Hello there!

I am a PhD candidate at the Dept. of Politics at York University, based out of Toronto, Canada. As an academic, my research focuses on the Filipino diaspora in Canada; in my dissertation, I examined different reasons for leaving the home nation, the ways that migrant families have chosen to integrate into their new lives in Canada, and how works of literature by the diaspora about the diaspora serve to re-introduce the histories of Filipino migration into the Canadian national identity. For this ongoing work, I was awarded the Canada Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

I completed my masters research in urban planning at the University of Toronto’s Dept. of Geography and Planning, where I had the opportunity to ask questions about how Filipina migrant workers employed in Canadian homes through the Live-In Caregiver Program (1992-2013) navigated safety and un/safety in the supposed-privacy of the domestic sphere. This work was published in the book Knowledge, Power, and Migration: Contesting the North/South Divide (Abu-Laban, Paquet, Tungohan, 2025) as Chapter 5, The Unmet Expectations of Love and Labour: Migrant Care Workers as Part of the Family. The book was named one of The Hill Times’ Top 100 Best Books in 2025.

As a child of the Filipina labour diaspora, my research is close to my heart. My research focus is deeply informed by my relations of care and kinship with the Filipino community in Canada and beyond.

On the social internet, you can find me on Instagram @danimagsumbol. I have an ongoing series I call #kuwentongbooks, where I discuss books about the Filipino diasporas which contextualise experiences of labour, citizenship, family, and care.

I am also an avid reader of fiction: I document my reading adventures on Instagram @pagesonthetrain, and I post longer reflections about the stories I’m reading a few clicks away at Pages on the Train.