Little Manila Is in the Heart

"Little Manila Is in the Heart is a triumph of Filipina/o American history and American studies. There is no other scholarly analysis of the dynamic and vibrant Filipina/o American experience central to the development of Stockton's urban life and the larger San Joaquin Delta, a key area of California's agribusiness. Moreover, Dawn Bohulano Mabalon is a masterful storyteller. She draws on oral histories to illuminate the pain and joy of building, sustaining, losing, and attempting to preserve Little Manila in Stockton, weaving in with great finesse family history, archival research, and her own activism on behalf of Little Manila's preservation." - Catherine Ceniza Choy, author of Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History

"Offering new and exciting insights into the Filipina/o American experience, Little Manila Is in the Heart is a painstakingly researched history of the Filipina/o American community in Stockton. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon connects that local history to national and global phenomena; examines in depth the roles of gender, religion, and community organizing within Stockton's Filipina/o American community; and carefully documents the role of development on an urban Asian American community over the past several decades." - Dorothy B. Fujita-Rony, author of American Workers, Colonial Power: Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919–1941

“[An] engaging account of the Filipino American experience in the 20th century. . . . It expands and deepens our knowledge of that past beyond Bulosan’s riveting account of the Filipino American experience in the first half of the 20th Century. Of course, it helps that Dawn Mabalon is retelling the history of her own family and her own community.” - Benjamin Pimentel, Phillipine Daily Inquirer

“Mabalon’s text is not merely a history of a community, but a study of how that community has been remembered and forgotten, given the redevelopment and gentrification policies that demolished most of Little Manila’s buildings after the 1960s.”  - Christopher Patterson, International Examiner

“Mabalon’s work reminds us of the precious importance of engaging in conversation with our elders. As a fellow third generation Filipina American, almost twenty years older than the author, I had often felt alone in seeking out the stories of my grandparents and ancestors, then writing about them in order to keep them alive for all generations. Mabalon—author, professor, and community activist—sets the bar for projects such as these to new heights. Justly so, because ‘A community worth saving is a community worth writing about. And vice versa.’”  - Lisa Suguitan Melnick, Positively Filipino blog

“This extensive book has valuable information for multiple audiences, including ethnic studies academics, students of ethnic studies, and general readers interested in labor, gender, intergenerational relations, urban studies, race, and the everyday lives of Filipina/os in the twentieth century.”  - JoAnna Poblete, Journal of American History

“I expect that Little Manila will become a staple in courses focused upon histories of California, immigration, and labor.” - Allison Varzally, American Historical Review

“Based on an impressive number of interviews, a thorough scouring of local and ethnic newspapers, and other archival sources, Little Manila Is in the Heart aims to be encyclopedic. In this it succeeds. … Little Manila Is in the Heart is an impressive project of historical reclamation, and the epilogue makes it strikingly clear why this project matters not only to Mabalon and not only to the Filipina/o community of Stockton but to all of us.” - Don Mitchell, Labor

"By acknowledging Filipino community formation in a context of intercultural relations while also privileging uniquely Filipina/o stories, the author effectively weaves oral accounts into her narrative, offering a human dimension to the urban history of Little Manila that would otherwise remain lost in the past." - Naomi Alisa Calnitsky, Oral History Review

"Little Manila Is in the Heart is a much-loved masterpiece of ethnography, history and activism all at once, centering on the titular Little Manila of downtown Stockton, California. Mabalon’s writing is as sharp as it is loving and accessible, and the way she traces the community’s origins to its contemporary struggles against gentrification could be fruitfully linked to similar struggles around the country, particularly the rapidly changing Bay Area. Rest in power, Dawn." - Elaine Castillo, Electric Lit