Watching the Nation, Singing the Nation: London-Based Filipino Migrants' Identity Constructions in News and Karaoke Practices

This study explores the identity construction of London-based Filipinos across the media of news and karaoke. In bridging the “public knowledge project” with the “popular culture project,” I argue that the seemingly innocent social practice of singing involves raising and erasing of symbolic boundaries. As national identities are constantly flagged in everyday life, I examine how Filipino audiences negotiate multiple attachments in both media practices. From participant observation and qualitative interviews, I discover that news reception generally enables both banal nationalism and banal transnationalism, whereas karaoke functions more as a homeland-directed “high holiday.” I demonstrate how audiences weave in and out of their loyalties to British and Filipino publics across the media of British news, Filipino news, as well as karaoke.