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Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational Identities by gender and migration scholar Glenda Tibe Bonifacio offers an intimate, detailed picture of the lives and identities of the Filipino migrant women in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; told using a feminist approach uniquely attributed to the Filipino women, or what Bonifacio calls “Pinayism.” In her book, Bonifacio attempts to shatter the stereotypical and racialized image of Filipino migrant women, presenting these women to be more than just “nannies” or “domestic workers,” but…

Recent debates on societal transitions to democracy have focused their attention on the notion of “civil society,” putting great hope in its democratizing effects. This essay reexamines the notion’s utility in the context of the post-2011 Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. It argues that at least in its conceptualization along the lines of the “transition paradigm,” the civil society framework is unable to capture the complex catalysts of the non-teleological, open-ended uprisings in North Africa. Not only does it largely ignore the importance of socioeconomic forces as well…