Monica Anne Batac

• Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work) – McGill University, in process

  Master of Professional Communication – Toronto Metropolitan University, 2015

  Master of Teaching – OISE/University of Toronto, 2012

  Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) – Queen’s University at Kingston, 2009

Monica Anne Batac (she/they/siya) joined the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Social Work, Fort Garry Campus in June 2023. She is currently completing her PhD in Social Work at McGill University. Her dissertation is tentatively titled, The lives, leadership, and labour experiences of diasporic Filipino/a/x workers in Canadian settlement, social and community services: a de/colonizing auto/ethnography.

Monica is a critical qualitative researcher, community practitioner, and educator. In 2018, she was awarded the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Monica is a co-founder and co-organizer of the Filipino Canadian Social and Community Workers Network.

Monica Batac’s interdisciplinary research program focuses on community capacity-building and mobilizing with Filipino community members, groups, and organizations in Canada.

Monica's research interests include: 

• Immigration, Labour Migration;
• Community Organizing, Community Development, Community Practice;
• Program Design and Evaluation; Non-profit Management;
• Critical Filipino/a/x studies, Filipino diaspora; Transnational Feminism, Anti-Racism;
• Decolonizing Methodologies, Critical Qualitative Research, Action Research, Community-based Research

Monica incorporates feminist, anti-racist, anti-colonial/decolonial, and experimental pedagogical approaches. She is keen to develop critical-creative, action-oriented courses and applied projects that take learning outside the classroom.

Monica formally and informally works with students to develop their practice in their own communities of belonging.

Refereed Articles
Batac, M. (2021). “Failing” and finding a Filipina diasporic scholarly “home”: a de/colonizing autoethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 28(1): 62-69.

Bayley, J., Phipps, D., Batac, M., & Stevens, E. (2018). Development of a framework for knowledge mobilisation and impact competencies. Evidence & Policy, 14(4): 725-738.

Batac, M. (2017). Teaching for Social Justice: Bringing Activism into Communication Education. Canadian Journal of Communication, 42(1): 129-142.

Book chapters
Batac, M., Stohner, F. C., & Danan, K. V. (2022). From paperback to praxis: in search of Filipina/x feminisms in the diaspora. In G. J. Wilson, J. B. Acuff, & A. M Kraehe (Eds.), A Love Letter to This Bridge Called My Back (195-203). University of Arizona Press.

Creative writing
Batac, M. (in press). Sisters in practice: a readers theatre script. In T. Alcuitas, C.E. Gatchalian & P. Rivera (Eds.), Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing. Cormorant Books.

Batac, M. (2020). Growing Up Pinay. In J. Aquines (Ed.), Home is in the Body. ANAK Publishing.