about

Hi, I’m Ryan. I’m an assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, where I teach courses in Filipinx, Asian American, and Pacific Islander studies. I hold graduate degrees from Cornell University (PhD in Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture) and the University Hawai‘i at Mānoa (MA in Asian Studies). Broadly, my research, writing, and teaching interests are invested in Filipino American engagements with settler colonialism and indigeneity in the Pacific.

I’m currently working on my book project titled, Island Under the Sun: Filipino American Detours in Okinawa. This book is a scholarly monograph and travelogue that brings Filipinx and Asian settler colonial critiques to the colonial context of Okinawa—widely known as the “Hawai‘i of Japan.” This project is informed by my years traveling to these islands as a Filipino American scholar and doing research on how connections between the Philippines and Okinawa have been represented in works of Okinawan culture. My book introduces readers to specific places throughout Okinawa that speak to these connections, including war memorials, churches, bars, and narrow roads that can be found beyond the formal bounds of military fencelines. This book particularly describes how Filipinos have always been a part of the context of US militarization in Okinawa, and makes a case as to why Filipinos everywhere should support demilitarization in Okinawa today.

I’m originally from Stockton, California, but have lived throughout the United States, Hawai‘i, and Asia. For more information about my other publications, awards I’ve received, and activities I’m involved in, check out my cv.