When Anthony Ocampo was an undergraduate at Stanford University, he found himself "somewhat envious of all my friends who were taking these amazing courses" in Chicano studies, African American studies, and Asian American studies. There were no courses about Filipino Americans. On top of that, he found that "people always imposed the racial identity of Asian on me," he says, whereas "my childhood experiences suggested a strong connection between Latinos and Filipinos that was rarely written about." He reasoned that both groups have a culture embedded with features of Spanish colonialism.

Thus, Anthony set out on the road to graduate school, in part to answer his own questions about Filipino racial identity and more important to "begin addressing the void" in scholarly literature about people who shared his background. Growing up in a "predominantly brown" neighborhood of Filipino and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles, "I’ve always been interested in how racial identity emerges in contexts that are not just black and white."

His doctoral research focuses on second-generation Filipinos in their 20s from the multiethnic neighborhoods of Eagle Rock (Filipino, Latino, and white) and Carson (Filipino, Latino, and black). Like himself, the young people from Eagle Rock "tended to identify more closely with Latinos," he says. Filipino Americans from Carson, however, tended to identify as Asian, perhaps because this took them out of the black/brown conflicts in their neighborhood and its schools, he explains.

Looking at educational outcomes, Anthony found that Filipino Americans "who identified as Asian were more likely to finish college." While Filipino American parents tend to be well incorporated in American society, to hold professional jobs, and to be middle class, he adds, "college attainment rates of their children lag far behind other Asian groups."

At UCLA, Anthony was supported by a Eugene V. Cota Robles fellowship, four years of funding; it encourages applications from "individuals from cultural, racial, linguistic, geographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds that are currently underrepresented in graduate education." He also had summer support via UC DIGSSS and AGEP, as well as through a Graduate Summer Research Mentorship.

As a result of his summertime support, Anthony says he "started to think about publishing very early in graduate school" and already has a couple of articles in the pipeline at academic journals. Those publications are sure to help as he seeks a postdoctoral fellowship or faculty position. "One thing that I love about UCLA," he says, "is that it prepared me to position myself for the job market after graduate school."

Published in Winter 2011, Graduate Quarterly