Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

PHD - Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Expressive Therapies

Abstract

The study explored how intergenerational mythweaving as a form of expressive arts therapies affected the cultural identity of an intergenerational Filipino-American group. The specific research question addressed was, “Is Indigenous Artivism or IA an effective medium for fostering awareness of kapwa-based cultural identity?” IA was the theoretical framework with three components: the indigenous approach of storytelling, the indigenous process called kapwa-based intergenerational mythweaving or KIM, and an indigenous knowledge of helping and healing as a means for decolonization. IA was assumed to increase the awareness of cultural identity when participants achieved symbolic synthesis and cultural healing on the individual and collective levels. Study participants, also called participant-researchers, were composed of five female older adults, ages 58 to 86 years, all first-generation immigrants and naturalized American citizens; and nine young adults, seven females and two males, ages 18 to 21 years, belonging to second and third Filipino-American generations, from Los Angeles, California. Study results seemed to indicate a greater awareness of cultural identity, well-being and purpose among participants through IA, with mental health implications to other indigenous or immigrant groups, including the promotion of social cohesiveness through the expressive arts.

Author keywords: intergenerational mythweaving; cultural identity; indigenous knowledge; indigenous process; indigenous activism; indigenous artivism or IA; kapwa or sense of interconnectedness; decolonization; symbolic synthesis; cultural healing; Filipino-American; immigrant group

Language

English

Number of Pages

201

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