Course Overview 

HIST4400C, intended for senior level Undergraduate and MA students, offers an examination of the evolution of Philippine society from the onset of Spanish colonization in the mid-1500s to the start of World War Two in Asia (in 1941). Granting an opportunity to grasp the development of the Philippines under Spanish and American colonial rule, the course places attention upon the nation’s capital city, Manila, a place where life has also been historically shaped by Chinese, Japanese, and native cultural influences. Focusing on elements of cultural, political, and urban history the course endeavours to explain how ‘the Philippine nation’ has historically unfolded, and why Manila, today a metropolis with a population in excess of 13 million people, has come to play such a dominant role in determining the nature of Philippine society prior to the country being granted independence in the late-1940s. Enabling students to critically understand the physical as well as cultural character of the city, and so the nation at large, a multidisciplinary approach is fostered so as to encourage learners to recognize and explain factors that have influenced Philippines civilization as it progressed from the “traditional” to the “modern”. Encouraging learners too to identify connections between the country and places elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, ultimately the course places the evolution of life in the Philippine Archipelago within the greater Asia-Pacific region. Taught by two professors at Brown University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong the curriculum is cut into two distinct sections: The Philippines pre-1898; The Philippines post-1898. Where possible a comparative analysis with the colonial development of Hong Kong will be provided so as to demonstrate, and explain, the different types and natures of colonial rule, culture, and development that took place in East Asia prior to the end of World War Two.

The course is designed with a number of expected learning outcomes:

• The learners to articulate in written form the association, both direct and indirect, between colonial governance and the nature of Philippine society.
• Students to convey how contexts both external and internal have shaped the narrative of development in the Philippines.
• To recognize the alliance between the evolution of life in a capital city and the nature of society at large.
• To train to use primary sources, including maps and other visual sources, in order to come to terms with how the form of urban environments reflect various cultural and political processes operating within Philippine society.
• To permit students opportunities to compare the nature and evolution of colonial societies in East Asia, namely to compare and contrast the Philippines with Hong Kong.

The Course

Week 1. Introductory Class (January 12 2017)

In the opening lecture a synopsis of the course is put forward. The class will debate perceptions of the Philippines among citizens of North America and Asia today, and it will also offer a chance to discuss the role of the Asia-Pacific upon the Americas, and vice-versa. The pre-colonial nature of Philippine society will be introduced.

References:

Sonia Zaide, The Philippines: A Unique Nation

Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism

Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People

Jose S. Arcilla, An Introduction to Philippine History

Week 2. The Philippines and the Arrival of the Spanish (January 19 2017)

References:

Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

Linda Newson, Conquest and Pestilence

Paul Arvisu Dumol, The Manila Synod 1582

Birgit Tremml-Werner, Spain, China, and Japan in Manila, 1571-1644

Marciano de Borja, Basques in the Philippines

Week 3. Building the State: Spanish Colonization and Ethnic Groups (January 26 2017)

References:

Shirley Fish, When Britain Ruled the Philippines

John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines

Bethany Aram and Bartolome Yun-Casalilla, Global Goods and the Spanish Empire, 1492-1824

Henry Kamen, Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763

Tsinoy: The Story of the Chinese in Philippine Life

Week 4. Chinese New Year Holiday! No class! (February 2 2017)

Week 5. e-Learning Class – Spanish Manila: A Transpacific Maritime Enterprise and America’s First Chinatown (February 9 2017)

References:

Ricardo Suarez Soler, Mexico and the Philippines

William Lytle Schurz, The Manila Galleon

Arturo Giraldez, The Age of Trade

Andrew Wilson, Ambition and Identity

Richard Chu, Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila

Aileen Baviera and Teresita Ang See, China Across the Seas: The Chinese and Filipinos

Week 6. The Rise and Ending of the Galleon Trade (February 16 2017)

References:

Renato Constantino, A Past Revisited

Teodoro Agoncillo, A Short History of the Philippines

Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People

Jose Arcilla, Formation of Philippine Society

Nick Joaquin, Culture and History

Week 7. e-Learning Class- Understanding the Binondo, Manila’s Chinese Quarter (February 23 2017)

References: 

Richard Chu, Chinese Merchants of Binondo in the 19th Century

Lorelei De Viana, Three Centuries of Spanish Architecture

Augusto Villalon, Lugar: Essays on Philippine Heritage and Architecture

J.A.B. Wiselius, A Visit to Manila and its Environs

Week 8. Nationalism inside the Spanish Empire: All Change in 1898: The Spanish-American War, The Rise of American Imperialism and the US Purchase of the Philippines (March 2 2017)

The Spanish-American War, the fall of the Spanish Empire, and the rise of the US as an imperial power: the watershed of 1898 and the Treaty of Paris.

References:

James Otis, When Dewey Came to Manila

Jacob Gould Schurman, Philippine Affairs

Samuel Kneeland, The Philippine Islands

Alleyne Ireland, Tropical Colonization: An Introduction to the Study of the Subject

Arthur Judson Brown, The New Era in the Philippines

Week 9. American Perceptions of the Philippines and the Building of the American Colonial State – with e-Lecture by Ms Nelly Fung (March 9 2017)

How did American perceptions of the Philippines and Spanish colonial rule impact formative US colonial governance? What was the notion of ‘benevolent assimilation’ intended to do? How was the US going to ‘uplift’ and ‘civilise’ Philippine society?

References:

Trumbell White, Our New Possessions

W. Hegemann and E. Peets, The American Vitruvius

George Amos Miller, Interesting Manila

Manila Merchants’ Association, Manila, the Pearl of the Orient

David Prescott Barrows, A Decade of American Government in the Philippines, 1903-1913

L.R. Wilfley, Our Duty to the Philippines

Week 10. Redesigning Manila: The Role of City Beautiful Urbanism (March 16 2017)

In 1904 the US’ foremost architect-planner was invited to the Philippines. In 1905 he published two monumental city plans: how did they represent the move of Philippine society to the “modern” following the arrival of Americans in 1898?

References:

Thomas Hines, Burnham of Chicago

Ian Morley, The Cultural Expansion of America: Imperialism, Civic Design and the Philippines in the Early-1900s

Daniel Burnham and Pierce Anderson, Report on the Improvement of Manila

Ian Morley, Modern Urban Designing as a Facet of Colonial Governance in the Philippines, 1898-1916

Christopher Vernon, Daniel Hudson Burnham and the American City Imperial

Week 11. Modernity in East Asia (March 23 2017)

In what ways were developments in Manila going to drive national development throughout the nation? And what sort of modernization was the US importing into East Asia? How was ‘highway economics’ integral to the American strategy of aiding national advancement in the Philippine Archipelago?

References:

Carl Crow, America in the Philippines

Charles Forbes-Lindsay, The Philippines Under Spanish and American Rules

Henry Parker Willis, Our Philippine Problem: A Study of American Colonial Policy

James Brown Scott, Robert Bacon and Elihu Root, The Military and Colonial Policy of the United States

Dudley O’ McGovney, Civil Government in the Philippines

Cristina Torres, The Americanization of Manila

Week 12. The Virtual Fieldtrip (March 30 2017)

Students will download an app so as to ‘visit’ Manila. The fieldtrip will comprise of a walk through the Spanish colonial core of the city, and the nearby Rizal Park district developed in the early-1900s by the Americans as part of the drive to modernity and promotion of Filipino nationhood.

Week 13. Filipinization and the Widening Structure of the Colonial Government (April 6 2017)

What was the form of the US colonial government? How were Filipinos integrated into it? What role did education, and scholarships such as the Pensionados Program, play in this process?

References:

Alexander Calata, The Role of Education in Americanizing Filipinos

Glenn May, Social Engineering in the Philippines

Michael Cullinane, Illustrado Politics

Resil Mojares, Brains of the Nation

Bonifacio Salamanca, The Filipino Reaction to American Rule, 1901-13

Week 14. The Road to Independence, and the Road to World War Two (April 13 2017)

In what ways did the Philippine Autonomy Act (1916) signify a turning point in the government of the Philippines? And how did tension between Democrats and Republicans manifest itself in the steps taken by Americans to cater for Philippine independence?

References:

Alexander Calata, The Role of Education in Americanizing Filipinos

Francis Burton Harris, The Cornerstone of Philippine Independence

Julian Go, Patterns of Empire

Julian Go, American Empire and the Politics of Meaning

Jose Abueva, The Making of the Filipino Nation

Week 15. Course Round-up: The Post-Colonial and the Legacies of the Colonial Ages (April 20 2017)

What was the condition of Philippine society at the time of independence in 1947? How has the development of the Philippines post-1947 been affected by colonial powers? What contributions did, for instance, the US make to contemporary Philippine society?

References:

Kirk Grayson, Philippine Independence: Motives, Problems, and Prospects

Greg Bankoff, Post-Colonial National Indentity in the Philippines

Benedict Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons

Grading

Students shall be given a term score based on:

1. Participation – 30% of total term score. This grade is given in relation to:

(i)Attendance of lectures and tutorials

(ii)Participation (e.g. taking the course’s virtual fieldtrip, the asking of questions in classes, engagement with online discussions in the Facebook group, etc.)

2. Short paper (of about 2000 words) – 30% of term grade.

3. Take-home examination (2500-3000 words) – 40% of term grade.

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• 如属小组习作，则所有组员均须签署声明；所有组员 (不论有否签署声明及不论有否直接或间接撰写有问题的内容) 均须负上集体责任及受到惩处。
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学生将作业或作业的一部份用于超过一个用途 (例如：同时符合两科的要求) 而没有作出声明会被视为未有声明重复使用作业。 学生重复使用其著作的措辞或某一、二句句子很常见，并可以接受，惟重复使用全部内容则构成问题。在任何情况下，须先获得相关老师同意方可提交作业。

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