ETHNIC STUDIES 399: U.S. FILIPINA/O HISTORY
Winter quarter 2004, University of Oregon
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-11:20 am
Instructor: Nerissa S. Balce, Visiting Assistant Professor
Mailbox: 201 McKenzie Hall, Ethnic Studies Program
Email:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course is an interdisciplinary study of the history of U.S. Filipinas/os orPin@ys. By “history,” we do not mean the Rankean sense of the past “the way it really was.” Rather, we will view history as the articulation of “memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger” – moments of crisis such as wars and economic depressions. Our study of U.S. Filipina/o history will begin with the assumption that historical accounts of a particular moment are imbued with interpretation and ideology. Re-examining the past at “a moment of danger” speaks of the invisibility of Filipinos in the U.S. mainstream culture, even as Filipinos in the U.S. are the second largest Asian immigrant population in the 1990s. As such, we will challenge our enforced invisibility by tracing our complicated roots to different moments of U.S. history — the Philippine-American War, the Depression years, World War II, the Civil Rights years, the Vietnam War, the rise of the Asian American movement, etc. In short, we will examine the political and socio-economic circumstances of Filipino migration by studying the national (both Philippine and U.S.) and global contexts through the theoretical lens of gender, race, class and culture. Sources for our study of U.S. Pinay/Pinoy history include: archival documents, photographs, official accounts (that we will contest and critique), documentaries, and critical theories.
The central theoretical concerns of the course are:
1. that the history of U.S. Pin@ys must be studied by looking at the imperial moment of U.S. history: the context of the Philippine-American War (1899-1903), how Filipinos were imagined as colonial and racialized subjects at the turn of the 20th century in U.S. popular media, and the continuing Filipino resistance to U.S. rule even after the “declaration” of the end of the War
2. that an examination and analysis of Pinay/Pinoy community formation in the United States cannot be understood apart from the emergence of industrial capitalism, U.S. empire, and the concomitant racialization and gendering of labor
3. that multiple sites of political resistance and radical organizing give context to our historical understanding of “community”rather than suggesting that the Pinay/Pinoy community is an enclosed entity, frozen and consistent through space and time
Thus, readings will emphasize the transformative possibilities of community building under conditions of severe exploitation, repression, and duress. We will attempt the difficult task of elaborating and critically analyzing the ways in which capitalist development, U.S. military hegemony, institutionalized white supremacy, and hetero-sexist patriarchy converge in the lives and struggles of Pinays/Pinoys in the U.S and in the diaspora. We will look to such sites as the Northwest cannery industry, California and Hawaíi plantations, race riots, dance halls, segregated infantry unit, domestic labor industry, and state/federal legislature in order to render this “convergence” concrete. In so doing, we will discuss the ways in which these difficult histories prove to be indispensable to our understanding of Pinay/Pinoy communities, lives, and resistance legacies. The course concludes with discussions on the Filipino diaspora in Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and Japan.
REQUIRED READINGS
1.Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999edited by Angel Velasco Shaw and Luis Francia
2. Dorothy Fujita Rony,American Workers, Colonial Power: Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919-1941(2003)
3. Rick Bonus,Locating Filipino Americans(2000)
4.Catherine Choy,Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History(2003)
5. Course reader – on-line (available after the first week of January 2004)
REQUIREMENTS
1. Take-home Midterm– essay format (5-pagesmaximumper question, typed, double-space, 12 pitch font,"Times" only, one-inch margin onallsides)
No extensions for the midterms. Late midterms will be docked a letter grade for every day
they are late. No electronic submissions.
2. Group presentation on Diasporic Pin@y history-
This group activity requires your analytical and creative skills in presenting a case study of the Filipino global diaspora. You will choose ONE book-length study that you will present in class (25 minute presentations per group). After the presentation, your group will lead a class discussion regarding your presentation by discussing some of the themes of our class: how capitalist development, U.S. military hegemony, institutionalized white supremacy, and hetero-sexist patriarchy converge in the lives and struggles of Pinays/Pinoys in the diaspora.
You are encouraged to use visual images, transparencies/ Powerpoint, hand-outs, etc. It is your responsibility to borrow the necessary audio-visual equipment for the day of your presentation. The group presentations will be graded by your peers and by the instructor.
3. Attendance and group work–
Only three unexcused absences are allowed per student. More than three absences will affect
your final grade. Tardiness and/or leaving early will be considered a half absence. You will be responsible for anything you have missed.
You are expected to have read the assigned texts before class discussion and be prepared for questions your classmates or the instructor might ask. For triad/dyad group work, the instructor will assign questions that you will answer with one or two peers. You should choose a passage or two to read aloud before the class and offer interpretation or some questions regarding the passage.
4. Montage assignment–
For your final project, you will create a visual and textual montage of a personal history. You could use your own or create the history of an individual using the studies we have discussed in class. For example, the montage could be on the life of a Filipina immigrant married to an American man now living in Eugene, Oregon; the life of a gay Filipino in New York; or a domestic worker in Hong Kong. Analyze and adopt the artistic ideas and styles of the artists from our assigned textVestiges of War.
GRADING
1. Midterm30%
2. Group presentation30%
3. Attendance and group work20%
4. Montage assignment20%
EXPECTATIONS
You are expected to listen actively or be asked to leave the room. All students are required to attend lectures and discussions, to do the assigned readings, to master the material on the exams, and to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the standards of courtesy and etiquette that govern academic inquiry. Your preparedness in class is your commitment to your peers.