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EN220/IN250, American Identity, O'Conner |
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Facts about the Philippines - CIA Fact Book
The Postcolonial Meets the "Ethnic" United States
The study of Filipino American literature offers a place for the frames of postcolonial discourse and the literary efforts of the "hypenated" or "ethnic" American to converge-- an intersection which challenges the putative need to separate these endeavors on the basis of the United States's seemingly shaky status as a colonial power. (Prior to the American occupation, the Philippines spent three centuries under Spanish rule.)
American annexation of the Philippines occurred after two separate wars: The Spanish-American War (1898) followed by The Filipino-American War (1899-1902).
U.S colonial rule of the archipelago was mitigated during
the Commonwealth Period of 1935-1946, a period after which the Philippines gained
its independence. The issues of colonization become complicated in light of
the fact that the Philippines experienced decades of enforced "free trade"
with the United States up to and even after this independence. Such a fact helps
to raise all sorts of useful questions on the affects of neocolonialism and
also the latent "colonialism" of alienation and discrimination experienced
by some immigrants.
Filipinos in the United States
Approximately 150,000 Filipinos migrated to the United
States during the period of 1906-1946, and most of these people settled in California
and Hawaii. (Hawaiian sugar plantations commissioned many Filipino laborers.)
Citizenship evaded Filipinos for many years. The 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Independence
Act merely elevated the status of these new arrivals to "nationals"
from "aliens."
From 1946-1964, about 30,000 Filipinos, mostly World War II veterans and their families, arrived in the United States. 630,000 people came in the next wave of Filipino immigrants who arrived between 1965 and 1984. The United States's 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and the later political and economic uncertainty created by the Marcos regime in the Philippines are two factors which increased Filipino immigration during this period. It is important to note that American-born-Filipinos are referred to as "Flips." At present, the Filipino American population is the fastest growing Asian American group in the United States, and statistics illustrate that this community will surpass the numbers of Japanese and Chinese Americans combined in the next decade.
from: http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Filipino.html (Feb 19, 2003).
Why Filipinos Came to America
Around 150,000 Filipinos migrated to the United States during the period between 1906 and1946. Early on, many Filipinos originally came to this country to seek an education before returning home. But starting in the 1920s most immigrated here looking for work. Along the West Coast states and in Hawaii and Alaska, Filipinos were mostly forced to serve as migrant workers, cannery workers and domestic servants. They were subject to intense racism and discrimination and would often be beaten, tortured or driven out of town by mobs if they were seen in the company of white women. It was within this context that Bulosan arrived in this country.
The Status of Filipinos in America
The status of Filipinos who had immigrated to America was often indeterminate. Since the Philippines were a United States "territory," immigrants were known as "nationals" and could enter the country freely until the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act, promising independence to the Philippines in 10 years, when Filipinos became "aliens," just like Japanese or Chinese immigrants. At the outbreak of World War II, FDR granted Filipino enlistees into the military U.S. citizenship and it took until 1946 for President Truman to sign the Filipino Naturalization Bill, enabling Filipinos to become citizens. Given these circumstances, you might attempt to locate in Bulosan's work specific passages that demonstrate a sense of homelessness or a longing for identity and place.