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Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th Century Philippines
This book looks at photographs in travel accounts and government documents of the early American colonial period in the Philippines. It takes as its premise photography's power as an instrument unusually effectie for the presentation of colonialist ideology, and discusses its role in the legitimation of the American colonial enterprise in the Philippines.
Drawing upon diverse examples of American representation of the Philippines-- ranging from travel books, photographic albums and ethnological research papers to the 1903 Census of the Philippines and the Louisisana Purchase Exposition of 1904--this book seeks to show that the production and publication of these photographs is predicated on the same, predetermined colonial narrative, which both engendered and informed the production of colonial photographs. The mass circulation of these photographs as commodities, augmented by their reproducibility, helped to shape stereotype images of the Philippines and Filipinos under colonial rule. This book then attempts to provide deeperinsights into the nature of American colonialism and representation of the Philippines.
Drawing upon diverse examples of American representation of the Philippines-- ranging from travel books, photographic albums and ethnological research papers to the 1903 Census of the Philippines and the Louisisana Purchase Exposition of 1904--this book seeks to show that the production and publication of these photographs is predicated on the same, predetermined colonial narrative, which both engendered and informed the production of colonial photographs. The mass circulation of these photographs as commodities, augmented by their reproducibility, helped to shape stereotype images of the Philippines and Filipinos under colonial rule. This book then attempts to provide deeperinsights into the nature of American colonialism and representation of the Philippines.
- GenresPhotographyAnthropology
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 16, 2019
Does the camera ever tell the “Truth”?
People have written on the inner meanings and the evident manipulations of photography. Sorry to say, but many such authors have written more comprehensive offerings with less jargon than this one. Then, there are many books about America’s colonial experience in the Philippines too. Ditto about the comprehensiveness. On top of that, this short monograph about photography has the unfortunate characteristic of “displaying” bad quality photographs. So, all in all, I’m afraid I can’t give it much praise. However, if you wanted to investigate photography’s role in the American colonial domination of the Philippines, you might find Vergara’s book useful. He wants to underline photography as part of the colonial “narrative”---that story told by Americans to themselves which “proved” the need to take over those far off South-east Asian islands and “civilize” them (actually because of racist, imperialist designs that impelled powerful countries at the turn of the 20th century to build empires and because a buck might be there to be made). Though the subject is very close to Edward Said’s great book “Orientalism”, and one might suppose that it was worth a glance, it doesn’t rate a mention.
Photography was used to justify America’s colonial rule in many ways. Travelers, soldiers, and bureaucrats all illustrated their later books with pictures that showed the great variety of cultures in the Philippines though many such pictures were staged, even in studios. A place with such a diverse population surely needed “a firm guiding hand” to allow it to reach the great civilized state of the USA. The British and Portuguese used their censuses in India showing great diversity to similar ends. The local people were inferior; Americans had to supervise and lead them to a “higher level”. Photography displayed such efforts. We have a discussion of commodification of Filipinos and the cultural productions (photographs) that displayed them. Travel literature with accompanying photos was stimulated by the American colonial project in the Philippines. Such literature then justified and reproduced the colonial narrative. Many pictures showed “progress” or “transition to progress” which also justified America’s presence. Overall, this text reveals the cultural arrogance, blind patriotism, and racist thinking that openly suffused America’s relationship with other parts of the world---the prime example being the displays at the St. Louis World Fair of 1904. While for some years, till 2016, such negative behavior was frowned on, it has not gone away. (Trump’s reference to “shithole countries” is just the tip of the iceberg.) What can you say about the presentation of the Middle East on TV in our time? Exploration of these issues might be better carried on elsewhere.
People have written on the inner meanings and the evident manipulations of photography. Sorry to say, but many such authors have written more comprehensive offerings with less jargon than this one. Then, there are many books about America’s colonial experience in the Philippines too. Ditto about the comprehensiveness. On top of that, this short monograph about photography has the unfortunate characteristic of “displaying” bad quality photographs. So, all in all, I’m afraid I can’t give it much praise. However, if you wanted to investigate photography’s role in the American colonial domination of the Philippines, you might find Vergara’s book useful. He wants to underline photography as part of the colonial “narrative”---that story told by Americans to themselves which “proved” the need to take over those far off South-east Asian islands and “civilize” them (actually because of racist, imperialist designs that impelled powerful countries at the turn of the 20th century to build empires and because a buck might be there to be made). Though the subject is very close to Edward Said’s great book “Orientalism”, and one might suppose that it was worth a glance, it doesn’t rate a mention.
Photography was used to justify America’s colonial rule in many ways. Travelers, soldiers, and bureaucrats all illustrated their later books with pictures that showed the great variety of cultures in the Philippines though many such pictures were staged, even in studios. A place with such a diverse population surely needed “a firm guiding hand” to allow it to reach the great civilized state of the USA. The British and Portuguese used their censuses in India showing great diversity to similar ends. The local people were inferior; Americans had to supervise and lead them to a “higher level”. Photography displayed such efforts. We have a discussion of commodification of Filipinos and the cultural productions (photographs) that displayed them. Travel literature with accompanying photos was stimulated by the American colonial project in the Philippines. Such literature then justified and reproduced the colonial narrative. Many pictures showed “progress” or “transition to progress” which also justified America’s presence. Overall, this text reveals the cultural arrogance, blind patriotism, and racist thinking that openly suffused America’s relationship with other parts of the world---the prime example being the displays at the St. Louis World Fair of 1904. While for some years, till 2016, such negative behavior was frowned on, it has not gone away. (Trump’s reference to “shithole countries” is just the tip of the iceberg.) What can you say about the presentation of the Middle East on TV in our time? Exploration of these issues might be better carried on elsewhere.
December 13, 2012
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When we think today of photographs we think of family gatherings, a day on the beach with friends and other fun things. On the other more sophisticated end, we think of art exhibits showcasing the latest photographic techniques, elaborate lightings and other such stuff. It never occurs to us unless we closely study the history of photography, that this seemingly benign technology was used for domination.
This aspect is what Benito M. Vergara Jr. explores in his 'Displaying Filipinos: Colonialism and Photography in Early Twentieth Century Philippines.' The book was published in 1995 when the author was twenty-five years old and completing his doctoral degree in Anthropology at Cornell.
The short Introduction is entitled the 'Kodak Zone' and is a reference to a work by Frank D. Millet, a correspondent for Harper's Weekly who wrote of his experience in the Philippines in the late nineteenth century. The particular passage is itself from the introduction of Millet's book 'The Expedition to the Philippines.'
According to Vergara, American interest in the Philippines was twofold: imperial ambition or benevolent assimilation and search for adventure in an idealized exotic setting. Millet tells us that adventure books were not enough to satiate the desires of the populace. To be truly 'seen' these newly colonized faraway places (Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and then the Philippines) had to be photographed, and thus brought into the 'Kodak zone.'
Vergara then examines the relationship between truth and photography. We are introduced to the idea that the power of the photograph lies in its being equated with an objective, accurate and unbiased representation of reality. Here, Vergara tells us, lies the capacity of the photograph to deceive, since photography is not that objective at all.
There are many factors that affect how a photograph is to be seen and interpreted. The simple fact that a caption is placed under a photograph already imposes upon us a limitation of the possible amount of interpretation that we can do. In the production of the photograph itself this idea can be seen. How the subjects are posed and the reason why they are in such a position and why they are photographed in the first place all contribute to the argument against the objectivity of photographs.
To what purpose then were these photographs used? In the context of the American occupation of the Philippines, these photographs, according to Vergara served to substantiate the Manifest Destiny narrative. The photographs disseminated the idea that the Filipinos are in need of civilization and that this civilization could only be provided by the United States. A rather curious series of images analyzed in the book shows the transformation of an Igorot man upon entering the Constabulary force from "wild" to "civilized." In the first image on the left, the man is shown wearing his native headgear, his hair long and his upper body totally bare. The next photo on the right shows the same man in the same pose, though this time he is clothed, his hair is short and is wearing a uniform. The third photo finally shows him in complete uniform, his native headgear now replaced with a military regulation cap.
Another purpose of these photographs is possession. This act of possession is linked with the development of the postcard which highlighted the image more than the text. The postcard, according to Vergara, is a commoditisation of the images of the objectified subjects, the Filipinos. By buying these images, the average American citizen symbolically owns the Philippines and its native inhabitants.
The sixth chapter 'On Display' looks at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition whose centrepiece was the Philippine Reservation. For this spectacle, the American organizers gathered several natives from various parts of the Philippines to recreate for the American visitors their various tribal ceremonies. The natives followed a regimented schedule where special ceremonies reserved only for special occasions such as the initiation of a chieftain, are played out daily in order to satisfy the gaze of the exposition's visitors. This exposition is crucial according to Vergara since it shows the different American groups: government, academic, private enterprise come together in order to display an image of the Philippines. The exposition, simply put is a display to the world not just of the Filipinos, but of the American imperial might that allowed for the exposition to take place in the first place.
Death must be the very last thing in our minds when we think of photographs. Yet Vergara discusses the connection between death and photography in his book. Regarding the taking of photographs of dead Filipino insurgents Vergara states, “These photographs were not just taken for documentary purposes; they were used to display the technological supremacy of the colonial power for American readers by strewing the pages with the dead.” This connection with death is further emphasized in a work by Filipino author Vicente Rafael entitled ‘White Love and Other Events in Filipino History,’ which was published five years after Vergara’s book. The third chapter of the book which deals with photography is entitled ‘The Undead: Notes on Photography in the Philippines.’ Vergara sees the Americans who took the photographs of dead Filipinos as ‘tourists of their own violence,’ comparing a photo of such to that of a hunter posing with the animal that he has just killed. Rafael on the other hand sees a somewhat different picture.
Rafael takes a step back in order to look at the broader picture and writes that the character of recent writings regarding colonialism and photography are vengeful in character. This is so because in looking at these photos, one cannot help but see the violence that accompanied their production. He asks "seeing [the photographs] by looking away from them, regarding them as mere appearances that carry messages whose meanings are already laid out in advance, do we not also submit to the force of a colonial reading practice that we might have wanted to expose and negate?" Here one is reminded of Nietzsche’s dictum that “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he become one.”
In summary, Vergara’s book presents us with a new perspective with which to view this turbulent period in our nation’s history. Photographs as historical documents must be critically analysed in order for hidden meanings to surface. The production of these photographs was not objective since they were used to promote the ideology of American supremacy. But we must also be careful not to read too much meaning into these images, for as Rafael warned, we might simply be copying what the colonialists did a century ago.
Oct 23, '09
-------------------------
When we think today of photographs we think of family gatherings, a day on the beach with friends and other fun things. On the other more sophisticated end, we think of art exhibits showcasing the latest photographic techniques, elaborate lightings and other such stuff. It never occurs to us unless we closely study the history of photography, that this seemingly benign technology was used for domination.
This aspect is what Benito M. Vergara Jr. explores in his 'Displaying Filipinos: Colonialism and Photography in Early Twentieth Century Philippines.' The book was published in 1995 when the author was twenty-five years old and completing his doctoral degree in Anthropology at Cornell.
The short Introduction is entitled the 'Kodak Zone' and is a reference to a work by Frank D. Millet, a correspondent for Harper's Weekly who wrote of his experience in the Philippines in the late nineteenth century. The particular passage is itself from the introduction of Millet's book 'The Expedition to the Philippines.'
According to Vergara, American interest in the Philippines was twofold: imperial ambition or benevolent assimilation and search for adventure in an idealized exotic setting. Millet tells us that adventure books were not enough to satiate the desires of the populace. To be truly 'seen' these newly colonized faraway places (Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and then the Philippines) had to be photographed, and thus brought into the 'Kodak zone.'
Vergara then examines the relationship between truth and photography. We are introduced to the idea that the power of the photograph lies in its being equated with an objective, accurate and unbiased representation of reality. Here, Vergara tells us, lies the capacity of the photograph to deceive, since photography is not that objective at all.
There are many factors that affect how a photograph is to be seen and interpreted. The simple fact that a caption is placed under a photograph already imposes upon us a limitation of the possible amount of interpretation that we can do. In the production of the photograph itself this idea can be seen. How the subjects are posed and the reason why they are in such a position and why they are photographed in the first place all contribute to the argument against the objectivity of photographs.
To what purpose then were these photographs used? In the context of the American occupation of the Philippines, these photographs, according to Vergara served to substantiate the Manifest Destiny narrative. The photographs disseminated the idea that the Filipinos are in need of civilization and that this civilization could only be provided by the United States. A rather curious series of images analyzed in the book shows the transformation of an Igorot man upon entering the Constabulary force from "wild" to "civilized." In the first image on the left, the man is shown wearing his native headgear, his hair long and his upper body totally bare. The next photo on the right shows the same man in the same pose, though this time he is clothed, his hair is short and is wearing a uniform. The third photo finally shows him in complete uniform, his native headgear now replaced with a military regulation cap.
Another purpose of these photographs is possession. This act of possession is linked with the development of the postcard which highlighted the image more than the text. The postcard, according to Vergara, is a commoditisation of the images of the objectified subjects, the Filipinos. By buying these images, the average American citizen symbolically owns the Philippines and its native inhabitants.
The sixth chapter 'On Display' looks at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition whose centrepiece was the Philippine Reservation. For this spectacle, the American organizers gathered several natives from various parts of the Philippines to recreate for the American visitors their various tribal ceremonies. The natives followed a regimented schedule where special ceremonies reserved only for special occasions such as the initiation of a chieftain, are played out daily in order to satisfy the gaze of the exposition's visitors. This exposition is crucial according to Vergara since it shows the different American groups: government, academic, private enterprise come together in order to display an image of the Philippines. The exposition, simply put is a display to the world not just of the Filipinos, but of the American imperial might that allowed for the exposition to take place in the first place.
Death must be the very last thing in our minds when we think of photographs. Yet Vergara discusses the connection between death and photography in his book. Regarding the taking of photographs of dead Filipino insurgents Vergara states, “These photographs were not just taken for documentary purposes; they were used to display the technological supremacy of the colonial power for American readers by strewing the pages with the dead.” This connection with death is further emphasized in a work by Filipino author Vicente Rafael entitled ‘White Love and Other Events in Filipino History,’ which was published five years after Vergara’s book. The third chapter of the book which deals with photography is entitled ‘The Undead: Notes on Photography in the Philippines.’ Vergara sees the Americans who took the photographs of dead Filipinos as ‘tourists of their own violence,’ comparing a photo of such to that of a hunter posing with the animal that he has just killed. Rafael on the other hand sees a somewhat different picture.
Rafael takes a step back in order to look at the broader picture and writes that the character of recent writings regarding colonialism and photography are vengeful in character. This is so because in looking at these photos, one cannot help but see the violence that accompanied their production. He asks "seeing [the photographs] by looking away from them, regarding them as mere appearances that carry messages whose meanings are already laid out in advance, do we not also submit to the force of a colonial reading practice that we might have wanted to expose and negate?" Here one is reminded of Nietzsche’s dictum that “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he become one.”
In summary, Vergara’s book presents us with a new perspective with which to view this turbulent period in our nation’s history. Photographs as historical documents must be critically analysed in order for hidden meanings to surface. The production of these photographs was not objective since they were used to promote the ideology of American supremacy. But we must also be careful not to read too much meaning into these images, for as Rafael warned, we might simply be copying what the colonialists did a century ago.
Oct 23, '09
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