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Diasporic Intimacy: Unfolding Balikbayan Narratives

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Exegesis(82.67 MB)

Date

2024

Authors

Saso, Denise Jillian

Supervisor

Moore, Rachelle
Hedges, Susan

Item type

Exegesis

Degree name

Master of Design

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

For many in the diaspora, maintaining ties to their homeland is preserved through souvenirs and homemaking practices. The bonds Filipino breadwinners living overseas maintain with family back home is made tangible by sending balikbayan or homecoming boxes. This thesis examined the concept of diasporic intimacy in Filipino culture. I shape my understanding of this cultural tradition by investigating how an engagement with the balikbayan box might manifest as diasporic intimacy and weave narratives of home through banig or handwoven mat design principles. The research involved traditional banig weaving fieldwork in Basey province, in the Samar region of the Philippines, alongside personal reflections on the balikbayan box tradition. This research grounds these cultural contexts through my relationship with my grandmother. A banig souvenir commemorating our time together during my research in Basey was a vehicle for design exploration. This practice aimed to entwine these Filipino traditions and facilitate emotional and cultural connections between her and me. I utilised a practice-led, autoethnographic approach in which diasporic intimacy revealed itself through the iterative process of making a gift for my grandmother. Making, packing, and sending a balikbayan box and its contents sought to activate a space for intimate experiences under diasporic conditions. The outcome was a keepsake box incorporating banig design principles of multifunctionality and ornamentation. Applied banig patterns to the keepsake box’s surface further illustrated layered narratives of home. This research project was ultimately my journey home. It intended to contribute to the discourse on diasporic intimacy and how diasporic Filipinos make place between two countries.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18493

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Masters Theses