Based on Adas' viewpoint of the Philippines, I believe that he was on point in some areas, but not in others. The only thing that Adas was on point was Colonization. "The colonizers sought to explain away their military reverses by characterizing the conquest as a fiercely fought contest between the civilization and those of barbarism"(pg.137). The main problem that I have with Adas was that he goes off topic in certain areas. The unrelated topic that he covered in this chapter was engineering. I found this problematic because engineering has nothing to do with American activity in the Philippines. Overall, my review of Adas' interpretation of the Philippines was kind of mixed.
I think what Adas was saying, was that the U.S. made all these improvements to "modernize" the Philippines without taking into account the political and cultural concerns of the Filipino people. The U.S. overrides their system of beliefs and overlooks the power struggle between the elite and peasantry. Adas stressed on engineers work (roads, parks, infrastructure)or the material culture to show that Americans were "modernizing" these islands but not addressing the major issues that would lead to actual self government. Another issue he brought up was that the colonization plan was similar to what was used in the U.S. The two cannot be dealt with in the same way because you have two different cultures and two different political systems.
Adas writes that the war in the Philippines was an “engineering project”. Adas is careful to note that it was “white middle-class men-preferably engineers- would be in charge, which was served to reinforce status distinctions and spatial distance between middle-class and working-class employees.” It seems that the “engineering class” took over most of improvements in the Philippines, they were supervisors to the colony’s twenty seven provinces, they were on boards in charge of day-to-day administration, they were in charge of land revenue, geological surveys, mapping expeditions, and public works projects, sorting out property claims, and assessing the colony’s resources. The engineers took a central role the civilian government. The Philippines became Americans laboratory for creating new theories, which would now be called the modernization theory, pg. 178. The modernization theory became the dominant discourse on U.S. development assistance for nonwestern peoples and societies.
In previously referencing Adas’ book we already know that the emphasis for the colonization of the Philippines will be placed on technology and material development. We must first consider, as Adas points out towards the beginning of the reading that this period was a time of increased industrialization and innovation in the United States. Adas references Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell, for instance. In this time when America is furthering their technological superiority they are left with the decision of what to do with the Philippines after the war of 1898. In addition to the technological aspect that is associated with “civilizing” the Philippines American manhood also played a role in the decision to annex the Philippines. “If they retreated…not only would the Philippines revert to a state of feudal backwardness and “savage anarchy,” but American honor and manhood would be called into question” (136). To Americans Engineers seemed to ultimately define this vision of manhood. Adas also places great emphasis on Engineers in this chapter. “Engineers had been instrumental in establishing material improvement and increase as defining attributes of modern civilization” (143). On page 146 Adas goes further to say that the engineering profession came to define the mission in the Philippines. It was inevitably problematic, however, that people were viewed in terms of “a set of technical problems that could be addressed by institutional adjustments and technological inputs geared to material increase…” (146). In discussing the possibility of Filipino independence it was said that without any material development or industrialization Filipinos were not capable of governing themselves. “Taft viewed material improvement as the key to the success of pacification efforts” (147). I think Adas continued to present a good argument in favor of the emphasis placed on technological advancement in regards to America’s civilizing missions.
After reading the chapter “Engineers’ Imperialism”, it is clear that the main focus of the United States was to provide technical support and help build/fund transport and communication networks for the Filipinos in order to help them build a more civilized nation. Americans thought that that they were pointing the Filipinos in the right direction. They were trying so hard to transform the Philippines by implementing the same plans that brought success to America. Unfortunately Americans focused too much on material increase without paying close attention to social reform. The maldistribution of wealth and power added to tensions within the Filipino society. American officials started to depend on the ilustrados early on which was a sign that the possibility of reforms was slim. It seemed that Americans thought that it was going to be a much easier task to transform the Philippines. Adas even mentioned in the chapter that “the subjects were viewed in terms of a set of technical problems that could be addressed by institutional adjustments and technological inputs geared to material increase.” Many seemed to believe that introducing new technology could solve many problems in the Philippines.
I thought that the discussion of health and sanitation measurements taken by the Americans in the Philippines was interesting. Medicine was is a technology in certain ways and the United States funded and produced some important measures such as the sewage system, hospitals, and medical schools (171). All of these improvements were considered to be necessary to a civilized society and the U.S. wanted to civilize the Philippine population. I just thought the idea of health concerns was an interesting way to show technological dominance and was glad Adas mentioned it in the chapter.
According to Adas, the United States’ involvement in the Philippine’s “can best be understood as a vast engineering project”. For some journalists and policy makers, the economic development of the Philippine islands helped to ease their own consciences after the “death and destruction” that was caused by the Filipino insurrection and the thousands of lives that were lost during battle. Of course, this economic development also helped to let the United States shine on the world’s stage, showing to the Americans back home and the people all over the globe that Americans are trying to Christianize and modernize the “backward and underdeveloped” society of the Philippines. The U.S. focused too much on the economic aspects of reform and not enough on the social aspects. In many ways, I believe the United States used the Philippines as a way to show our economic and engineering dominance. They used the Philippines as a platform for the world to see how far we had progressed to this point and the power we were able to exert. For example, on page 170 Adas mentions the public works system and the methods of sanitation and hygiene. Filipinos are a completely different culture from Americans and they hold different beliefs, customs and values than Americans do. I don’t believe that these differences make them any less civilized than Americans, but instead it makes them a more simplistic and unique society. I think the United States could have focused more on the social aspects of reformation if their economic interests hadn’t overshadowed them. As we discussed in class on Tuesday, the Philippine Islands were abundant with natural resources and lush forestry. Economically, it was beneficial for the United States to maintain occupation and control of the islands, because we could harness the control and usage of those resources. Because we had control and the potential for the economic gain, why would we put more emphasis on social reform when we didn’t need to? There were racial aspects that took place as well. “Some doubted that “Orientals” could advance as far as the Anglo-Saxons”. (p. 158)
Adas posed the argument that the colonization plan for the Philippines was parallel to what was utilized back in the United States. The new engineers that were appointed the head of Filipino development thought they were leading the new colony in the right course. This is the same course that had been making the United States so successful. However, Adas points out that the two projects at home and abroad can’t be managed the same due to the cultural differences. Americans relied far too much on technological increases through infrastructure and other forms of the Filipino day to day life that the issue of how the Filipinos would react to the new changes was ignored and not anticipated. Americans had their own society built for new reforms unlike the Filipinos who had their own society were not ready yet for their social reform.
I was intrigued by how Adas explores how public works and "the great engineering experiment" undermined social equality and redistribution of political power among the people and the more influential companderos and ilustros.
He makes many interesting points, like how the U.S. used the promise of public works to excuse their initial occupation of the country and delay of redistribution of power and how the idea of the engineer helped dictate what kind of policies were implemented in the Philippines. I thought it was also interesting how his point regarding America's lack of planning in the annexation of the Philippines and then their refusal to back down after the face paralleled Hoganson's work.
This emphasis on manly progress and industrious advancement helped the U.S. rationalize to itself that the Filipinos were spoiled (or ruined) by former imperial rulers and their own "inherent weaknesses" were the real causes for the lack of real sweeping reform and advancement in the social, political and economic areas (though the industrial and transportation areas did relatively well).
This shows how American's thought it was the Filipino's fault that "beneficial" white changes were not happening more quickly, not their fault.
I was not entirely surprised by the emphasis placed on the role of industry and technologies in being the means by which Americans sought to colonize the Philippines. Like some others have said, the U.S. was in a state of development themselves. However, what is interesting is how easy many presumed it would be to overcome Filipino resistance. Why they should think an entire population would be eagerly accepting to change seems a little absurd when you look at the similar situation of the American-Indian population. Eventual annihilation was the only way to open the West for development and yet in the Philippines, the colonizers were trying to build a civilization around and within a large non-white population, which they considered inferior and even savage.
It was interesting too that although race played an important role in the way Filipinos were viewed, gender was also an issue. This was used to exemplify the notion of American manhood from the level of dominance as males rather than just dominance as white. I feel like the colonizers were trying to exert the same American practices in the Philippines because, in a way, that form of progress and design was the only thing they were familiar with, especially when in a foreign land.
It continues to amaze me at the thoroughness of Adas argument. He argues that the US wanted to help use the Filipinos to create a civilized nation. Sadly, the United States did not focus on social reform, and instead just looked at material reform. Americans began to gain all the wealth in the society, creating an extremely poor class of persons. This seemed to be an early reincarnation of Reganomics. I think this is something America would be likely to do… introduce too much technology and not have the infrastructure to support it.
I found page 164 and 165 interesting in this chapter. Addas comes up with an idea why teachers and administrators came to the Philippine Islands. On page 164, Addas states three reasons for these types of Americans coming. First, Addas states that they were coming for an adventure. This is similar to the reason many soldiers came to the Philippines. Second, they needed to assert their independance. Lastly, Addas states many just wished to escape the boring desk job life back in the U.S. However, on page 165 Addas comes up with a reason that I particularly agree with. He states these Americans came to escape the class and ethnic conflicts, status anxieties, and feminist challenges apperaing in the U.S. The latter idea we have already seen through Hogansons book and how gender has a strong role in decisions. This idea Addas came up with is what caught my attention while reading the chapter.
To begin, I found it almost pitifully hilarious that hardly a single American had any knowledge about the Philippines. Taft had no idea why he was even selected to be part of the commission. McKinley had to look at a globe to see where what he called those "darned islands" were.(p.130) Adas also points out that McKinley "admitted that when he decided to annex the Philippines he had no idea what to do with them."(p.135) In addition, the so called "expert" on the islands, Worcester, was a zoologist "who had devoted his fieldwork there to non-human fauna."(p.131) With this being said, it comes as no surprise to me that that the U.S. had such a difficult time establishing colonial rule in the Philippines.
I also strongly agree with the point slefferts made above about the U.S. greatly underestimating Filipino resistance. Did they honestly believe that millions of people wouldn't resist U.S. colonial rule? It hadn't been the case with the "savage" American Indians and it certainly wasn't the case with the Filipinos.
This is me reposting this-- I have no idea where my blog post went
This excerpt from Adas’ Dominance by Design discussed how the United States was blindly going into the Philippines to colonize. I agree with Adas in the belief that although McKinley wanted to have a commission ensuring some sort of cooperation with the Filipinos, the conquest was really just a “vast engineering project” (p. 144), as the “expert commission” McKinley was trying to compile was of people with no knowledge of the Philippines. The Filipinos were not seen as people, but as “technical problems that could be addressed by institutional adjustments and technological inputs geared to material increase” (p. 146).
Adas’ view of the ignorance of the Americans in how “People were viewed in terms of a set of technical problems that American ignorance of the Filipinos’ customs, beliefs and modes of social interaction appeared unimportant“ (p 146) was reminiscent to me of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”. “Take up the White Man's burden, The savage wars of peace… And when your goal is nearest, The end for others sought, Watch sloth and heathen Folly, Bring all your hopes to nought… Take up the White Man's burden, And reap his old reward: The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard-- The cry of hosts ye humour…” (For full text, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kipling.html)
According to Adas, the Americans wanted to fully redesign the Philippines. The Filipinos were not seen as people themselves, but as pawns to be redesigned. Adas claims that McKinley did not have any interest in annexing the Philippines originally, but then it appeared to be a good idea to sort of “Americanize the Filipinos” (166). The region was “democratized” and there was reform in many ways to make the Philippines sort of like Iowa (166).
The Philippines was not taken over for the sake of the Filipinos. It was essentially for the United States to further its own interests, both economically and strategically.
Based on Adas' viewpoint of the Philippines, I believe that he was on point in some areas, but not in others. The only thing that Adas was on point was Colonization. "The colonizers sought to explain away their military reverses by characterizing the conquest as a fiercely fought contest between the civilization and those of barbarism"(pg.137). The main problem that I have with Adas was that he goes off topic in certain areas. The unrelated topic that he covered in this chapter was engineering. I found this problematic because engineering has nothing to do with American activity in the Philippines. Overall, my review of Adas' interpretation of the Philippines was kind of mixed.
ReplyDeleteI think what Adas was saying, was that the U.S. made all these improvements to "modernize" the Philippines without taking into account the political and cultural concerns of the Filipino people. The U.S. overrides their system of beliefs and overlooks the power struggle between the elite and peasantry. Adas stressed on engineers work (roads, parks, infrastructure)or the material culture to show that Americans were "modernizing" these islands but not addressing the major issues that would lead to actual self government. Another issue he brought up was that the colonization plan was similar to what was used in the U.S. The two cannot be dealt with in the same way because you have two different cultures and two different political systems.
ReplyDeleteAdas writes that the war in the Philippines was an “engineering project”. Adas is careful to note that it was “white middle-class men-preferably engineers- would be in charge, which was served to reinforce status distinctions and spatial distance between middle-class and working-class employees.” It seems that the “engineering class” took over most of improvements in the Philippines, they were supervisors to the colony’s twenty seven provinces, they were on boards in charge of day-to-day administration, they were in charge of land revenue, geological surveys, mapping expeditions, and public works projects, sorting out property claims, and assessing the colony’s resources. The engineers took a central role the civilian government. The Philippines became Americans laboratory for creating new theories, which would now be called the modernization theory, pg. 178. The modernization theory became the dominant discourse on U.S. development assistance for nonwestern peoples and societies.
ReplyDeleteIn previously referencing Adas’ book we already know that the emphasis for the colonization of the Philippines will be placed on technology and material development. We must first consider, as Adas points out towards the beginning of the reading that this period was a time of increased industrialization and innovation in the United States. Adas references Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell, for instance. In this time when America is furthering their technological superiority they are left with the decision of what to do with the Philippines after the war of 1898. In addition to the technological aspect that is associated with “civilizing” the Philippines American manhood also played a role in the decision to annex the Philippines. “If they retreated…not only would the Philippines revert to a state of feudal backwardness and “savage anarchy,” but American honor and manhood would be called into question” (136). To Americans Engineers seemed to ultimately define this vision of manhood. Adas also places great emphasis on Engineers in this chapter. “Engineers had been instrumental in establishing material improvement and increase as defining attributes of modern civilization” (143). On page 146 Adas goes further to say that the engineering profession came to define the mission in the Philippines. It was inevitably problematic, however, that people were viewed in terms of “a set of technical problems that could be addressed by institutional adjustments and technological inputs geared to material increase…” (146). In discussing the possibility of Filipino independence it was said that without any material development or industrialization Filipinos were not capable of governing themselves. “Taft viewed material improvement as the key to the success of pacification efforts” (147).
ReplyDeleteI think Adas continued to present a good argument in favor of the emphasis placed on technological advancement in regards to America’s civilizing missions.
After reading the chapter “Engineers’ Imperialism”, it is clear that the main focus of the United States was to provide technical support and help build/fund transport and communication networks for the Filipinos in order to help them build a more civilized nation. Americans thought that that they were pointing the Filipinos in the right direction. They were trying so hard to transform the Philippines by implementing the same plans that brought success to America. Unfortunately Americans focused too much on material increase without paying close attention to social reform. The maldistribution of wealth and power added to tensions within the Filipino society. American officials started to depend on the ilustrados early on which was a sign that the possibility of reforms was slim. It seemed that Americans thought that it was going to be a much easier task to transform the Philippines. Adas even mentioned in the chapter that “the subjects were viewed in terms of a set of technical problems that could be addressed by institutional adjustments and technological inputs geared to material increase.” Many seemed to believe that introducing new technology could solve many problems in the Philippines.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the discussion of health and sanitation measurements taken by the Americans in the Philippines was interesting. Medicine was is a technology in certain ways and the United States funded and produced some important measures such as the sewage system, hospitals, and medical schools (171). All of these improvements were considered to be necessary to a civilized society and the U.S. wanted to civilize the Philippine population. I just thought the idea of health concerns was an interesting way to show technological dominance and was glad Adas mentioned it in the chapter.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Adas, the United States’ involvement in the Philippine’s “can best be understood as a vast engineering project”. For some journalists and policy makers, the economic development of the Philippine islands helped to ease their own consciences after the “death and destruction” that was caused by the Filipino insurrection and the thousands of lives that were lost during battle. Of course, this economic development also helped to let the United States shine on the world’s stage, showing to the Americans back home and the people all over the globe that Americans are trying to Christianize and modernize the “backward and underdeveloped” society of the Philippines. The U.S. focused too much on the economic aspects of reform and not enough on the social aspects. In many ways, I believe the United States used the Philippines as a way to show our economic and engineering dominance. They used the Philippines as a platform for the world to see how far we had progressed to this point and the power we were able to exert. For example, on page 170 Adas mentions the public works system and the methods of sanitation and hygiene.
ReplyDeleteFilipinos are a completely different culture from Americans and they hold different beliefs, customs and values than Americans do. I don’t believe that these differences make them any less civilized than Americans, but instead it makes them a more simplistic and unique society. I think the United States could have focused more on the social aspects of reformation if their economic interests hadn’t overshadowed them. As we discussed in class on Tuesday, the Philippine Islands were abundant with natural resources and lush forestry. Economically, it was beneficial for the United States to maintain occupation and control of the islands, because we could harness the control and usage of those resources. Because we had control and the potential for the economic gain, why would we put more emphasis on social reform when we didn’t need to? There were racial aspects that took place as well. “Some doubted that “Orientals” could advance as far as the Anglo-Saxons”. (p. 158)
Adas posed the argument that the colonization plan for the Philippines was parallel to what was utilized back in the United States. The new engineers that were appointed the head of Filipino development thought they were leading the new colony in the right course. This is the same course that had been making the United States so successful. However, Adas points out that the two projects at home and abroad can’t be managed the same due to the cultural differences. Americans relied far too much on technological increases through infrastructure and other forms of the Filipino day to day life that the issue of how the Filipinos would react to the new changes was ignored and not anticipated. Americans had their own society built for new reforms unlike the Filipinos who had their own society were not ready yet for their social reform.
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by how Adas explores how public works and "the great engineering experiment" undermined social equality and redistribution of political power among the people and the more influential companderos and ilustros.
ReplyDeleteHe makes many interesting points, like how the U.S. used the promise of public works to excuse their initial occupation of the country and delay of redistribution of power and how the idea of the engineer helped dictate what kind of policies were implemented in the Philippines. I thought it was also interesting how his point regarding America's lack of planning in the annexation of the Philippines and then their refusal to back down after the face paralleled Hoganson's work.
This emphasis on manly progress and industrious advancement helped the U.S. rationalize to itself that the Filipinos were spoiled (or ruined) by former imperial rulers and their own "inherent weaknesses" were the real causes for the lack of real sweeping reform and advancement in the social, political and economic areas (though the industrial and transportation areas did relatively well).
This shows how American's thought it was the Filipino's fault that "beneficial" white changes were not happening more quickly, not their fault.
I was not entirely surprised by the emphasis placed on the role of industry and technologies in being the means by which Americans sought to colonize the Philippines. Like some others have said, the U.S. was in a state of development themselves. However, what is interesting is how easy many presumed it would be to overcome Filipino resistance. Why they should think an entire population would be eagerly accepting to change seems a little absurd when you look at the similar situation of the American-Indian population. Eventual annihilation was the only way to open the West for development and yet in the Philippines, the colonizers were trying to build a civilization around and within a large non-white population, which they considered inferior and even savage.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting too that although race played an important role in the way Filipinos were viewed, gender was also an issue. This was used to exemplify the notion of American manhood from the level of dominance as males rather than just dominance as white. I feel like the colonizers were trying to exert the same American practices in the Philippines because, in a way, that form of progress and design was the only thing they were familiar with, especially when in a foreign land.
It continues to amaze me at the thoroughness of Adas argument. He argues that the US wanted to help use the Filipinos to create a civilized nation. Sadly, the United States did not focus on social reform, and instead just looked at material reform. Americans began to gain all the wealth in the society, creating an extremely poor class of persons. This seemed to be an early reincarnation of Reganomics. I think this is something America would be likely to do… introduce too much technology and not have the infrastructure to support it.
ReplyDeleteI found page 164 and 165 interesting in this chapter. Addas comes up with an idea why teachers and administrators came to the Philippine Islands. On page 164, Addas states three reasons for these types of Americans coming. First, Addas states that they were coming for an adventure. This is similar to the reason many soldiers came to the Philippines. Second, they needed to assert their independance. Lastly, Addas states many just wished to escape the boring desk job life back in the U.S. However, on page 165 Addas comes up with a reason that I particularly agree with. He states these Americans came to escape the class and ethnic conflicts, status anxieties, and feminist challenges apperaing in the U.S. The latter idea we have already seen through Hogansons book and how gender has a strong role in decisions. This idea Addas came up with is what caught my attention while reading the chapter.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I found it almost pitifully hilarious that hardly a single American had any knowledge about the Philippines. Taft had no idea why he was even selected to be part of the commission. McKinley had to look at a globe to see where what he called those "darned islands" were.(p.130) Adas also points out that McKinley "admitted that when he decided to annex the Philippines he had no idea what to do with them."(p.135) In addition, the so called "expert" on the islands, Worcester, was a zoologist "who had devoted his fieldwork there to non-human fauna."(p.131) With this being said, it comes as no surprise to me that that the U.S. had such a difficult time establishing colonial rule in the Philippines.
ReplyDeleteI also strongly agree with the point slefferts made above about the U.S. greatly underestimating Filipino resistance. Did they honestly believe that millions of people wouldn't resist U.S. colonial rule? It hadn't been the case with the "savage" American Indians and it certainly wasn't the case with the Filipinos.
This is me reposting this-- I have no idea where my blog post went
ReplyDeleteThis excerpt from Adas’ Dominance by Design discussed how the United States was blindly going into the Philippines to colonize. I agree with Adas in the belief that although McKinley wanted to have a commission ensuring some sort of cooperation with the Filipinos, the conquest was really just a “vast engineering project” (p. 144), as the “expert commission” McKinley was trying to compile was of people with no knowledge of the Philippines. The Filipinos were not seen as people, but as “technical problems that could be addressed by institutional adjustments and technological inputs geared to material increase” (p. 146).
Adas’ view of the ignorance of the Americans in how “People were viewed in terms of a set of technical problems that American ignorance of the Filipinos’ customs, beliefs and modes of social interaction appeared unimportant“ (p 146) was reminiscent to me of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”. “Take up the White Man's burden, The savage wars of peace… And when your goal is nearest, The end for others sought, Watch sloth and heathen Folly, Bring all your hopes to nought… Take up the White Man's burden, And reap his old reward: The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard-- The cry of hosts ye humour…” (For full text, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kipling.html)
According to Adas, the Americans wanted to fully redesign the Philippines. The Filipinos were not seen as people themselves, but as pawns to be redesigned. Adas claims that McKinley did not have any interest in annexing the Philippines originally, but then it appeared to be a good idea to sort of “Americanize the Filipinos” (166). The region was “democratized” and there was reform in many ways to make the Philippines sort of like Iowa (166).
The Philippines was not taken over for the sake of the Filipinos. It was essentially for the United States to further its own interests, both economically and strategically.