Many Journeys, Many Voices: A Tribute to Filipina Overseas Workers, a joint publication of three units of the Ateneo de Manila University, won the Best Book Award in the 2015 Migration Advocacy and Media (MAM) Awards, as announced by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas last 3 December 2015.

Authored by Edna Zapanta Manlapaz, PhD, Czarina Saloma, PhD, and Yael A. Buencamino, Many Journeys, Many Voices is a three-year collaboration among the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings, the Institute of Philippine Culture, and the Ateneo Art Gallery. The book was published and is being exclusively distributed by Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Since 2011, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas has granted the MAM Awards to individuals and organizations that have championed the cause of Filipinos Overseas, spreading awareness on Filipino migration and shedding light on their experiences. Some of the panelists of the MAM Awards are members from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Philippine Migrants Rights Watch, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Philippines Information Agency, among others.

Many Journeys, Many Voices looks into the “feminization” of Filipino migrant labor through three lenses: sociology, literature, and art. The book also narrates the lives of Filipina Overseas Workers from their own perspectives, showing their stories of both adversities and achievements.

Research staff of the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) of the School of Social Sciences conducted life story interviews with 33 Filipina Overseas Workers who left for work abroad from the 1950s to the 1990s. The Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALiWW) and the IPC sourced the funds needed for the research, with additional funds from the Rizal Library to enable the incorporation of the IPC’s research materials into the archives of ALiWW. The Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG) obtained the necessary permissions from the three artists—Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi, Branda Fajardo, and Imelda Cajipe Endaya—whose artworks on Filipina Overseas Workers are featured and discussed in the book.

The awarding ceremony for the 2015 Migration Advocacy and Media Awards will be held at the SSS Magsaysay Hall on December 18, 2015, in celebration of the Month of Filipinos Overseas and International Migrants Day.

Congratulations to Dr. Edna Zapanta Manlapaz, Dr. Czarina Saloma, and Ms Yael Buencamino as well as to the institutes they represent—ALiWW-Rizal Library, the IPC-School of Social Sciences, and the AAG—on their achievement!

Many Journeys, Many Voices can be purchased from National Book Store branches at Php 295.00.