ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the big picture of contemporary Filipino migration and diaspora from cultural perspectives and suggests the contours of what may still be labeled as shared “Filipino identity.” Starting with an essentialized idea of “culture,” it shows how migration, diaspora, and hybridity in their Filipino versions necessitate a process of complexifying the notion of cultural identity. The chapter argues that the “Filipino-X” cultural identity in the Filipino diaspora should be made the explicit and primary context, as well as object, of theological reflection. After all, it is the task of theology to indicate that it is in the context of the diversity and complexity of various Filipino-X cultural identities around the world that the process toward a greater wholeness (salvation) is being continually realized in the reign of God.
