Biography

Josephine Ong (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. student in Gender Studies at UCLA UCLA and a Chinese-Filipino activist-scholar that grew up in Guåhan/Guam. Motivated by her experiences living and organizing under U.S. military occupation of Guåhan, Josephine’s research focuses on Asian American and Pacific Islander histories, Indigenous and Women of Color Feminisms, Carceral Studies, and Feminist Archival Studies. As a recent graduate of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Masters program, Josephine published a Masters thesis about the Filipino revolutionary hero Apoliniario Mabini’s incarceration in Guåhan and Filipino settlers’ efforts to memorialize him. Currently, Josephine is working on a project about Chamorro-Filipino feminist solidarities and activist histories that untangle global and carceral articulations of U.S. empire that come together in Guåhan. With regards to her community work, Josephine has been an active member of Independent Guåhan’s Research Committee, founding member of Fiipinos for Guåhan, and has been interviewed by the local newspapers Marianas Variety, KUAM, and Guam Daily Post for her activism. 

With regards to her community work, Josephine has been an active member of Independent Guåhan’s Research Committee, founding member of Fiipinos for Guåhan, and a core member of the Fanohge Coalition, which brings together 38 community organizations that support and organize for Guåhan’s decolonization.