Setting the Scene: An Introduction to FilipiNEXT

Between July 13 and July 15, 2022, a group of about 60 Filipinx Canadian scholars, artists, organisers, and community members gathered at York University, located in Toronto,for a transdisciplinary workshop called FilipiNEXT. Participants came from across Canada and the United States, not only from major urban centres of Toronto and Vancouverbut also from smaller cities and towns such as Halifax (Nova Scotia), Hazelton (British Columbia [BC]), Winnipeg (Manitoba), and Calgary (Alberta) as well as Honolulu, Hawaii, and Ithaca, New York. The diverse demographic geographies that characterised the workshop were thus markedly different from previous Filipinx Canadian anthologies and gatherings, which tended towards participants from Southern Ontario and Greater Vancouver. As organisers, we wanted the workshop to mirror the geographical distribution of Filipinx academics in Canada. Along with traditional academic presentations, panels, and discussions, the gathering featured the work of visual and performing artists, a graduate student-focused workshop, as well as informal modes of gathering—chikahan, kwentuhan and tsismisan— over food and refreshments. Among other things, those of us who gathered at FilipiNEXT had the opportunity to bear witness to and learn from the current state of scholarship about Filipinx lives, cultures, and communities in Canada; discuss what it means to be Filipinx folks navigating institutions such as academia, art worlds, and organising communities; and articulate our desires and visions for the future of Filipinx studies in Canada.