“Insurgent Communities is a book I could not recommend more. It is a brilliant sociological study on the political activism of Filipinos inside and outside of the homeland. A must-read for scholars of migration and social movements, it illustrates how a diaspora is not just a shared identity, but instead a political accomplishment.”

Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, author of Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States

“This is an entertaining and powerful book on Filipinos living in the United States and the Netherlands, full of wonderful conversations, but it also shows how we all put bits and pieces of meaning together from many sources to craft a world and our identity in it. Specifically, Quinsaat shows how immigrants become a self-conscious diaspora through activism, which has never been a more important question than it is today.”

James M. Jasper, author of The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements

“Joining theories of migration and social movements, Insurgent Communities explores how diasporic identities are politically made and remade. Anti-Marcos insurgents had to convince Filipinos in the United States and the Netherlands that loyalty to the Filipino nation required opposition to the Philippine state, and Sharon Quinsaat’s account of how they did that is compelling.”

Francesca Polletta, author of Inventing the Ties that Bind: Imagined Relationships in Moral and Political Life

"With Insurgent Communities, Sharon Quinsaat provides us with a bold and insightful analysis of how a diaspora is invented through the political mobilizations of migrants. Skillfully articulating political sociology, transnational studies and migration studies, the book is a masterful empirical study of Filipinos' anti-dictatorship actions in the Netherlands and in the United States, as well as a profound and original reflection about the social and political construction of migrant communities." 

Stéphane Dufoix, University of Paris-Nanterre

"Insurgent Communities is an absolute must-read. Through the meticulous examination of Filipino migrant activism in the US and The Netherlands, Quinsaat effectively demonstrates how contentious politics forge diaspora movements. Her impressive fieldwork, interviews, and archival research effectively illustrate how episodes of contention reconfigure migrants’ sense of their ‘imagined' communities, identities, and corresponding solidarities. Using rich accounts that highlight the lived experiences of Filippino activists, she shows how these episodes motivate migrants to act collectively to increase their rights and political influence, both at home and abroad. By shedding light on how diasporas are constructed and become effective forces for change, Quinsaat's book makes an outstanding contribution to the study of social movements, culture, migration, and transnational sociology."

Dana Moss, author of 'The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism Against Authoritarian Regimes'