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.
Photo-
shopped
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