EMPIRE AND EDUCATION: FILIPINO SCHOOLING UNDER UNITED STATES RULE, 1900-1910 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Roland Sintos Coloma, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Patricia A. Lather, co-adviser __________________________ Professor Antoinette Errante, co-adviser Patricia A. Lather, co-adviser Educational Policy and Leadership Professor Cynthia B. Dillard __________________________ Professor Judy Tzu-Chun Wu Antoinette Errante, co-adviser Educational Policy and Leadership Copyright by Roland Sintos Coloma 2004 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a history of United States imperialism and Filipino education in the early twentieth century. It is bounded by a time period beginning in 1900 with the establishment of public education in the Philippines, a territory that the U.S. acquired along with Cuba and Puerto Rico at the end of the Spanish-American War. It culminates with the return to the islands in 1910 of Camilo Osias (1889-1976), an American-trained Filipino educator who helped transform his country’s school and political systems. Grounded in postcolonial and ethnic studies, a combined framework that examines the transnational oppression and resistance of colonized peoples of color, this study analyzes the themes of interconnection, identity and agency. Methodologically, data was collected through archival research in universities, government agencies, and public and private libraries in the United States and the Philippines. Michel Foucault’s analytical method of archaeology facilitated the close reading of primary sources, such as government reports, educational materials, newspapers, and the personal papers of American and Filipino teachers. Based on the data, research findings also shed light on the discourses of gender, race, and nationalism as well as the educational aspects of policy, teacher training, and pedagogy. The study offers three central claims: (a) the United States marshaled education as a tool to civilize, modernize and pacify Filipinos; (b) American imperialism was ii shaped by the transnational elaboration of gendered and racialized orders in which male educators dominated the colonial structure while African American schooling served as the template to instruct subjugated people; and (c) Filipinos enacted a hybrid form of nationalism which brought together western and native influences to subversively employ colonial education and fight for national liberation. The implications of the dissertation are: (a) this research challenges the pervasive American view of the United States as benign and altruistic as well as the disavowal of U.S. imperialist violence and complicity; (b) it disrupts the separate narrations of American and Philippine histories and foregrounds issues of gender, race and nationalism in studies of globalization; and lastly, (c) it points out the contradictions in education as a mechanism for subordination and empowerment. iii Dedicated to Aida and Jesus, and to Helena and Aidan, the generations who came before and after me iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have tremendously benefited from the mentoring of exemplary scholar-teachers who have become the fire, wind, earth and water that nurture my intellectual and political development. I especially thank my co-advisers, Patti Lather and Antoinette Errante, for sparking my interests and allowing my thinking to fly. I also thank Cynthia Dillard and Judy Wu for foregrounding issues of difference and intersections and facilitating my transnational forays. At The Ohio State University, I am fortunate to have studied with Kenneth Goings, Leila Rupp, Valerie Lee, Laura Chrisman, Luz Calvo, and Thomas Piontek. I appreciate Nina Ha, Mollie Blackburn, Mel Adelman, and Heather Davis for their guidance and encouragement. At the University of California at Riverside, I am grateful to Rod Ogawa, Flora Ortiz, Grace Yoo, Joe Virata, and the late Steffi San Buenaventura who first planted the seed in me that research and teaching could grow to become tools for advocacy. Friends are a vital source of mental and emotional nourishment. To Oona Besman, Stephanie Lynn Daza, Awad Ibrahim, Anne Pfohl, Jeong-eun Rhee, John Streamas, Binaya Subedi, Sharon Subreenduth, and others in postcolonial, queer, and Asian American reading groups, I appreciate your critical insights and warm camaraderie. To the Asian Pacific American Caucus, especially co-founders Natacha Foo Kune, Amy v Horan, Elena Kim, Szu-Hui Lee, and Nancy Yan, I admire your vision and commitment. I thank Brett Beemyn, Julie Clemens, Kay Fukuda, Delia Gamble, Sirin Holst, Alan Ratliff, Tamara Welch, and the Ed P&L staff for looking out for me. Even though I have lived in the Midwest for the past four years, friends from both coasts like Carmen Abeyta, Richel Aguirre, Joseph Carmona, Robert Diaz, Michael Giang, Brenda Y. Goei, Nicholas Hua, Luisa Huang, Nancy I. Kim, Michael Lucke, John Medina, Eric Nguyen, Prim Kanchanastit, Edwin Ramoran, Koji Uesugi, David Wang, Cynthia Wilson, Fern Yee, and Analee Zelaya, keep me connected. To Shannon Michael McGee, thank you for your commitment to my personal and professional growth. My research was supported by the AERA/Spencer Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, the Elsie J. Alberty Dissertation Fellowship, the Washington State University Summer Doctoral Fellowship, the Mershon Research Abroad Grant, and the Wilde-Stein Scholarship. I am grateful to Melinda Mangin, Laura Muñoz, Victoria Pettis, Sandra T. Martell, and Troy Richardson for being wonderful colleagues and to Michael Hayes and Thomas Popkewitz for being my fellowship mentors. Special thanks to Michael Berglund, Michael Chen, Joe Lott, Doug Sutton, and Dwayne Wright for making our Pacific Northwest summer memorable. My trip to the Philippines was a much-needed reunion with the Sintos and Coloma families. I also made new friends there, such as Walter Ang, Edward Cruz, Bong Lozano, and Bong Yap, who helped me balance work and fun. I wish to thank, in particular, Rebecca Osias for sharing her knowledge and collections, Reynaldo Imperial for making academic and political connections, and Israel Martinez for accompanying me in various trips. vi I could not have completed my research without the help of archivists and librarians. I thank the staff at the Library of Congress, the Teachers College at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Berkeley. I also appreciate the assistance at the National Library and Archives, the University of the Philippines, the Ateneo de Manila University, the Philippine Normal University, the Lopez Museum, and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. I am much indebted to Marla Vizdal of Western Illinois University and to Fred and Dorothy Cordova of the National Pinoy Archives in Seattle, WA. To the late Edward W. Said and Gloria E. Anzaldúa, your intellectual and political projects serve as foundation and inspiration for scholar-activists like me. Lastly, to James C. Eslinger, I am glad that you have come into my life and our journey has begun together. I also thank my older siblings and in-laws, Mary Bernadette, Edward and Katherine, Desiree and Joe, for believing in me. I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Aida and Jesus, and to my niece Helena and nephew Aidan, whose love, prayers and hugs keep me going. vii VITA November 19, 1972 .……………..... Born - Quezon City, Philippines Education 1995 …………………………….…. B.A. in Liberal Studies University of California at Riverside 1998 ……………………………….. M.A. in Educational Administration University of California at Riverside 1999 ……………………………….. Teaching Credential in English California State Polytechnic University at Pomona 2002 ……………………………….. M.A. in Cultural Studies in Education The Ohio State University Employment 1993-96 ………………………….… Coordinator, Asian Pacific Student Programs University of California at Riverside 1997 ………….……………………. English Teacher, Ramona High School Riverside Unified School District, California 1997-99 ……………………………. English Teacher, Baldwin Park High School Baldwin Park Unified School District, California 1999-2000 …………………………. English Teacher, Los Angeles High School Los Angeles Unified School District, California 2001-02 ……………………………. Graduate Research Associate The Ohio State University Spring 2003, Spring 2004 …............. Graduate Teaching Associate The Ohio State University viii PUBLICATIONS Coloma, Roland Sintos. 2003. “Que(e)r(y)ing Nationalism: History, Nation, and Imperialism.” Journal of Curriculum Theorizing 19 (3): 51-70. Coloma, Roland Sintos. 2003. “Fragmented Entries, Multiple Selves: In Search of a Place to Call Home.” In Restoried Selves: Autobiographies of Queer Asian / Pacific American Activists, edited by Kevin K. Kumashiro, 19-28. Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press. Coloma, Roland Sintos. 2002. “Can I Speak and Do You Hear Me?: Quest(ion)s for R/Evolution.” International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies 7 (1): 61-68. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education Cultural Studies - History, Policy, and Curriculum Minor Field: Postcolonial and Ethnic Studies Ph.D. Minor - African American and African Studies ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………….………... iii Dedication ………………………………………………………………………… v Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………….…….. vi Vita …………………………………………………………………….…………. ix List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………... xiii Chapters 1 Disorienting History: