A model for a way of productively engaging the current debates between deconstructive cultural criticism and the project of indigenization as these are played out in the struggles of Filipino and Filipino American academics seeking empowerment for their respective communities.

Arguing for the contingent nature of theories and the need for nuanced perspectives in their invocation across politically-uneven contexts, this study models a way of productively engaging the current debates between deconstructive cultural criticism and the project of indigenization as these are played out in the struggles of Filipino and Filipino American academics seeking empowerment for their respective communities.