Yesterday was the Philippine book launch for Yasmin Ortiga‘s book Stuck at Home: Pandemic Immobilities in a Nation of Emigration, published internationally by Stanford University Press and locally by the De La Salle University Publishing House. I’m very honored to have been a part of this project as the copyeditor and book indexer. I also love that the creation of this book was helped along by Facebook; Yasmin and her research collaborated over Facebook, she conducted interviews with her respondents over Facebook Messenger, and she found me through a friend over—you guessed it—Facebook.
The book is a snapshot in time, talking about the challenges faced by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) during the pandemic. The lockdowns forced aspiring OFWs to abandon their plans to work abroad, stopped current OFWs on vacation here from leaving the Philippines because they were not allowed to return to their jobs and lives abroad, and led OFWs back home after being let go from their jobs during the pandemic and subsequently forced to figure out how they fit in the Philippine job market. One could say it’s a pretty dry topic, but Yasmin tells the stories of the OFWs she interviewed with heart and sympathy while providing in-depth research and commentary on the situation. It’s just a really good read and I hope more people get their hands on the book.
Congratulations and thank you, Yasmin!
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