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Nine Abad

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Finalist

General information

Hobbies & Interests

  • Speech and Debate
  • Advocacy And Activism
  • American Sign Language (ASL)
  • Anthropology
  • Art
  • Coaching
  • Dungeons And Dragons
  • digital art
  • Writing
  • Social Justice

Reading

  • Academic
  • Classics
  • Sociology
  • Anthropology
  • Cultural
  • Criticism
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Folk Tales
  • Folklore
  • History
  • Humanities
  • Law
  • Philosophy
  • Politics
  • Psychology
  • Social Issues
  • Social Science

I read books daily.

Bio

I am a Junior at the University of Houston pursuing an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree and am double majoring in Political Science and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with double minors in Leadership Studies and Anthropology. During my undergraduate career, I developed an interest in critical interdisciplinary humanities research — especially of Filipino Indigenous religions, folklore, gender minorities, and diasporic interpretations. I am a fellow of the 2022-23 FrameWorks research cohort studying the image of the Santo Nino de Cebu and its impacts on the Filipino diaspora, nationalism, and native religions. In addition, I am a 2023-2024 Mellon Scholar, researching how Filipino pre-colonial, queer bodies have been transformed throughout imperialist regimes by seeking a connection between the folklore monster, the Manananggal, and the historically revered priestesses, Babaylans. I seek to pursue similar research into my professional and post-graduate academic career. Having been impacted by caring, empathetic, and passionate debate instructors, I aim to extend that same positive experience as I teach new debaters. Currently, I am a Speech and Debate coach to high schoolers and provide a holistic, research-based education, focused providing the tools for students to create meaningful advocacy skills. Still driven by competition and enthusiasm for higher level research, I am continuing my debate career in college as a member of the UH Policy Debate team, where I am currently the Vice President of one of the largest Policy debate programs in the country.

Education

University of Houston

Bachelor's degree program

2021 – 2025

Majors:
  • Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies, Other
  • Political Science and Government

Miscellaneous

Desired degree level:
Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)
Graduate schools of interest:
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, George Mason University

Career

  • Assistant Coach

    Education · Seven Lakes HS Speech & Debate

    Jan 2021 – Present

  • Student Archivist

    Libraries · Special Collections Archives at the University of Houston

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Barista

    Food & Beverages · Cougar Grounds

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2023

Miscellaneous

Dream career field:
Higher Education
Dream career goals:
Professor, Researcher, and Director of Debate at a University
Has nursing license:
No

Future Interests

  • Advocacy
  • Politics
  • Volunteering
  • Philanthropy
Texas Women Empowerment Scholarship
It was always hard for me to articulate who I was. Growing up in a conservative, Filipino Catholic household in Texas, ‘queerness’ and ‘transgender’ were words that were never made available to me. As I matured, I got acquainted with feminism and the LGBTQ+ community. And yet, I still did not have the words to completely articulate my identity. When I matriculated to the University of Houston, I began to find those words. In my first semester, Professor Liam Stone’s Intro to LGBT Studies class helped me realize that I was not alone in my experiences and had begun to identify as a Transgender Lesbian. In my second semester, I took Dr. Margot Backus’ Sexuality and Queer Theory course, where we analyzed relevant texts, and halfway through the class, we read Mark Rifkin’s article, “Romancing Kinship,” and everything seemed to click into place. With Rifkin’s analysis of queerness and how they are implemented through colonization, I began to see the connections between gender roles, Indigenous groups, and the impacts of American imperialism. In a class presentation, I mentioned the Babaylans, a group of powerful pre-colonial trans-Filipino shaman women, and Dr. Backus encouraged me to further explore their history. Later in that freshman semester, I had written dozens of pages on the Babaylans, using Rifkin’s analysis. The application of trans, queer, and feminist analytics to Babaylans have not left my studies. I later took Dr. Guillermo De Los Reyes’ Intersectionalities class, continuing to discuss Babaylans in new and intersectional ways. Because of my work in these pivotal classes, Dr. G is now my Mellons mentor, helping me to analyze the connection between the Filipino folklore monster, the Manananggal, and the Babaylans to discover how queer, femme bodies are monstrified through colonization. Now, I have found the words to articulate my identity: I am a Babaylan and I am a Manananggal. I am a hybridic monster to the histories of colonization and I am a divine priestess in my existence as a member of the Queer Filipino diaspora. Using my experiences and identity, I aim to bring light to underrepresented populations in academia. I plan to continue my research of the intersection of gender studies, Filipino Indigenous culture, and diaspora in graduate school. I am seeking to earn my Masters and/or PhD, continuing the interdisciplinary folklore and gender studies of the Babaylans and Mananaggals. My experiences as a Queer Person of Color in Texas are difficult ones to navigate through amid large White and conservative populations, attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, and anti-Asian hate. However, using newfound analysis and frameworks from the education I am receiving, I can apply my experiences in my contribution of knowledge production, especially to help other students find the words they need to articulate their identities.
Filipino-American Scholarship
It was always hard for me to articulate who I was. Growing up in a conservative, Filipino Catholic household, ‘queerness’ was a word not made available to me. As I matured, I acquainted myself with feminism and the LGBTQ+ community. But still, I didn't have the words to completely articulate my identity. When I matriculated at the University of Houston, I began to find those words. In my first semester, Professor Liam Stone’s Intro to LGBT Studies class helped me realize that I was not alone in my experiences and in my second semester, I took Dr. Margot Backus’ Sexuality and Queer Theory course. There, where we analyzed various texts, including Mark Rifkin’s article, “Romancing Kinship,” and everything seemed to click into place. With Rifkin’s analysis of queerness through colonization, I began to see the connections between gender roles, Indigenous groups, and the impacts of American imperialism. In a class presentation, I mentioned the Babaylans, a group of powerful pre-colonial Filipino shaman women, and Dr. Backus encouraged me to further explore their history. By the end of my Freshman semester, I had written dozens of pages on the Babaylans, using Rifkin’s analysis. The application of trans, queer, and feminist analytics to Babaylans have not left my studies. I later took Dr. Guillermo De Los Reyes’ Intersectionalities class, continuing to discuss Babaylans in new ways. Because of these pivotal classes, Dr. De Los Reyes is now my Mellon mentor, helping me analyze the connection between the Filipino folklore monster, the Manananggal, and the Babaylans to discover how queer, femme bodies are monstrified through colonization. Now, I have found the words to articulate my identity: I am a Babaylan and I am a Manananggal. I am a hybridic monster to the histories of colonization and I am a divine priestess in my existence as a member of the Queer Filipino diaspora. Using my experiences and identity, I plan to earn my PhD in Anthropology, continuing the interdisciplinary folklore and gender studies of the Babaylans and Mananaggals, and the intersection of gender studies, Filipino Indigenous culture, and the diaspora.
Nine Abad Student Profile | Bold.org