Gaging Manhood: Articulating Masculinity during the American colonial period in

Philippine historiography

by Alvin D. Cabalquinto

Introduction

Feminist historian Joan Wallach Scott altered the way to look actions how a historical
actors gender shaped the motives.1 What started out as a move not only to include but to locate
women in the historical narratives, using gender as a historical analysis has left a mark in
historians to locate masculinity, given that in most sources, the male actors played as the primary
agents of change in historical events. Within this growing amount of historical work, the question
of gender and sexuality in the rise of nationalism and the creation of nation-state brings about the
underlying differences in the analysis of nationalism and revolutions. Joane Nagel proposes that
in locating masculinity in the discourses of nationalism, militarism, colonialism and imperialism,
three questions arises in the historiography of masculinity and nationalism which are:

why are many men so desperate to defend masculine, monoracial, and heterosexual institutional preserves,
such as military organizations and academies; why do men go to war; and the gender gap, that is, why do
men and women appear to have very different goals and agendas for the nation?2

The gradual shift of moving away from a nationalist perspective to a plurality in

perspectives of writing Philippine historiography3 paved the way of a substantial work on gender
race and masculinity as a historical analysis. Given the varying concepts of masculinity, these

1 Joan W. Scott Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis The American Historical
Review 91: 5 (Dec., 1986), pp. 1053-1075

2 Joane Nagel. Masculinity and nationalism: gender and sexuality in the making of
nations Ethnic And Racial Studies 21:1 (1998) Accessed March 21, 2017 doi:
10.1080/014198798330007

3 For a reviews showing recent perspectives in Philippine historiography, see John N.

Schumacher, S.J. Recent Perspectives on Philippine Revolution in Making of a
Nation (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992), pp. 198-209 and
Vicente L. Rafael. "Reorientations: Notes on the Study of the Philippines in the
United States," Philippine Studies, 56:4 (2008) pp. 475-492.
works have viewed events such as the Philippine Revolution and the US Imperialism as a
battleground by the colonizer, either Spanish or American, and the colonized, the Filipinos.
Shifting away from nationalist historiography where gender is not adequately discussed, these
works revolve around the following question: Was the US Imperialism in the Philippines
during the American colonial period an emasculating affair?

To understand this debate in Philippine historiography, I will present various views on

masculinity and US Imperialism in the Philippines. Kristin Hoganson suggest that during the rise
of United States (US) Imperialism in the late 19th century, challenges to this machismo occurs in
the actions committed by both imperialist and anti-imperialist movements in the US. Hoganson
argues that Philippine-American War in the context of US Imperialism is a battleground for the
fight for masculinity.

On the other hand, prevailing conceptions of masculinity in 19th century suggest that the
fight for masculinity had been existing prior to the American colonization. Norman Owen
suggests that the ilustrado shows machismo as the prevailing masculinity in the 19th century that
would prevail in the eventual movements leading to the Philippine Revolution. On the other
hand, Neferti Tadiar have shown that by treating national history as psychology, her rereading of
Agoncillos Revolt of the Masses shows that in order to view the irrationality of the Philippine
revolution, the subject is neither the masses nor the peasants but rather the ilustrado men.
Furthermore, Racquel Reyes criticizes Owens apologetics on the failure of the ilustrados to
question the gendered discourse of the 19th century and argues that ilustrado embodied this
gendered discourse.

Among the recent works by US-based scholars, Martin Joseph Ponce and Victor Roman
Mendoza, have utilized the queer theory in presenting this crisis of masculinity. These works
focus on the queer reading and the racial-sexual governance in understanding subject of the
Philippine revolution, nationalism and US imperialism.

Initial Argument

In this historiographical essay, I will attempt to present that in any discursive analysis of
masculinity and the US Imperialism in the Philippines during the American colonial period needs
to be understood by articulating the differences in conceptions of masculinity by Filipino and
Americans. As exemplified by the various works cited in the introduction, the prevailing notion
is that US Imperialism in both the Philippines and the United States present a crisis of
masculinity, which is manifested in the nationalist, imperialist and anti-imperialist movements at
this period. I will argue that the works the question on whether US Imperialism is an
emasculating affair needs to be articulated in the varying conceptions of masculinity. I will
present that the dichotomy between American masculinity and Filipino masculinity needs nuance
in understanding the differences between the conception of Filipino ilustrados of masculinity and
how these differences complicate the matter in articulating this crisis of masculinity in this
conjuncture of history.

Given the rise of queer theory and its use in history and literary criticism, I will contend
that while rereading these historical sources uncover a new layer of subjectivity, the question of
queer masculinity becomes problematic. While these works offer an invaluable understanding to
the crisis of masculinity, historians using queer theory needs a certain level of scrutiny. While
undoubtedly a need to fight for liberation of the oppressed and muted voices in contemporary
times, the need to present corroborating evidence is key in understanding the context of the
queerness of the crisis of masculinity in the Philippines during the American colonial period.

Annotated Bibliography

Halili, Servando D., Jr. Iconography of the New Empire: Race and Gender Images and the
American Colonization of the Philippines Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press,
2005.

Using 19th century American popular culture, such as political cartoons and caricatures,
Servando Halili presents a postcolonial reading in the shaping of popular culture in diplomatic
policies. Halili contends that race and gender ideologies shaped the move of the US in the
annexation of the Philippines. Halili argues that in an effort to discredit anti-imperialist
movements and Filipino nationalists, the imperialist movements created these political cartoons
and caricatures which inconsequentially resulted in the emasculation of the Filipino in the
American popular culture.

Hoganson, Kristin L. Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the
Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1998.

In her monumental work on US gender and military history, Kristin Hoganson explores
the crisis in masculinity in both wars that the United States fought at the turn of the century,
namely the Spanish-American War and the Filipino-American War. Commenting on the multiple
reasons of why the United States did go to war in 1898, Hoganson ponders on why a diverse
array of American men clamoured war in the late 19th century. By understanding the labelling of
these men as jingoes, the book shows an emasculation effort of American imperialist to
undermine both anti-imperialist and Filipinos in their attempts to preserve the gender norms of
this period of US history.

Kramer, Paul A. Blood of the Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines.
Philippine ed. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2006

Paul Kramer shows that the racial politics and empire-building of the US transformed the
dimensions of the racial and gendered discourse in the United States and the Philippines during
this period of empire-building. Kramer shows the dialogues of US government with varying
groups in the Philippines such as the civilized Filipinos, savage animist and the Moros.
Kramer shows how the nation-building effort is a manifestation of the politics among men and
represents the struggles of masculinity along with the struggle of recognition and sovereignty.

Mendoza, Victor Romn. Metroimperial Intimacies: Fantasy, Racial-Sexual Governance, and

the Philippines in U.S. Imperialism, 1899-1913. Philippine ed. Quezon City: University of
the Philippines, 2016

The recently published book by Filipino-American scholar, Victor Roman Mendoza, uses
the queer theory as an analysis and critique in the facilitation of growth of unprecedented social
an sexual intimacies as a threat to the gender and sexual norms imposed by the new colonial
power in the colonial state. Mendoza shows that in understanding these policies, the word
queer ascribed to early colonial Philippine subjects might or might not have been accorded
with modern-day understand of this word. Mendoza shows that even in the

Owen, Norman G.. "Masculinity and National Identity in the 19th century Philippines." Illes i
imperis 2 (1999): 23-48.

Norman Owen presents the role of masculinity in the formation of national identity in 19th
century Philippines. Owen characterizes the various groups that Propagandists and
revolutionaries have deemed as not Filipinos to be less than men. In answering the question of
Who is Filipino? Owen argues that regardless of ethnicity or language, a being Filipino is
analogous to being manly.

Pante, Michael D. A collision of masculinities: Men, modernity and urban transportation in

American-colonial Manila. Asian Studies Review 38 (2014): 253273. Accessed March
21, 2017 doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.902034

Michael Pantes presents the role of 20th-century Manila saw the motorisation of its urban
transport system in shaping the highly gendered discourse of colonial modernity. This essay
focuses on four different male groups, namely the white American colonisers, native elites, male
workers of the modern transport sectors and those of the traditional sectors and the collisions in
maintaining their masculinity. Pante concludes that instead of the dichotomy of the colonized and
the colonizer as groups of comparison, the emergence of a complex set of relationships
influenced by the socioeconomic differences is key in understanding these collisions of
masculinity.

Ponce, Martin Joseph. Beyond the Nation: Diasporic Filipino Literature and Queer Reading
New York: New York University Press, 2012.

Martin Joseph Ponce presents the intersection of race, nation, gender and sexuality in the
history of Filipino literature which he terms as a queer diaspora In the first chapters, Ponce
uses the literary works of U.S. educated Filipinos, such as Maximo Kalaw, Jose Garcia Villa and
Carlos Bulosan, to show the distinctness of Filipino-American literature based on the shared
experiences of these diasporas. Ponce calls for the complex theorization among politics of
representation, politics of representation and politics of representation in the analysis of these
works. For instance, the first chapter, Ponce demonstrates how imperial assimilation,
independence politics, and the heterosexual erotics of Philippine nationalism interplay in
Maximo M. Kalaws work, Filipino Rebel.

Reyes, Raquel. Love, Passion and Patriotism: Sexuality and the Philippine Propaganda
Movement, 1882-1892. Philippine ed. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press,
2009

Although the time period is outside the scope of the essay, this landmark work of Racquel
Reyes presents how the Filipino propagandist understanding of Western science affected their
own conception of sexuality and gender. Reyes would rebut Owens assertion in the failure of the
Filipino ilsutrado in even questioning the limits of these constructs by showing the active
participation in the gendered discourse of nationalism.

Tadiar, Neferti. Revolt of the Masses: National History as Psychology in Fantasy-Production:

Sexual Economies and Other Philippine Consequences for the New World Order. Philippine
ed. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2004.

In her work on sexual economies in the post-colonial Philippines, Neferti Tadiar explores
the dimensions of gender and sexuality in understanding the actions of the Philippine nation-state
through the productions of dominant imaginations. In the second half of the book, Tadiar
explores how the very question of history continues to be the question of viability and future as a
nation. Tadiar analyses the works of Agoncillo and Ileto in their construction of masses and
peasants feminized these sectors of Philippine society. Contrary to Agoncillos and Iletos claims,
Tadiar proposes that the ilustrado are the sentimental subjects of the Philippine revolution.

References:

Nagel, Joane. Masculinity and nationalism: gender and sexuality in the making of nations
Ethnic And Racial Studies 21:1 (1998) Accessed March 21, 2017 doi:
10.1080/014198798330007

Rafael, Vicente L. "Reorientations: Notes on the Study of the Philippines in the United States,"
Philippine Studies, 56:4 (2008) 475-492.
Scott, Joan W. Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis The American Historical
Review 91: 5 (Dec., 1986), pp. 1053-1075

Schumacher, John N., S.J. Recent Perspectives on Philippine Revolution in Making of a

Nation Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992