About

This blog accompanies the website of the same name, The Commonwealth Cafe.info. While the website presents U.S. Filipino writing published pre-WWII, the blog focuses on issues about the texts (primarily from older periodicals), as well as on contemporary Filipino American writing in relation to the older works.

Why “Commonwealth”? The title refers back to the period when the Philippines–having been colonized by the U.S.–was in a period of limbo, waiting for independence to be granted, despite the fact that its people had declared an independent republic in 1898 at the end of the Philippine revolution against Spain. In the Treaty of Paris, the U.S. acquired the Philippines from Spain for a sum of money, an act that sparked a revolt by Filipinos, followed by the Philippine-American war. By 1935, the Philippines was a commonwealth of the U.S., its colony until 1945. I use the term “commonwealth” simply so that this “forgotten” chapter in Philippine and American history will be remembered, but also because the term brings up the older idea of sharing the common wealth. For the purposes of this blog, I think of this “wealth” not in economic terms, but rather in the sense of sharing information, memory, and creativity.

Why “Cafe”? Carlos Bulosan mentions the Commonwealth Cafe as among his “hangouts.” Like the Republic Cafe, the Union Restaurant, the Manila Cafe, and many others, these were places where Filipino writers and their friends gathered to eat, talk, argue, gossip, share ideas, information, and writing in a time (The Great Depression) and place (the U.S.) that often treated them with disdain, if not outright brutality.

What’s the point? In my readings of U.S. Filipino writing in pre-WW II periodicals from 1902 through WWII, many more newspapers and magazines were named that I did not have time to find, or read. These periodicals are not just objects of sociological or historical study; they are archives of the earliest writings and literary efforts of Filipinos in the U.S. My intent is to encourage further research in this area, so that we might have a larger perspective from which to study Filipino American writing in its historical, political, and literary contexts.

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Jean Vengua has taught at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and Gavilan College. She is the author of a collection of poetry, Prau, and a chapbook, The Aching Vicinities. With Mark Young, she co-edited the First Hay(na)ku Anthology, and The Hay(na)ku Anthology Vol. II. Her poetry and essays have been published in many journals and anthologies. She currently lives and works in Elkhorn, CA, near Salinas.