“Migrant Musicians and Anti-racist Discourses: The Case of Filipino Musicians in Australia”
The UP Center for Ethnomusicology EthnoTalks Series presents
“Migrant Musicians and Anti-racist Discourses: The Case of Filipino Musicians in Australia”
By Carljohnson Anacin, Ph.D.
Friday, October 16, 2026, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm PH Time (4:30 pm to 6:30 pm AEST)
Hybrid: UP Center for Ethnomusicology Reading Room and Online via Zoom; link will be provided upon pre-registration
Limited seats at onsite venue. Register here: https://forms.gle/3EYMHBi3GrAHkFop9
See you there!
——
ABSTRACT:
Debates on anti-Asian racism in Australian society have tended to focus on generalised forms of Asian racialization, with limited attention to the circumstances of specific migrant groups and cohorts. This paper focuses on the experiences of Filipino migrants who work as musicians in pubs, restaurants, RSLs, and cruise ships – spaces where cultural labour is both highly visible and structurally marginal. Drawing on accounts of everyday racism and microaggressions among Filipino migrant musicians in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, the paper highlights how these migrants navigate their liminal position within the entertainment industry.
Despite being celebrated for their skills, they are simultaneously rendered vulnerable by their migrant status, contractual precarity and racialised identities. Moreover, their encounters with everyday racism are embedded in broader transnational, cultural, and structural forces that position them in an ongoing state of liminality. These experiences illuminate how migrant performers negotiate belonging, resist marginalisation, and make sense of their place within Australia’s shifting multicultural landscape through their musical skills and Filipino cultural values.
By centring Filipino migrant musicians’ lived experiences and culturally specific forms of resistance, this presentation invites us to rethink dominant discourses of racism in the arts, moving beyond binary frameworks of victimhood and resistance to recognise more nuanced forms of agency as well as Filipino experiences of race and belonging across transnational spaces.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Carljohnson Anacin received his PhD (cultural sociology) at Griffith University with a thesis on Filipino migrant musicians’ identity, musicality, and translocality. His research interests include music, migration, culture, and interdisciplinary studies. Carl is currently working on a collaborative project, Temporary Migrants as Transnational Musicians, funded by the ANU-Philippines Institute. He is also the State Library of Queensland 2025 Letty Katts Fellow and Co-convenor of the Australian Sociological Association Cultural Sociology Thematic Group.
His recent publications include Transnational Labour Migration and Musical Performance: Filipino Musicians in Australia (Palgrave, 2026) and contributions in the Journal of InterculturalStudies (2025) and The Qualitative Report (2024). Carl is a practising musician (Nicky Anacin) and media correspondent (The Philippine Times; Radio 4EB Brisbane).
Source: UP Center for Ethnomusicology Facebook