Race And Ethnicity

Race and Ethnicity A view through Colonialism

ØBlack ØHispanic ØWhite ØMixed ØOther

Black White Latin Mixed Other

Black White Mixed Other

Black White Mixed Other

Spanish Italian Mexican Nicaraguan Black White Mixed Other

Spanish Italian Mexican Nicaraguan Black White Mixed Other

Malaysian Chinese Korean White Black Mixed Other

Malaysian Chinese Korean White Black Mixed Other

The Self vs. The Other How Race and Ethnicity Came to Be

When people travel, they learn more about

their home culture more than the new one.  We believe that ourselves have to be

exclusively and absolutely right.  Thus, creating a sense that the “other” is a strange culture... Somehow less natural, less real and valid. Foreign explorers were virtually classifying

groups of indigenous people in accordance with their preconceived notions of what we know today as race and ethnicity.

Race Scientifically, the existence of a biological race is being contended... BUT, In a social context, race is the separation or grouping of people based on similarities in feature, the most common being skin color. It is more an interpretation, and therefore an expression (Kramer, 1997 Postmodernism and Race)

Ethnicity Ethnicity is a cultural phenomenon. Classifications by ethnicity involve tradition, religion and other cultural specifications.

Origins of Racial Stocks A desire to forge common cultural identity  underpinned racial superiority and ascendant

hegemony of the colonizing nations of the Old World.  Everybody else belonged to the “inferior” races. A study of the differences of the “Self” and the

“Other”  The “Other” was always regarded as “weird” and

“taboo” from the point of view of the “Self” distorted stereotypes.

The Kodak Zone

Before the expansion of the US, the west was

dubbed as “The Wild West” “The Wild West” became more than just a geographical reference. It was an imaginative world “...inhabited by even wilder humans, some white, some brown, but most red.” It was outside of the realm of cultural and political possibilities...outside of the people’s kodak zone.

The Kodak Zone: Photography and Truth Envisioning Reality Through Photography

Frank D. Millet (war correspondent for

Harper’s Weekly) said that the Philippines was “outside the Kodak Zone”, which meant that Americans knew nothing about its social, political, and cultural reality, if indeed it had one.

America needed to find an excuse to continue

their colonization so they presented the colonized natives as savages, one who is incapable of governing themselves. They made it seem like they’re actually doing us a favor.

Creating “Reality” Photography comes closets to portraying the

“reality” “Realism” can also be located within the process of production itself.

Photoshopped or not?

The Transformability of a Photograph Falsity can also reside with truth in

photography. Photographs can bear false meanings through a person’s personal interpretation. “Framing” limits interpretation. Captions repress the value of a photograph. Subjects are often assumed as representative of some group, which arises to unfair stereotyping.

The Tasadays “No one lives in caves. We have always worn clothes.”

What’s common between.... ...this

...and this?

The Tasadays Was considered to be

the “ethnological find of the century” They were supposedly people who dwelt inside caves like the primitives of the Stone Age.

The fact is, Tasadays were contracted to pose like cavemen for foreign anthropologists. 

The 1903 Philippine Census An Enumeration of Themselves

What is a Census? An official, usually periodic enumeration of a

population, often including the collection of related demographic information Totalizing classificatory grid- Anderson Quantification of individuals as a means of power

Requirements of Census General and complete peace Census districts Sufficient number of intelligent Spanish-

speaking Filipinos

Census procedures Estimation of “wild tribes” Difference in treatment of non-Christian and

Christian “tribes”

Census results People are classified as either Civilized

(Christians) or Wild (Non-Christians) The census counted 8 civilized and 16 wild “tribes” Tribe  a political, ethnic, or ancestral division of ancient

states and cultures  does not apply to the people in the archipelago – David Barrow

They have created 25 categories  Plurality of categories implies the incapability of

the Filipinos to govern themselves  The Filipinos does not constitute a nation

The Colonial Fantasy The Philippines will unify under the government

of the United States of America

Photograph of “wild” filipinos The subject looks straightly at the camera to increase the visibility of every physical feature.

Photograph s of “Civilized” The subjects were casually posed in groups and showing signs of civilization.

1918 Census An Image of Homogeneity

Tribal categories were replaced Reduction in categories showed a desire for

homogenization

Marketing Colonialism A Display of “Culture” and “Ethnicity”

MARKETING COLONIALISM Little Brown Brothers In The Kodak Zone

July 4, 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt Philippine American war was over Because of Americans’ declining support for

the war, NOT because Filipino military resistance had ceased

1903 William McKinley: assimilating the Philippines is

the United States’ god-given duty.

“There was nothing left for us to do but to take them [the Philippines] all, … and uplift and civilize and Christianize them.”  He sent their map maker to put the Philippines on

the United States map

1904 St. Louis World’s Fair 1904 Children’s Book: Brownies in the

Philippines Were used for historical closure, on a struggle that has not even been concluded yet

These 2 had a similar objective, which is

invoking the frontier as an imaginative territory for the renegotiation of American national identity through dramatized confrontations with and pacification of the savage aboriginal OTHER.

Frank D. Millet (war correspondent for

Harper’s Weekly) said that the Philippines was “outside the Kodak Zone”, which meant that Americans knew nothing about its social, political, and cultural reality, if indeed it had one.

Their solutions to this problem: Photography World Fairs and Expositions

1904 St. Louis World’s Fair One of world expositions that celebrated US’

“progress in all fields” Promoted racial superiority, in contrast to the “backward native peoples” Held to commemorate Louisiana Purchase centenary

Philippine Reservation 99% of the fair’s attendees went to see this Objective: to naturalize the territorial

acquisition of the Philippines

William Howard Taft

“Filipino participation [in the fair] would be a very great influence in completing pacification and in bringing Filipinos to improve their condition.”

Portland Oregonian “The Filipinos themselves learned from the St. Louis experience that they were not ready for self government.”

Photography was so popular at the fair that the fair officials felt the need to control the number of professional photographers authorized to take commercial pictures. There was one exception, the “Brownie camera.” It did not need permits for it was mostly sold to amateur photographers, especially children.

Palmer Cox Empire: Brownies series Brownies: mythical characters that explored

the world and shared their findings with curious Americans “Brownies at Home”, “Through the Union”, “Abroad”, and “In the Philippines”

Brownies rules: They were not to be seen by mortal eyes (No

Human Contact) They were not to engage in adult concerns (politics, profit, etc.) They were not to engage in violence They were not to be harmed

Because the Brownies were so popular, Cox

had over 40 endorsement deals including stove polish, soap, and coffee. The most famous one was the Brownie Box Camera, a product of Eastman Kodak.

Cox let Eastman Kodak use the Brownies

band without paying but in return, he created a new addition to the band: the Brownie photographer, who used a Brownie Box camera

Brownies in the Philippines Became sort of a printed version of the Philippine

Reservation at the fair Children’s literature Along with the Brownie photographer, Rough Rider was added, a character based on Teddy Roosevelt. Follows an implicit plot: American colonial rule Became a book in 1904, published when the Philippine-American war was concluded

Somehow breaking the rule on the Brownies

not taking on politics, the first page of the book showed a line-up of the Brownies band where Uncle Sam and the others were seen as stand-ins for American colonial agents

“Brownies”  Because of their brown skin  There is ethnical diversity within the band but

they still promote expansionist ideology  Critics: saw Brownies as a metaphor for American diversity and democracy; they had no political leader  Roger Cummins on the Brownies world: “… utopian and embodies characteristics of the American dream: combining individualism with the idea of good society.”, “their very differences caused their happiness”

Limit Brownies were ALL MALE NO African Americans. Cox considered them

part of the “Other”, outside the bounds of what was possible to bring together in a happy egalitarian community. They were not qualified for Brownie status because they did not attain the status of other humans

Brownies in the Philippines Cox breaks his rule of contact with

humans [the Brownies came in contact with humans, but not Filipinos] implying that Filipinos were not human. In one episode they were portrayed as Negroids, a group that at that time was not accepted to be human. Research was extensive, he even went to the Philippines. So whatever he shows to his readers, they will believe.

Brownies in the Philippines Thick lips, broad noses, wooly hair, grass

skirts (as stereotyped in “The White Man’s Burden”) Filipinos: portrayed by Cox as black, thus in need of control by the “more morally & mentally evolved, enlightened whites”

4th Chapter: “Nothing could those men delight Except, perhaps, a feast or flight” Brownies: musical offering to the Romblon people. They were not appreciated and hailed with rotten eggs and dead rats.

18th Episode: Brownies in the “Native Costume”

“The Native Costume as a rule, Takes little cotton from the spool”

“… shining weapons drew each eye That plainly told of danger nigh, And by the nature of each blade They feared that murder was their trade The executioners were there …[with] knives - broad, bright, and bare, And always found with space allowed For them in every native crowd.”

“…[E]ven were they the best of men, The Brownies had no wishes then To give or take a friendly hand While bearing out their scheme as planned. [The] flourishing of weapons gave Some hints about an early grave Which put, indeed, another face At once upon the Brownies’ case.”

Still, the Brownies were interacting with

humans, which Albert Memmi called “intolerable contradiction.” This meant that if the colony would be emptied of its troublesome natives, it would be a paradise - until “the colonialist realizes that without the colonized, the colony would no longer have any meaning”

To solve this problem, Filipinos were

allegorized as animals. This was, anyway, how other writers saw us back then. A private from Utah even wrote to his family: “…no cruelty is too severe for these brainless monkeys…”

5th Chapter

“A strange convention seemed to be In session there, on rock and tree. Perhaps they met to frame new laws, Or mend the old, too full of flaws”

“bitter was the pill… [for those who] for a moment seemed to see The open door to liberty”

“We’ll use some tact, As self-appointed agents act, Secure the beast, then take them down And leave them at the nearest town, And in the interests of the trade Some well-deserving merchant aid; They’ll lead a life unknown before, Have food and water at their door, And do much better, never fear, Than cracking nuts on branches here.”

The Brownies categorized the monkeys that

they captured. At the time that this was published, the Americans had just finished the census of the Filipinos

Sulu: An ant army was at war with the

Brownies, without reason. Because of the violent nature of the natives Cox: The Brownies are harmless & helpful. He refused to expose children to violence, but he published this.

Resolution: similar to Philippine-American

war. Even though the Brownies are superior in skill, the ants are just too numerous to defeat. Brownies won [technically] because of their desire to stay. (Americans would prevail simply out of sheer determination)

November 1, 1903: New York Herald Brownies encountered a wild bird’s egg.

They decided to use it for target practice. It was put on top of Uncle Sam’s head and Rough rider shot it. What came out was an eagle clutching the American flag.

“… much surprise the Brownies knew When from the shell an eagle flew That bore Old Glore streaming gay, A sign the flag had come to stay.”

Chapter 17 Brownies were caught in the middle of a

crossfire in Masbate. Brownies are unjustly trampled. 30000 Americans killed 1M Filipinos during the war. This was the only time the book recognizes the humanity of the Filipinos and their suffering during the war.

While they were fleeing the Brownie

Hospital, Rough Rider was carrying a sign that said “Brownies Don’t Shoot” in one hand and a pistol in the other. This was to justify the defensive war strategy of the Americans

1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and Brownies

in the Philippines imposed closure on an ongoing military situation in the Philippines During the Commonwealth period, “Back to Bataan” was released, and its focus was the exact opposite. After this, the once Philippine-American war foes were then WWII Allies