldn’, however, because of the political turmoil resulting from a declaration of martial law by former president Ferdinand E. Marcos.

De La Cruz, a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, is in the Southeast Asian country today for an extended stay, leading an advanced research seminar for 10 doctoral students at Leyte Normal University, a mid-sized public college in the central region of the Philippines.

He is teaching them how to "refine research proposals for their doctoral dissertations, do a pilot study to give them actual hands-on experience in field work, and field test their protocols," as the graduate students pursue their diverse academic interests.

"One is looking into why high school science students are underperforming on standard achievement tests in social science. Another is doing a study of multi-grade teachers and the challenges that they face," de la Cruz explained. "One is trying to replicate a University of South Carolina study (that involved economics majors) on the use of graphs in the teaching of economics, vis-á-vis non-economics majors.

"Another student is looking into whether a special funding augmentation program for rural health service providers actually increases the quality of health care services received by residents of rural areas," he said. "Through the use of exit interviews, one student who works in the human resources department of another public university is investigating ‘why people leave,’ in order to develop programs for academic support staff that would enhance professionalism and increase retention.

"As you can see," de la Cruz noted, "graduate students here are examining very practical problems in their research."

The CSUN professor is also making presentations at Leyte, other colleges and conferences on subjects such as: the book, he co-wrote, "The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons;" focus group interviewing, the principal methodology of his study of Filipino and Vietnamese youth gangs, and how to start an interdisciplinary academic journal.

When possible, de la Cruz is gathering data for a book on the "Anti-Marcus Opposition Movement in the U. S."

"Many of the activists in this movement returned to the Philippines after Marcos was deposed in 1986, and I am seeking them out for interviews," said the former chair of CSUN’s Asian American Studies Department.

"As someone who has had an abiding interest in Philippine affairs due to my involvement in the opposition movement in the U.S. to the Marcos dictatorship, this appointment provides an opportunity to learn first-hand, about the social and political changes that Filipinos currently face as a people, and as nation state; it is also interesting to see how far they have traveled since those days in 1986 when the Marcos dictatorship was finally deposed," he said.

For another book project, de la Cruz said he "would like to collaborate with Filipino Studies scholars here and elsewhere in putting together an anthology about Filipinos in the Diaspora. This could be a series of studies on how Filipinos have adopted to the challenges of acculturation and immigration in the various countries where Filipinos have immigrated, since the last quarter of the 20th century. This would include the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

"What makes this project much more interesting and cogent today, is the emergence of Filipino Studies as a legitimate interdisciplinary field in leading universities in the Philippines, much like the emergence of ethnic studies in leading American universities as a legitimate field," he said. "In light of these developments, there is now a body of knowledge that makes comparative studies or transnational studies about the Filipino so much more interesting."

While in the Philippines, the CSUN professor is keeping a journal.

"For most ‘American scholars,’ and even for myself who is a ‘transnational,€ the Fulbright appointment offers this tremendous opportunity to interact for an extended period with scholars and students who are rooted in a different culture and region, and have a different sense of history, as well as current events," he said. "Such an experience provides a good antidote to any ‘orientalist’ constructions and preconceptions that one may have acquired about Filipinos and the Philippines from an overly Eurocentric education."

De La Cruz, who is expected to return to CSUN next semester, also believes his future students will benefit from his Fulbright award.

"Travel always broadens one’s perspective, and an extended stay in one area deepens it as well," he added. "It will take a while for me to synthesize my observations; while I cannot say at this point how this experience will manifest itself in my teaching, bits and pieces here and there will certainly percolate into the illustrations I provide in class."

The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. During the program's more than six decades, thousands of U.S. university faculty, like de la Cruz, and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. They are among more than 265,000 American and foreign university students, K-12 teachers and university faculty and professionals who have participated in one of the several Fulbright exchange programs.