The American Colonization of the Philippines and the Self- Examination, Self-Presentation and Re-Presentation of American Identity
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center 2000 The American Colonization of the Philippines and the Self- examination, Self-presentation and Re-presentation of American Identity Jennifer Marie McMahon The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4273 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES AND THE SELF-EXAMINATION. SELF-PRESENTATION AND RE-PRESENTATION OF AMERICAN IDENTITY by JENNIFER M. McMAHON A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The City University of New York 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9986360 Copyright 2000 by McMahon, Jennifer Marie All rights reserved. UMI* UMI Microform9986360 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. Ail rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ii Copyright 2000 JENNIFER M. McMAHON All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in English in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. [Signature] T-OOO 1 Date Profeksor John Brenkman, Chair of Examining Comminee [Signature] Date Professor Joan Richardson, Executive Officer Provost William Kelly Professor Louis Menand Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES AND THE SELF-EXAMINATION. SELF-PRESENTATION AND RE-PRESENTATION OF AMERICAN IDENTITY by Jennifer M. McMahon Adviser: Professor John Brenkman This study is an exploration of the disruptions that can be perceived in American identity through a close examination of America's colonial experience in the Philippines in three different, but related, contexts. The first is an analysis of American writers' reactions to the colonization, specifically those of Mark Twain. W.E.B. Du Bois. and William James. These writers were vocal contributors to the debate surrounding the colonization, though, like the colonization itself, these works have been largely ignored. These writers identify contradictions in American identity, focusing on issues concerning race, capitalism, individualism, American innocence, exceptionalism. and self-reliance. These are issues that will resonate throughout the colonial experience, particularly Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V in how the Americans presented themselves to the Filipinos and how they were judged by them. The second context considered in this study is the educational system established in the Philippines and how American literature was used by the colonial regime to introduce America to its colony and inculcate American values. Close readings of standard texts in the curriculum like Washington Irving's The Alhambra. Booker T. Washington'sUp from Slavery, and Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Self-Reliance suggest that the very ideals American writers found threatened by the colonization were the same values promulgated by Americans in the Philippines. The irony of this effort was not lost on Filipino students, some of whom became writers themselves. The third context considered is the early literature in English written in the Philippines and the implicit and explicit critiques offered by Filipinos of the American regime. Filipino writers like Paz Marquez Benitez. Maximo Kalaw. and Juan C. Laya provide a radical reinterpretation of the American mission. Their penetrating analyses, written in the early twentieth century, remain relevant today, especially in light of the very powerful forces of American cultural imperialism that influence world cultures in the early twenty- first century. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One Introduction 1 Chapter Two Historical Overview 19 Chapter Three Self-Examination 39 Chapter Four Self-Presentation 73 Chapter Five Re-Presentation 100 Chapter Six Conclusion 146 Works Cited 158 Selected Bibliography of Other Works Consulted 169 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 INTRODUCTION Take up the White Man’s burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need; To wait in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child. (Stanza #1, Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”) It is little known today that the infamous poem “The White Man’s Burden” was written by the British colonial Rudyard Kipling in 1899 to encourage America to colonize the Philippines. A debate that receives almost no critical attention today was raging in the United States about whether America should step onto the world stage as an imperial power in the far reaches of Asia. The effacement of this notorious poem's context and this important debate at the turn of the century signals a deep repression of an important turning point in American history. Upon seizing this territory as part of the spoils of victory in the Spanish- American War, America began its ascent as a world power, no longer content to focus its attention on merely continental borders. It thus abandoned the insular policy of Manifest Destiny and became an active player in the global power games at the turn of the century. Maintaining a colony in Asia required a much more international outlook than had heretofore been necessary and laid the foundation for a fundamental shift in America's sphere of influence. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 If, then, the colonization of the Philippines was so important, why has it been so neglected as to be all but forgotten in the American consciousness? This study will argue that the colonization foregrounds several fundamental contradictions in American identity, and that it is this uncomfortable irreconcilability between foundational myths and stark reality that has led to the overdetermined neglect of the colonization in studies of American culture. Specifically, the colonization challenged the bedrock ideals of American innocence and exceptionalism, racial equality and the work ethic, and self- reliance. The colonization of a people fighting for independence represented a blatant betrayal of all of these core values. It has been much easier to stress the victory of the Spanish-American War than to acknowledge the consequences of the spoils of that conflict. There was nothing innocent about the American promise to help the Filipino people fight off the Spanish oppressor only to re-colonize them under the American flag. The pride which Americans took in their independence from colonial rule and their distinctly non-European stress on freedom for all was belied by the seizing of a foreign colony and the banning of the Declaration of Independence as a dangerous document The racial rhetoric accompanying the subjugation of a darker people and the opportunities this afforded for cheap labor and new markets bespoke the