Martin Manalansan Visits MSU

By: Dr. Andrea Louie

On October 31 and November 1, 2006, the Asian Pacific American Guest Lecturer Series, along with several co-sponors, welcomed Dr. Martin Manalansan, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to campus.

Manalansan’s first workshop, AIDS and Asian Americans, provided a general overview of the various models that have been used by community workers doing AIDS prevention work. The second, titled AIDS Prevention, Racial Sensitivity, and Cultural Competence, focused on re-thinking the concept of “cultural competence” that is used widely in the medical community to discuss how to deal with racial and cultural minority communities.

Manalansan also presented a paper titled “The Homecoming Body: Race and Sex in Filipino Return Migration” in which he discussed the ways that diaspora Filipinos transform themselves in various ways to compete in the entertainment industry.