Papers

• Print Media Representations of Muslim and Chinese Minorities in the Philippines (1870s-1970s) Frances Cruz University of Antwerp, Ghent University

  This paper investigates the discursive exclusion of minority identities in Philippine textual production, arguing that early postcolonial political assertions of plurality failed to align with continuing forms of discursive othering that reflected colonial strategies and objectives. This is demonstrated through an empirical mixed-methods textual analysis involving word embeddings and collocations of identity discourses in digitized archives of multilingual periodicals dating from 1872 (the latter part of the Spanish Colonial Period, from the Cavite Mutiny to the Treaty of Paris) to 1972 (the end of democratic rule through the implementation of martial law in the Philippines after independence). These representations demonstrate the persistence of colonial-era stereotypes that are re-casted in light of political and social changes and foreshadow the impact of antecedent narratives on contemporary efforts at imagining the nation.

• Healthy Citizens for the ‘New Philippines’: Nationalism and Health Politics under Japanese Occupation Ana Rosa Marginson Deakin University

  Public health lies at the centre of struggles for political legitimacy and has played a crucial role in the formation of Filipino nationalism. Under American colonialism, modern medicine and hygiene became a systematic method of controlling Filipino bodies. Even as Filipinos gained greater control over public health, the system remained rooted in racialized colonial ideas of the healthy Filipino citizen. With the Japanese Occupation came the issue of how to use health messaging to encourage Filipinos to accept Japanese control, when medicine was so heavily associated with the United States. Japanese health standards and exercises such as Radio Tais? became emblematic of their Pan-Asianist rhetoric and the anti-American nationalism espoused by Jose Laurel’s nominally independent government.

  This paper uses newspapers and magazines from 1942-1945 to examine how health campaigns were presented to the reading public of the Philippines as a condition of nationhood. It focuses on health messaging as a method of Japanese propaganda which drew on nationalism to encourage Filipinos to reject the United States and become citizens of the ‘New Philippines’. The paper argues that public health in this period reflected a new but familiar form of colonial control, which was complicated by pre-existing American medical norms. It places the health campaigns of the Japanese Occupation period within a wider history of the policing of Filipino bodies by colonial powers. Crucially, this research enriches our understanding of the development of health messaging in the Philippines and the lasting impact of health politics on the nationalist movement following independence in 1946.

• “Seperti katak di bawah tempurung”; The portrait of the Malays on Cerita Ilmu Kepandaian Orang Puteh Tiara Ulfah Universität Hamburg

  The introduction of printing by Christian missionaries to the Malay world marked a pivotal moment in Malay literature and education. Publications such as Cerita Ilmu Kepandaian Orang Puteh (Story of White People’s Knowledge and Expertise), first published in 1855 in Singapore, exerted a significant and enduring influence. Originally casual literature, it later became part of government school materials. While primarily serving as an introduction to Western technology such as steamships and windmills, Ilmu Kepandaian also delves into cultural introspection, addressing Malay identity and societal critique. This paper will explore the dual perspectives encapsulated in the phrase “orang sebelah sana” versus “orang sebelah sini,” reflecting both the perceived superiority of Western civilization and the shortcomings of Malay society. Furthermore, Ilmu Kepandaian underwent revisions to reflect modern developments and later was utilized as a schoolbook in the Straits Settlements and the Netherlands Indies. Examining these editions offers valuable insights into colonial knowledge, perceptions of the Malay, and educational practices of the time.

• Australian media reporting and representation of Asian war bride marriages Anna Wilkinson Deakin University

  Although geographically positioned in the Asian region, the identity of Australia during the twentieth century has often been defined through British colonisation and European immigration. The implementation of restrictive immigration policies between 1901 and 1975, collectively known as the White Australia Policy, reinforced the notion of Australia as a homogenous colony aspiring to remain culturally British. Despite attempts to regulate Asian-Australian courtships and families within Australia, the country’s military engagement in conflicts across Asia following the Second World War resulted in otherwise unlikely social interactions, including marriage. Couples who successfully navigated the unduly bureaucratized systems of military marriage returned to Australia, often with their biracial children or adopted children from the wife’s previous relationship.

  This paper posits that the formulaic media reporting of Asian war bride marriages simultaneously challenged and reinforced Australian ideals of the nuclear family between the end of the Second World War and the official end of the White Australia Policy in 1975. By examining media representations of Asian war bride marriages, we can explore the ways policymakers and the public conceptualised race and gender as well as the role of Australians in Asia.

  Although small in numbers, the immigration of Asian war bride marriages represented a grassroots shift in Australian cultural identity - from being a British colonial outpost to a country culturally linked to the Asian region - and contributes to our understanding of the (re)emergence of Asian-Australia diasporas nearing the end of the White Australia era.

Abstract