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Portrait of Xenia Rochelle Jones

Sociology Away Day at NCVO, London 13/07/2023

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Having not seen my PhD Supervisor Prof. Umut Erel for awhile (in a face to face interaction, we've been interacting plenty digitally through supervision meetings and emails), I jumped at the invitation to attend and take part when she invited me to the Sociology Department's 'Sociology Away Day' at the NCVO London for July 13, 2023. Having just recently taken part as a keynote speaker for the Summer PGR Conference at the Open University Campus in Milton Keynes, the benefit of interacting, meeting and sharing ideas with fellow Open University PhD students, staff and academics was fresh on my mind. 

To listen to other perspectives and views, sometimes new, sometimes familiar but framed in an unexpected manner brings about pathways of taught that inspire my own writing, which I find to be valuable especially at this point in my PhD (I am now writing, completed a few of my heavier chapters). And then there is the idea of meeting the 'heavyweights' in our discipline whose names and work I have interacted with foundationally in my Master's in Social Sciences study with the Open University - there was Prof. Sophie Watson, the Department Chair, Prof. Marie Gillespie and Dr. Peter Redman whose work in social research methods in the post-grad modules formed bulk of a few of my TMAs in my MA studies. I would never forget the hours I spent with 'that book', sometimes puzzled, sometimes enlightened but always looking quite funny as I spoke at the book being that it was my most comprehensive introduction to social research methods (my BA is in history and historiography is a little removed from most of the methods used in social research I have come to know with the exception, perhaps, of genealogy). 

Yet, as with all the post-grad modules I took for my MA, they have become the foundation from which I moved forward with the ambition to study for a PhD, without the experience of which my PhD studies with the Open University would have been impossible. In the Sociology away day, aside from sharing our research (it was a privilege) my fellow PhD student Elena and I also heard about the current research engagements of some of our department academics while they gave insight, asked questions and prompted us to think further about ours. That experience and opportunity was extremely valuable, for me, at least. 

I respect the years of experience and the expertise of our Department's established minds for I am proof (my studies, at least) that the work that they do are impactful not just to students but to individuals and society. There is a variety of work, concerns and concepts that came about including talks in relation to AI and the digital (my 'baby', in a way) as well as insight into research related to the depowering of women via politics in Turkey (Dr. Ece Kocabicak), Dr. Peter Redman’s interest in the shared unconscious of a group in social settings and another fomenting research on the sociology of breathing (Dr. Kevin McSorley). Then there was my fellow PhD student Elena Bokouvala whose work on citizenship and belonging explored the application of art, expression and borders as experienced by migrant refugee youths in Greece, presenting profound descriptions and voices of an otherwise ‘hidden’ human experience. What was obvious was the variety and diversity of research and the promise they held. Additionally, listening to subject matter experts in their field asking questions, expressing opinions, breaking down concepts was a privilege. 

It almost felt like a mini-viva for me when I was answering questions about my research and hearing feedback from Prof. Marie Gillespie, from Prof. Ece Kocabicak, from Dr. Peter Redman, Dr. Ole Jensen, Dr. Chris Cotter and Dr. Kevin McSorley and Prof. Sophie Watson. With Prof. Umut Erel, my PhD Supervisor looking on, I felt supported and emboldened to carry on with the task of presenting and answering, representing elements of my work to a room full of the bedrock of the Open University’s Sociology Department. I am very glad I took part.

Image: Below (myself with Elena), On Top (myself with Prof. Umut Erel, Dr. Ece Kocabicak, Prof. Sophie Watson & P{rof. Marie Gillespie)

Xenia JOnes with fellow PhD STudent Elena Bokouvala, Prof. Umut Erel, Prof. Sophie Watson, Dr. Ece Kocabicak & Prof. MArie Gi

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Portrait of Xenia Rochelle Jones

Attending the CRC PhD 2023 Conference

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Thursday, 18 May 2023, 22:43

Being on my last year of my part-time PhD Studies, and having gone through much especially in the last 3 years in terms of access, study challenges and social connections due to the Covid-19 Lockdowns, meeting with Senior Academics, but most especially fellow PhD students is a very welcome activity. When Dr. Daniel Gooch sent an email out early this year with regards to a CRC PhD Conference, I signed up to attend and take part so I can meet fellow Open University PhD Students and the academics who run the PG Forum, an important resource for fellowship for PhD student-researchers like myself who work towards completing our PhD research through various means online and most of the time, away from the 'physical university' and social contact of other PhD students. I never much appreciated the social contact element. But whenever I can, if I have to time to visit or do my work in a university library (thanks to the SCONUL System), I find that going into a library, finding space to put my laptop down and to sit down, among the many other students who are, like me, become similarly immersed in the material before them, with frowns over certain concepts they're struggling with, or nods punctuated by flurries of handwriting or keyboard typing when they reach a 'eureka' moment - it gives a kind of assurance that I am not alone, a comfort that 'we are all going through this together'. As a sociology student, I have a certain understanding of social connections, because, as theories go, by social interaction, we come together to discuss, to influence, to listen, to communicate and share ideas, experience, opinion and knowledge and in so doing, we create new ways of thinking, we make new meaning. I find that when I attend conferences like that arranged by the CRC, most especially if presenters or speakers are from other fields, other departments and faculties, I encounter new knowledge and ways of thinking and doing. This transdisciplinary 'meeting of minds' is curious and very special, for it enhances my way of thinking and expands my thoughts beyond the boundaries of my own science and the paradigms of thought I usually turn to in making sense of the world. The CRC conference what just that, where I encountered PhD research work related to music, research in Finance, work on AI, on web development and coding, among others. Some work and ongoing research are so incredible to me and so inspiring in the promise that innovation can bring. In return, when I share my work, I also want to do the best I can, to talk about what I hope to bring to the field, in return for the inspiration and fellowship the conference has brought me. 

Being a PhD student is a unique challenge. It gets to a point where you have to dig deep to carry on. The CRC conference is a wonderful reminder and prompt that you are not alone in the struggles you face, helping to avoid and overcome that 'impostor syndrome'. Much thanks to Dr. Daniel Gooch and Prof. Marian Petre for organising the event. I will be back for the next one, if ever I am invited once more. Good luck to everyone and all the best in your research. I look forward to hearing how everyone progresses!

P.S. Attached image of 'in-person' PhD Student attendees by Blaine Price. For those attending online, we were holding their names printed out as we do the 'Up Against the Wall' activity. Much love and thank you to my better-half James Jones for all his support in my studies.


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Taking Part in the IKD PhD Hub on Gender & Social Policy

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Wednesday, 28 Apr 2021, 16:59

When my supervisors notified me of taking part in presenting my research so far in a post-graduate workshop, I was unsure. In the beginning of my PhD, presenting what I wanted to study was, as I now reflect, far easier than presenting my progress so far - my jumble of data, the work that I have done, my choices, my research, my readings, the ideas that emerged and the difficulties and limitations that at times make me question the validity and relevance of my research and my capacity as a researcher. Exacerbated by the challenges of the lockdowns that society has been confronted with due to the covid-19 pandemic, I wonder at all if there is a venue and value, at this moment, for the study I am undertaking.

Taking part in the IKD PhD Hub Workshop on Gender and Social Policy has allowed me to share my research to fellow PhD students, to researchers and to lecturers and experts who are in a position of experience with a wealth of knowledge that foster the discussion on my subject of study. I presented from my research so far, drawing from it to create a Powerpoint Presentation that illustrated my topic: An ethnographic study of female Overseas Filipino Workers working in Taiwan's Manufacturing industry. My study addresses a gap in the OFW and migrant transnational worker field - these women work in making things, in places of work that are highly industrial where they have been recruited en-masse in part due to their nationality (bilateral agreements between Taiwan and the Philippines) and in part due to their gender, I am investigating ways of coping, interstitial spaces and cultural hybridity and emergent in my study, the fundamental essentiality of the digital in their working and personal lives.

As I reflect on the transformative context of the lives of the women I study, I also reflect on the transformative effect of the seminar I took part in - some of my own difficulties have been reflected and I find that I am not alone in the struggle of writing a dissertation. Further, I find the fundamentality of the digital in my academic pursuits as well, for the virtual space of the workshop that contained, facilitated and made dynamic the presentation, discourse and exchange of ideas has made me reflect on my own digital life and the essentiality of this third space becoming social fact in our times. As I listened to fellow presenters sharing their research - Dr. Lorena Lombardzi, Sarah Hadfield, Celia Bartlett and Angela Collins - I juxtaposed elements of my own to theirs, finding support in my experience, theorizing and difficulties in their own. As I listened to discussions led by Prof. Nicola Yeates and later on Prof. Jo Phoenix  & Dr. Ross Fergusson, I found myself reflecting on wisdom of practice and expertise honed over time and experience. At the end of the workshop I find that hope and motivation that just might get my work further, that what I am doing might be of interest and service in this challenging times. A screenshot of the IKD PhD Hub Gender and Social Policy Workshop, April 28, 2021

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Portrait of Xenia Rochelle Jones

Book Review: The Labor of Care: Filipina Migrants and Transnational Families in the Digital Age

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Wednesday, 3 Apr 2019, 11:02

Book Review

By Xenia Rochelle Jones, X4846713

Dr. Umut Erel & Prof. Parvati Raghuram (PhD supervisors)

FASS, The Open University


Book Details

Title: The Labor of Care: Filipina Migrants and Transnational Families in the Digital Age

Author: Valerie Francisco-Menchavez

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252041723

Year: 2018


Introduction 

Since the early 1900's, Filipinos have migrated outside the Philippine islands to seek work abroad. The slow trickle to countries like the US and HongKong however turned into mass migration in the 1960's via systemic recruitment by the American military and civilian agencies for Filipino professional and non-professional labor. By the late 60's and the 70's the boom in oil in the Middle East necessitated the importation of foreign labor, primarily construction workers, engineers, nurses and domestic workers to support the economic boom in countries like Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait while Greek and Scandinavian shipping companies began to recruit Filipino seafarers en-masse. By then, millions of Filipinos have found employment abroad and the country has established bilateral agreements with the Filipino labor seeking nation. The contraction of the Philippine economy under the leadership of then Pres. Ferdinand Marcos also necessitated the need for employment options of which working abroad become key due to better pay rates in comparison to the Philippines. Nurses for example get 6 times the pay they get in the Philippines if they chose to work in the US. By 1974, the Philippine Department of Labor has put in place measures and policies that manage the active and systemic migration of Filipinos for temporary employment abroad (Medina & Pulumbarit, 2012) via Presidential Decree 422 which managed the recruitment and placement of what became known as the OFW - Overseas Filipino Worker. By 1978, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) was established which by 2013 estimates that there are around 10.2 million OFWs around the world (CFO, 2013) with the US hosting around 3.13 million OFWs, a percentage of whom have established themselves and their families permanently in the US. 


New Forms, Traditional Family Dynamics

The act of working far away from their families meant being removed from their families and the communities and the social elements this encompasses. This is certainly true from the 60's to the early 2000's. The arrival of web 2.0 however has allowed for OFWs included (Caguio & Lomboy, 2014) around the world to access technologies that allow them to be easily accessible to family back home via the Smartphone, laptops and PCs. With The Philippines being crowned as the 'most online' country in the world by the Digital 2019 report from Hootsuite & We are Social (Aguilar, 2019) where Filipino users spend an average of 10 hours and 2 minutes online daily, digital expertise and connectivity is social fact for most OFW families, supported by the proliferation of mass produced local Smartphone brands like Cherry Mobile and MyPhone (Kaila, 2018), who offer a brand new Smartphone that allow for apps like Facebook and Chrome from Php 1,500 (around £21). This connectivity and digital literacy (Adobo, 2018) becomes the basis of Francisco-Menchavez's (2018) book, "Labor of Care". Where once migration moved in one direction - the OFW abroad where they worked and remittance/money to their families back home - the advent of globalization and accompanying technologies of the digital age like Facebook and Skype has transformed this previous dynamics. For Francisco-Menchavez (2018), the Filipina OFW, in terms of the role she plays in the family back home as well as in the communities she is a part of, either back home in the Philippines or in the US, inhabits a more involved, more accessible and connected space. Facebook, Skype and video recordings have become everyday tools that allow the OFW to perform particular roles for family back home, as a mother, daughter, wife, partner, friend as well as members of certain community groups. Long distances are bridged daily in the digital space where their interaction with those left back home happens, face to face, in real time. Thus while sundered, they are linked and Francisco-Menchavez (2018) argues that emotional bonds are maintained and intimacy and relationships take on new forms, innovations that allow to support traditional family dynamics.

Consisting of an introduction, 4 in-depth chapters summarized in a concluding chapter, the book is a study in presenting research-based patterns and emergent meanings, drawn from Francisco-Menchavez's (2018) 5-year engagement and collaboration with a group of working OFW mothers in the US. In this context, the author is not just an outsider looking in as she herself identifies with the Filipino-American migrant subgroup, herself having once been an undocumented migrant (pp. 173) having sought opportunities in the US otherwise not available to her in the Philippines. This gives the author a certain 'depth of feel' and a far more comprehensive access to her subject's cultural and social positions - she speaks their language; she has gone through her own version of family separation and experienced its effect. Her study investigated the sacrifices, emotional and material consequences and roles recasting' brought on by family separation. Her multisited-ethnographic approach allowed her to investigate in 3 sites - 'in real life' in the US to collaborate with her subjects, 'in real life' in the Philippines to further investigate the complexities of OFW families by getting to know her subject's family members and how they relate to each other, in particular with their 'physically removed' OFW family member, and 'online', when they communicate and meet using digital technology. While Francisco-Menchavez (2018) does not at all declare the 3 sites implicitly, this is emergent in her work, with the 'online' site being that transformational element that bridges and allows for recasting of roles that still support traditional family dynamics.

Francisco-Menchavez (2018) writes that her multi-sited ethnography is a 'participatory theatre' where her study is rooted in becoming 'implanted' (pp. 176). This follows the vein of traditional ethnography related to the idea of the 'field'. Essentially, she went 'out there' in spaces and places where she met her participants and related sources of information (i.e. the participant's friends and relatives) not only to interview them but to observe and take part in the discussions. Francisco-Menchavez (2018) after all identifies as one of them - she is an OFW and shares the same language and socio-cultural background to her participants. To Massey (2003), a researcher goes out in the field with an abstract construct of her research - the phenomenon is not 'out there' waiting to be discovered for if knowledge is the product of discourse and interaction, then the spaces and places where knowledge is produced is within language. So Francisco-Menchavez's (2018) spatial field is both physical (in that she goes to places to meet her participants to observe and interact with them) and abstract (in that meanings can only be established  by giving voice to ideas, experiences and hopes which in Francisco-Menchavez's study relate to sacrifices pertaining to separation, sundering and through the use of digital technology, reconfiguring familial dynamics once again).

Reconfiguration

In page 49, Francisco-Menchavez exemplified this reconfiguration of family dynamics and use of digital technology as a tool for multidirectional care in the case of Jing, a Filipina mother living and working with her family in the US. In text message exchange between Jing and her brother Boyet, they planned how to do family chores - buying groceries, picking up the kids from school (Jing's and Boyet's), gathering everyone in time at home to celebrate a birthday - that of Tetet, Boyet's wife. The difference is that Tetet is in New York in the US and the family greeting her and making her feel their love and care is in the Philippines. Tetet in this story related is the OFW who is working out of the country to earn more than she would in the Philippines to support her family. The sacrifice pertained to is not being together in the general sense of the word - the sundering of families. But through Skype, mobile communications and related technologies, Tetet is in their everyday lives - they constantly communicate at particular hours of the day with Tetet, Jing and Boyet accessible to each other and to their children. As such, even with the time difference, a birthday has been celebrated together, at least in a third space - online. Additionally, within this dynamic, there is a reversal of roles - Boyet has become the primary caregiver to their children and he constantly works hard at making sure the needs of his family, his wife included, are met. Constant communication with regards to food, rest and well-being are directed at Tetet and while she reciprocates similarly, the central figure holding their relationship together is Boyet - now the family 'nurturer', primary caregiver. This family dynamics is played out online, in digital spaces they occupy to be 'together'; if home is a 'space' to be together with family to communicate and bond, then the virtual spaces they all come together online as a family has taken the temporary place of home where their bonding, meaning making as a family, takes place. Francisco-Menchavez retells the difficulties of each in adjusting to new roles, especially since they were unconsciously taken up in the process of Tetet's being 'away' to work.  The phenomenon of decentering is not new but in her book, Francisco-Menchavez (2018) carves it out as it occurs, as it plays out, and with the narratives of her participants told to her via their kuwentohans (the Filipino tradition of intentionally coming together to gossip, sharing experiences and stories), she built a thick and descriptive data source from which patterns of multidirectional care, decentering and abstracted, digital-based new family dynamics emerge. 


Creativity in Multidirectional, Multigenerational Kin Networks

A set of emergent pattern presented itself in many of her subjects where among families, especially extended OFW families with a number of family members working in various sites around the world, intimacy rather through rivalry takes place. This is exemplified in the case of Rita (pp. 65) who came from a family with members in each generation migrating abroad for work. Her mother was an OFW and she and her siblings followed the migrant life course too, with her mother's life as template. As they worked to keep their mother involved in domestic affairs back home when she worked abroad, so did they try for Rita too - constantly informing her of  what is happening in their home, and involving her in decision-making for certain family concerns and events (i.e. parties). With digital technology, they managed the sundering and engaged in activities that saw them pitted against each other - for their parents' approval. In Filipino families, the acknowledgement of parents over the success of their children is an ideal many strive to and success at work as well as in personal life is paramount. Competition however happens within the context of a constantly communicating family, each members becoming entangled and co-dependent on each other so that left-behind aunts and uncles become surrogate parents for left-behind children and OFW parents through various strategies including digital technology co-parent with them. The co-parenting element is subject to creative-adaptation of technologies and means that allow for adjustment to accommodate the sundering, regular Facebook chats as well as fighting and then making up included. Rita for example made the arrangements for the family's fiesta (an event that celebrates the Feast Days of the Patron Saint of the town where households in the town throw open their doors to offer food and drinks to visitors) digitally, remotely executing her plan through use of technology and her kin network, with her siblings going the extra mile to operationalise her plan even though she, Rita, was not with them even though she was in the Philippines at that time as she was quarantined due to her suffering from chickenpox. They did it to make her feel 'in', so that emotionally and on terms of family responsibility, she did not feel the sundering. That 'being sequestered and quarantined' chickenpox event is seen as a testament of Rita's inclusion and influence to family events and activities, and her place in the dynamics.  The sundering, be they completely cutoff from physical contact but just next door, or being abroad and faraway altogether is not seen as a barrier to being a part of the kin network (pp. 66). As an OFW Rita sends money to provide, her siblings meanwhile through the kin network give her that orientation, that feeling of connection, of belonging and an all important purpose. Rita's mother was an OFW, with some of her siblings working in Israel and the rest in the Philippines. As a multi-generational OFW family, the care practices thus is multi-directional with migrations per generation, starting from her mother and is likely expected among Rita's and her siblings' offspring. Competition is also an observed pattern among Rita and her siblings, in terms of what they bring to the table, with their activities and contributions for the family 'back home' detailed in communications, in their exchanges. Francisco-Menchavez (2018) posits that Rita's staunch fulfillment of the role of provider and any other related jobs assigned to her that she can do even through the sundering in her kin network is due to the fact that she sees it as replacing her original role. For mothers, for daughters like Rita, working as an OFW means that she is giving up the job of being a nurturer and caregiver to her family to whoever is left home who takes it up. The sundering, the separation, according to Francisco-Menchavez (2018) incites in families like Rita's the need to be creative in providing multidirectional care, a creativity that requires commitment for all involved to ensure that the care network in that transnational family works and the needs of each are still somewhat provided for inspite of the sundering. 

Opinion

Much can be learned from Francisco-Menchavez’s (2018) work. The multi-sited ethnographic approach is inspired in that aside from the ability to observe her subjects in certain settings through instances and periods of sunderings, separations, connections and reunions, she is able to observe the similarities and uniformities of needs, commitment and enthusiasm over role-taking and creative adjustments of family members that while sundered are bridged or brought together someplace in the digital world. She observes them physically separated and yet networked virtually, digitally. She traces communication efforts in multigenerational OFW families handling multidirectional  kin networks and the care-chain for family members from the use of tapes in the 80’s to the active ‘live’ exchange using the digital technology of today. Her narration of these activities detail not just the difference in media but also hint at what I take the creative license to describe as social dynamics kin impact. The tapes from the 80’s were message delivery systems that allowed parents to reach out to their young, or for the young adults – to reach out to their parents back home. As speakers in the cassette tape, they have listeners in their audience at home. Naturally, the audience at home can reply via tape recorder too. If meaning and new knowledge emerges from discourse, it can be argued that listening only allows for suggestions – it remains to the listener if they will further discuss what they heard with others for that subject to enter a discourse and create new meanings. It can of course be argued that if the listener for example is taking up information from the tape as sacrosanct, then everything contained will be taken up as accepted knowledge. 

The digital spaces that families of today inhabit online however – they are not limited by time and distance. Delivery of information and exchange of ideas are instant, especially in the case of video calls. Conversation happens in real time, so that sunderings does not equate to speaker and listener but rather speakers and listeners engaging in an active, real-time exchange. I would argue that while the former has an impact in the social dynamics of those in the kin network, the latter promises to be far more transformative in that regard as showcased in Francisco-Menchavez’s (2018) work – in there, her subjects engage in ‘live exchanges’ so that it felt as if the family is still in one space, active in each other’s lives, in real time. In 80’s, even with telephones, sunderings separated, in the present sunderings still physically separated but due to digital technology, the labor of care in the kin network in transnational families has been creatively addressed so that the families can see each other, can connect not just once a week but throughout the day, informed and in touch and a constant part of each other’s lives. The complex reorganization of families and unique kin network care patterns in each of her subjects are contextualized and situated but throughout the generations of migrant families made more evident in the digital spaces they meet is the role of family in the kin network – families, nuclear or extended, anchor OFWs, the migrant workers. The configuration, the roles of members change but notion of family as a group of people who look after each other is at the core. The creative adjustments are meant to allow for sunderings as well as to ensure that the anchor of family remains. While there are certainly some subjects that have seen the anchor of family as a kind of difficulty to their own personal growth, the details included by Francisco-Menchavez (2018) point to the Filipino notion that family is of the greatest importance as a steering guide to policy. After all, sunderings are borne to provide for the family back home due to what has become a remittance-reliant national economy. Throughout the book, the subjects interviewed see their migrant worker selves as individuals who are ‘sundered’ from family and have willingly accepted the difficulty of the separation as doing so gives their family better lives. With 10% of the Philippine GDP (Schnabel, 2018) drawn from Personal Remittances from OFWs (around $31.29 billion in 2017) and with the OFW culture now fully ingrained in Philippine society, the sunderings will likely continue. But just as the sunderings continue, new ways of connecting, creative ways of maintaining care connections and kin networks will emerge. While this position is not explicitly presented by Francisco-Menchavez (2018), the patterns of family roles reconfiguration and communication in multigenerational families she interviewed showcases this kind of adaptability and creativity, where today’s digital society has created transformative virtual sites for OFW families to be ever more connected and involved, a part of each other’s daily lives.

I recommend this book to those with an interest in studying migrant lives, especially those with a focused interest in the OFW phenomenon and the care-chain involved in multigenerational, multidirectional kin networks. I believe it is also an interesting read to those interested in digital sociology as even with a rather focused subject of study, digital lives are put on display and vivisected, connected to ‘real life’ sites and the digital tools used where tangible exchange and transformations happen to affect real life in real time, fulfilling elements of the visions of ‘digital sociology’ offered by Marres (2017) in his seminal book ‘Digital Sociology’. In it he has enumerated what he sees as 3 general visions of digital sociology:  1- that is transactional, not artificial, traceable and naturally occurring, 2- that it allows to contextualize and fill gap the great divide of data so that while it is able to allow for macro analysis of massive populations, it can also facilitate detailed description of social life at a micro-level, allowing for a kind of scaleless study, and 3- that it is a game-changer as new forms of data capture via social media and related technologies allow for new forms of interactivity that redefines ideas of social networks, social analysis and forms of intervention. The exchanges taking place in the digital spaces inhabited by Francisco-Menchavez’s (2018) subjects showcase natural exchanges, the kind that take place between family members as accorded their role in family units, the exchanges via streaming video chats are not artificial even if they are facilitated with the use of digital hardware and platforms, exchanges are traceable and transactional; while she provides details from the ‘kuwentuhans’ with each of her subject, data from each of these can be fed into qualitative data analysis software like Nvivo to undertake macro-focused thematic analysis to study the larger Filipina OFW population and lastly, I do believe that her work showcases examples of digital-sociology being a game-changer in that within the digital sites families ‘live’, they directly intervene and affect each other, even with the sunderings, circumventing the geographical and temporal gap so that new forms of interactivity ask us to look into possible new ideas that constitute social media and social analysis. I feel that Francisco-Menchavez’s (2018) work is impactful not just in her subject of study but in the evolving field of digital sociology too. 



Word Count: 3671

Resources: 

1. Aguilar, K. (2019). Filipinos spend the most time on internet, social media worldwide — study. URL: https://technology.inquirer.net/83180/filipinos-spend-the-most-time-on-internet-social-media-worldwide-study?utm_expid=.XqNwTug2W6nwDVUSgFJXed.1

2. Adobo Magazine (2018).Facebook and OWWA empower OFWs with digital literacy and small business skills. URL: https://adobomagazine.com/global-news/facebook-and-owwa-empower-ofws-digital-literacy-and-small-business-skills 

3. Caguio, R. & Lomboy, O. (2014). "Understanding How Overseas Filipino Workers Engage on National Issues in Pinoy OFW Facebook Page," from Procedia - Social & Behavioral Sciences, Vo. 155, pp. 417-421. URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814057814 

4. Commission on Filipinos Overseas (2013). Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos. URL: http://www.cfo.gov.ph/images/stories/pdf/StockEstimate2013.pdf 

5. Kaila (2018). Pinoy Pride: The 5 Local Mobile Brands Worth Your Money. URL: https://billease.ph/blog/the-5-local-mobile-brands-worth-your-money/

6. Massey, D. (2003). “Investigating the Field,” from Pryke, M., Rose, G. & Whatmore, S. (eds.), Using Social Theory: Thinking though Research, pp. 71-88. Sage/The Open University.

7. Marres, N. (2017). Digital Sociology. Polity.

8. Medina, A & Pulumbarit, V. (2012). How Martial Law helped create the OFW phenomenon. URL: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/pinoyabroad/275011/how-martial-law-helped-create-the-ofw-phenomenon/story/ 

9. Menchavez-Francisco, V. (2018). Labor of Care of Filipina Migrants and Transnational Families in the Digital Age. Illinois University Press.

10. Schnabel, C. (2018). PH Remittances beat gov’t  target, hit record in 2017. URL: https://www.rappler.com/business/196148-philippines-ofw-remittances-december-2017


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Mini-viva and the next stage

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Monday, 27 Nov 2017, 16:42

It took sometime but last July, I have moved on towards the initial element of my planned fieldwork after passing my mini-viva. I have not updated this little blog of mine largely because I have consummated my time  and effort elsewhere, correcting HREC documents (a long and detailed process) and going further into theoretical and practical framework applicable to my study. That and real life getting in the way for, as a part-time student whose funding is self-generated, I have to work just a tad harder to prepare for the more financially demanding element of my proposed PhD topic. Sometimes it can get too much, still, I do enjoy the thinking through part, mulling over ideas, reading amazing works that give me that 'aha' moment that lead me to think further and further, extending tendrils of thought into something far more meaningful than they first appear. All these balancing of work, study and personal life (my husband is a serving soldier for HM Forces and the nature of his work has its own stresses and demands too) requires a lot of patience and creativity and surprisingly enough, I find the concept of reflectivity useful in that I make sense of my reality and what is going on around me by reframing them in a manner that allow me to move forward and make sense of the most difficult things. I suppose I am approaching all these through a particular scientific perspective, even noting my own biases and emotions at events and situations for the purpose of surviving and thriving.

Without the support and guidance of my supervisors, I do not think I could have moved on in my studies. They have pushed me to think, to be creative, to open up new avenues of thought I have been unfamiliar with and to grapple with what it means to be a PhD student. They are amazing thinkers who have accomplished so much that in their supervision I move forward sometimes slowly, sometimes faster than a freight train, because they inspire and their intellectual standing demands I do my best. Sometimes I stumble, but at the end of the day, I do not want to disappoint them and myself so however hard, I push through. I believe I will get there eventually as long as I keep doing the work, keep up the enthusiasm. The last bit is the easiest as I believe in my topic and I hope that at some point, when my research has concluded, it will find use, and even in some little way, make a positive difference.

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Portrait of Xenia Rochelle Jones

Hello MPhil/PhD

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Saturday, 10 Oct 2015, 05:20

Hello Everyone! It has indeed been quite a while since my last entry. But I've gone to the madhouse and done it! I spent a year formulating a topic, sending out my draft proposal and I am happy to say, it got approved. I am now an MPhil/PhD student with the Open University! I Cannot believe it. I can still recall the day I received my very first postgraduate module wondering what the heck I got myself into. But the Open University is amazing and my studies with the OU has become an integral part of both my personal and professional life! 

I attended the October 1 & 2 Induction a week ago at the gorgeous OU campus in Milton Keynes and it was not only life affirming but also incredibly inspiring. I know it will be a lot of work and I must say I am almost dreading the work that I have to do. But I have a fantastic team behind me and two of the best advisors anyone could want being the best in their field. Hearing of the research of my fellow intakes for 2015 (there is 93 of us that covers all gamut of fields from Space Science, to Business, to the Humanities, to the Social Sciences) is just so amazing. I cannot believe I am among great minds. 

So thank you Open University for getting me here, what a journey, and I know it is just the beginning. And thank you also to my ever supportive hubby, James, who incidentally is just as dedicated as I am, if not more, in his studies with the Open University. My soldier is just 3 or 2 modules short of his BA (Open). He is so engrossed in his studies in the sciences, especially Geology. Sometimes I suspect he even dreams about it.

PhD, here I come! 

Picture of James & Rochelle Jones in front of the Berill Bldg during the Oct1 PhD Induction Day

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Completed my MA in the Social Sciences!

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Monday, 27 Nov 2017, 16:34

big grin

Just recieved the great news - after struggling with forensic psychology for an entire year doing a resit on the finals, I have done it, I completed the module which means I have done it, I have achieved my MA. Oh my Lord, I can't believe it. Thank you all the goodwill in the universe - thank you my most beloved husband for the fantastic support - there is no need to drive me for hours on end to attend an exam. And thank you to all my inspirations - the tropics, pokemon, Porky Arthur and Dwight David, and to all my friends - you have so enriched my life and you are so much a part of this current milestone. Thank you, thank you.

 

I guess the next step is a PhD. But Im gonna take a little break till the next proposal for October. Thank you so much Open University - my tutors, my fellow students - you have made this achievement possible. I will be forever grateful for the rest of my days!

 

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Portrait of Xenia Rochelle Jones

I Survived D843

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Discourse analysis - you have to get to the heart of it before you can truly appreciate its intricacies. It wasn't easy, it was tough, the toughest course I have so far done with the OU. It was so hard that the first time I took the exam, I only scored 41%, failing it. Luckily, my TMA average evened it out to allow me a resit. I must say that I looking back, my original tutor wasn't as good as I expected and motivation for studying and gettng to the heart of the material wasn't there being that even my tutor expressed the unecessity of some of the material and the flakiness of certain theorists...Its the first time I have ever taken a resit with the OU for my MA courses and I was full of anxiety even doubting myself. It was motivation enough to get me to work harder for the resit. I was also given a new tutor, Ms. Harriette Marshall, a fantastic expert on the subject who really enlightened me about the theories and the material. With her guidance, I sailed through my resit, gaining 70%. My score registered me at the upper 5% of the examinees, and there was only one other who scored as high. Nobody got in the A bracket of scores (85-100%) and the highest scores belonged to me and another (70-84%). Apparently,more than 50% of the examinees failed. I was so pleased...it is my hghest score in an OU exam yet, all the more made meaningful by the fact that it is a postgrad course and the second to the last course I have to pass before gaining my MA. I rewarded myself (yes, after all those sleepless nights) with this beautiful artisanal Venetian handmade glass necklace by German jeweller Christine Funke. I deserve it! And yes, I adore Discourse Analysis now and truly appreciate its intricacies. Me and my Christine Funke Necklace, a reward I have allowed for myself.
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Portrait of Xenia Rochelle Jones

Some Random Thoughts

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 05:46

Hi World,

Its been awhile since I last posted here. So much has changed in the world and yet so much remains the same. Bin Laden is no more, the Android operating system has made some headways with the smart mobile phones and I have become reliant on one samsung GT5515 for my own life much as my Husband has become too attached to his Samsung Galaxy Tab...In terms of knowledge and meaning I have come to understand the multi-voicedness of it all, especially in relation to understanding how meaning and knowledge is established and created in me and in society ala Bakhtin and Volosinov.I have come to have an understanding of Identity and then Discourse, finished up two 30 point Postgrad Soc Sci courses in the last 12 months and, since I have forgotten to enroll this June I am up for my very last 30 pointer this November - Forensic Psychology. I have, in university, thought Psychology too vague but it has come to be of interest to me now especially after my studies of Lacan and Foucault. It is very interesting to know what shapes knowledge, opinions, culture, traditions and positions because it leads to an understanding of what makes us all unique but at the same time similar. I am 31 now and its been almost 6 years since I  started my first OU studies and all I can think of is getting to that PhD. OU has changed my life getting me to professions and academic interests I never thought I could achieve. Same goes for my husband who just finished his Business course. OU for life! The collage below is me lately celebrating the arrival of spring in Germany by the gardens next to our home. This is how my OU study makes me feel - being intellectually in Bloom. smile

 

65d76b2bcd141af64564aa54f8a55ecc.jpg

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D853 TMA1

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Edited by Rochelle Jones, Tuesday, 15 Dec 2009, 17:27

Spent so much time reading, reviewing and deciding which

 

little helpers" />

pieces of the study material to use and illustrate in the final 2,000 word essay...But, after at least 2 weeks of planning, writing and general worrying, it is done. I did enjoy Block 1 even if I found Lacan too abstract to understand! Here's to the submission of TMA1!

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Time Flies

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Tempus Fugit. While the spirit is willing to blog about my academic quest, time just does not allow. Nevertheless I do have my own multimedia home online:

http://xrjones.multiply.com

 

Do come and drop by!

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