Celebrating Imperial Education: The 2001 Thomasite Centennial in the Philippines

IF 0.5 4区社会学 0 HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

AMERICAN QUARTERLY Pub Date : 2022-11-30 DOI:10.1353/aq.2022.0064

M. Schueller

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Abstract

Abstract:This essay examines the 2001 Thomasite Centennial in the Philippines, marking the arrival of American teachers who came to the colony aboard the US Army Transport Thomas in 1901 as a site of contemporary negotiations of US colonial history for the needs of the present. As representatives of colonial love, the Thomasites were both admired and criticized by Filipinos and used by the US as exemplifications of American benevolence. Although the centennial, billed as a commemoration of the Thomasites by American diplomats, was demonstrably an instance of soft power led by the US embassy, the Filipinos recruited for the event were multiply positioned subjects, constrained as well as empowered by the situated yet mutable sites they occupied. Analyzing the centennial through its circulation in different discursive registers—journalistic, promotional, historical, diplomatic, and literary—the essay reveals the contested nature of present-day memory-making of US sentimental colonialism in the Philippines, with different state and nonstate actors struggling to claim historical record. Tony Perez's play "A Hundred Songs of Mary Helen Fee," written for the occasion, simultaneously memorializes Fee and instantiates a critique of the centennial by putting the Thomasite memoir on which it was based in conversation with the colonial archive. The essay illustrates the complexities of postcolonial commemoration and shows how the centennial functioned as a contested site of American and Filipino diplomacy, critical interrogation, and a strategic rerouting of Thomasite history by Filipinos.

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庆祝帝国教育：2001年菲律宾托马斯派百年庆典

摘要：本文考察了2001年菲律宾托马西特百年纪念活动，纪念1901年美国教师乘坐美国陆军运输托马斯号来到殖民地，作为当代美国殖民历史谈判的场所。作为殖民爱情的代表，托马斯派既受到菲律宾人的钦佩和批评，也被美国视为美国仁爱的典范。尽管被美国外交官宣传为纪念托马派的百年庆典显然是美国大使馆领导的软实力的一个例子，但被招募参加该活动的菲律宾人是处于多重地位的主体，他们所占据的位置虽然多变，但却受到了限制和授权。这篇文章通过在新闻、宣传、历史、外交和文学等不同话语领域的传播来分析百年纪念，揭示了当今美国在菲律宾的情感殖民主义记忆的争议性，不同的国家和非国家行为者都在努力争取历史记录。托尼·佩雷斯（Tony Perez）为这一时刻创作的戏剧《玛丽·海伦·费的一百首歌》（A Baidu Songs of Mary Helen Fee）同时纪念了费，并通过将其所依据的托马西特回忆录与殖民档案馆对话，来实例化对百年的批判。这篇文章阐述了后殖民纪念活动的复杂性，并展示了百年纪念活动是如何成为美国和菲律宾外交、批判性审讯以及菲律宾人对托马斯派历史进行战略性重新安排的一个有争议的场所。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

AMERICAN QUARTERLY HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

0.80

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0.00%

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期刊介绍： American Quarterly represents innovative interdisciplinary scholarship that engages with key issues in American Studies. The journal publishes essays that examine American societies and cultures, past and present, in global and local contexts. This includes work that contributes to our understanding of the United States in its diversity, its relations with its hemispheric neighbors, and its impact on world politics and culture. Through the publication of reviews of books, exhibitions, and diverse media, the journal seeks to make available the broad range of emergent approaches to American Studies.