It鈥檚 a huge step in his academic career, but receiving a has the added benefit of giving 澳门六合彩开奖接口 alum Adrian De Leon a chance to learn how to better talk to his grandmother.
De Leon (BA, 2014) is working towards a PhD in History at the St. George campus. He has balanced his research, TA work and various projects around both the Scarborough and St. George campuses, including being the Don of Hall at Massey College and working on the 澳门六合彩开奖接口 culinary research website, SALT through a partnership with The Hub and Culinaria, since getting his undergraduate degree.
De Leon says the Fulbright Scholarship is an opportunity for scholars to study in the United States as visiting students and researchers. He chose the University of Washington, Seattle鈥攁 school he had originally planned to attend for his PhD鈥攁nd the University of Hawai鈥榠 at M膩noa.
鈥淚 keep my U of T affiliation, but I鈥檒l be a visiting scholar,鈥 he says. De Leon is studying the working-class history of race in the Philippines.
鈥淚 am interested in looking at how different aspects of global capitalism such as industrialization, land reforms, agriculture, photography and road building impacts how we understand race in the Philippines and in the Filipino North American diaspora,鈥 he says.
De Leon will spend five months in Hawaii with the American Studies department doing language training and archival research on the northern regions of the Philippines in relation to Hawaiian sugar plantations.
In his language studies, he hopes to learn Ilocano, which is the mother tongue on his maternal side.
鈥淚t鈥檚 cool to learn it again and get funding for it to do research and dedicate your professional life to learning how to talk to my grandmother, and I love my grandmother,鈥 he said.
In Seattle, he will work in the history department, taking classes and conducting archival research with the Filipino-American National Historical Society.
鈥淚鈥檒l be looking at Filipino migrants to Seattle from that region and working with the professors there.鈥
His background might be in the Philippines, but he is deeply rooted in the 澳门六合彩开奖接口 community.
鈥淚 grew up in Scarborough, I went to elementary school down the road, I went to high school literally on the other side of Military Trail,鈥 De Leon says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 home.鈥
De Leon completed his undergraduate degree in English Literature at 澳门六合彩开奖接口 in 2014. However, he faced a lot of rejections for when applying for graduate school in in that discipline.
He recalls a professor of his telling him he was not a literary scholar. 鈥淚 took that as an insult at first,鈥 De Leon says. 鈥淏ut she said, 鈥榶ou might be thinking and researching like a historian,鈥 and I haven鈥檛 looked back since,鈥 De Leon said.
Though he was accepted to several U.S. graduate schools, he decided to stay at U of T and move to St. George鈥檚 Massey College for his PhD.
De Leon鈥檚 scholarly plans won鈥檛 end in Washington or Hawai鈥榠. He hopes to return home as a faculty member.
鈥淚 would love to be a researcher, but also a teacher here,鈥 he says. 鈥淚n part, because there is no Philippine history program here. That鈥檚 the ultimate goal.鈥