THE STATE OF FILIPINO MILLENNIALS: AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW

This talk presents an overview of the state of Filipino millennials. It adopts a critical perspective that challenges the general discourse about their generation. That the discourse is imported from Western writings and reinforced by the local advertising industry needs to be called into question. In my view, these writings still echo the functionalist take in Filipino youth studies that treats them as a problem that must be corrected. In the latter part, I will discuss the fragmentations among Filipino millennials brought about by inequality. It is important to recognize these fragmentations to demonstrate that the stereotypes that both celebrate and problematize them are inadequate. At the same time, recognizing the vulnerabilities of these youths is crucial in understanding the different responses they have towards various social issues. 

SPEAKER

Dr. Jayeel S. Cornelio is Associate Professor and the Director of the Development Studies Program at the Ateneo de Manila University and Honorary Research Associate at the Divinity School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written extensively on youth, religion, and social change in the Philippines. He is the author of Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines: Young People Reinterpreting Religion (2016), editor of Rethinking Filipino Millennials: Alternative Perspectives on a Misunderstood Generation (2020), and lead editor of the Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society (2021). 

CHAIR

Dr Darlene Machell Espena is an Assistant Professor of Humanities at Singapore Management University (SMU), where has taught courses on International Relations on Film, Film in Southeast Asia, Cultural History of the Cold War in Asia, and Big Questions. She earned her PhD in History (2017) and MSc. in Asian Studies (2012) from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Her research includes cinema, dance, and politics in postcolonial Southeast Asia, cultural history of the Cold War in Southeast Asia, and cultural discourses on education in Singapore. Before joining SMU in August 2018, she was a Research Fellow at Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE). She has held teaching positions at De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. Her current book project is entitled “Heralding the Nation: Cinema and Politics in Postcolonial Southeast Asia, 1945-1967.”