The Filipino Migration Experience is the latest work by Mina Roces, who has published extensively on Filipino gender, kinship networks, and activism. In this book, Roces presents a historical view of the experiences of overseas Filipinos using a multisited approach with a source-base she refers to as the ‘migrant archive’ from the 1970s to around 2018. Roces’ goal is to put the spotlight on the migrants both as ‘agents of change’ but also as the ones who collect, publish, and disseminate the ‘migrant archives’ (p. 8). Roces’ use of a range of themes provides an engaging analysis of the migrant experience, and it is notable that she does her best to locate this analysis outside of the obvious sphere of labour. While it is difficult not to account for the effects of domestic work on Filipino women in Singapore, for example, Roces is able to focus on how migrants navigate, negotiate, and exert themselves in these contexts.

As a historical study, Roces’ use of the migrant archive—including data, histories, and critiques that have been written and disseminated by the migrants themselves—and interviews provide a migrant-centred analysis. In these narratives, she identifies a common theme that she terms the ‘heroic narrative’, which begins with stories of hardship and struggle and end with some sort of triumph (p. 98).

Part 1 has two chapters analysing how migrants have challenged traditional formations of gender, sexuality, and family. The narratives Roces uncovers in the ‘migrant archive’ critique the traditional Filipino family unit in light of a range of hardships they have suffered because of their families, such as unfaithful partners, ungrateful children, estranged relations, and financial exploitation. Furthermore, the loss of physical and emotional intimacy often led both male and female migrants to seek affections from others in the locations they worked, often non-Filipino, whether for short-term encounters or to begin new families. Roces’ innovative use of the migrant archive allows her to reveal how important sexual identity is to overseas Filipinos, especially women. Roces highlights how actions such as infidelity, sexual promiscuity, and homosexual relationships break long-held taboos in the Philippines that label Filipino women as lacking desire and being passive in their sexuality.

Part 2 looks at how Filipino migrants use their income and greater financial literacy to enact change, both in their lives and in the Philippines. The first chapter explores how these spending behaviours are tied to Filipino social values, and the second looks at how Filipino companies such as broadcaster ABS-CBN and Philippine-based real estate firms have come to target overseas Filipinos. Roces intentionally looks beyond remittances, such as her engaging discussion of the balikbayan box (shipments of gifts to the Philippines in large boxes) and its representation of a shift in traditional Filipino values. These acts are driven by the belief that sending gifts, including balikbayan boxes, were obligatory and that such gift-giving was ‘the barometer for the giver's love and affection for the receiver’ (p. 60). As Roces notes, failing to fulfil these obligations might be interpreted as a lack of love from the overseas worker for their family, leading to hurt feelings, and might also suggest that that their work abroad was a failed venture as they were unable to afford such gifts.

Part 3 is composed of three chapters looking at Filipino Americans as community historians, the role and impacts of overseas advocacy on the Philippines from the 1970s, and the efforts of overseas Filipinos to enact social change in the Philippines. The chapter on community histories is a fine chapter that reminds historians of the Filipino diaspora of the value of such sources, tying in well with Roces’ overall theme of the heroic narrative. The next chapter looks at the role of American and Australian-based advocacy groups and how they have been successful in promoting access to education for Filipino Americans and protections for Filipinos living in Australia. Roces points out that a significant reason for their success is collaboration with other entities such as sectors of the government whether in the form of financial support or by raising awareness. The final chapter on medical missions from Australia demonstrates how collaboration with groups operating on the ground in the Philippines adds to their success through assisting in preparing for medical missions and dealing with the aftermath of surgeries and diagnoses.

Roces maintains a strong focus on the narratives of Filipino migrants and interpretations of their own experiences. She moves away from the lens of labour to explore, in detail, the ways in which the migration experience presents opportunities for change, both for the migrants themselves and in their host and home countries. In focusing on agency in the migrant archive, Roces has made a valuable contribution to Filipino migration studies, both in her findings and method.