Dr. Conely De Leon
Areas of Expertise:
labour migration; gendered and racialized care work; transnational solidarities; collective grief; community-engaged research; digital storytelling; digital kwentuhan (‘talk story’); Critical Filipina/x/o Studies; Critical Race Theory; Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies; Diaspora and Transnational Studies
Biography:
Dr. de Leon’s current work focuses on collective grief among racialized migrant communities and the pivotal role that community care plays in mourning and healing from collective losses. Dr. de Leon’s current trajectory builds on her research on migrant care work and transnational kinship practices in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and so-called Canada.
Further, in response to heightened grief and loss during the pandemic, Dr. de Leon is pursuing professional certification as a grief educator and counsellor. She has also co-founded the Pahinga (Rest) Collective with Filipina/x/o graduate students, community organizers, and service providers representing migrant, queer, and feminist grassroots organizations in Tkaronto. Through digital kwentuhan (talk story), songs, soundscapes, and somatics, they aim to contribute to embodied understandings of rest as a form of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist resistance, and healing justice.
Dr. de Leon’s multimodal approach to collaboration and co-creation further extends to her teaching. Dr. de Leon is in the process of developing a ‘Digital Storytelling for Social Justice’ curriculum, which will bring together digital media and community-engaged research with hands-on training and skills development. The proposed curriculum promises to enhance students’ understanding of digital research in action, and create opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and expertise to the issues that matter to them the most.
Recent Publications:
de Leon, C. and V. Francisco-Menchavez. Forthcoming. "Overseas Filipino workers" in The Sage Encyclopedia of Filipina/x/o American Studies, (external link, opens in new window) eds. K. Nadal, A. Tintiangco-Cubales and E.J.R David. Sage.
de Leon, C. and Pahinga Collective. 2022. A call to rest: Pahinga as resistance and refusal. (external link, opens in new window) Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies 2(2): 111-123.
Lightman, N., R. Banerjee, E. Tungohan, C. de Leon, and P. Kelly. 2021. An Intersectional Pathway Penalty: Filipina Immigrant Women Inside and Outside Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program. (external link, opens in new window) International Migration.
Banerjee, R., P. Kelly, E. Tungohan, P. Cleto, C. de Leon, M. Garcia, M. Luciano, C. Palmaria, and C. Sorio. 2018. From ‘Migrant’ to ‘Citizen’: The Labor Market Integration of Former Live-In Caregivers in Canada. (external link, opens in new window) ILR Review 71(4): 908-936.
de Leon, C. 2014. “Family separation and reunification among former Filipina migrant domestic workers and their adult daughters in two Canadian cities” in When Care Work Goes Global: Locating the Social Relations of Domestic Work (external link, opens in new window) (pp. 139-158), edited by M. Romero, V. Preston, and W. Giles. London: Ashgate.