Spatializing Differences

Abstract

Mapping of “ethnic” or “racial” groups in the Philippines was an enterprise that was taken up through the direct interventions of the two colonial polities in Filipino history—Spain and the United States. The objective of mapping race or ethnicity in the Philippines was to identify the location of native racial groups for ethnological and administrative purposes. This article intends to explore the relationship between mapping and the scientific conceptualization of race during the changeover in colonial rule by examining two ethnographic maps, specifically the “Blumentritt Map” (1890) and the Atlas de Filipinas (1899). Maps are complex artefacts that can be read on various levels. Thus, the spatializing effects of mapping can extend well beyond the documentation of a geographic reality and capable of altering historical narratives and sociopolitical experiences.