The 1904 Louisiana purchase exposition celebrated the centennial of the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France, which represented the first major expansion of American territory (Kennedy, 1998). The fair displayed various exhibits ranging from the field of architecture, agriculture, technology, art, and history. Among these, the anthropological exhibit had gained much attention, organizers brought people from the Philippines, the Arctic, and elsewhere to the fairgrounds as set pieces among re-creations of their home environment or villages (Taylor, 2019) in which the constructs of the Philippine exposition was the grandest of all. A total of 19,694,855 attendance was recorded for the whole duration of the fair of which 12,804,616 are listed as paid attendance.
The St. Louis fair is not only a celebration for the territorial expansion of America but also a loud message sent to the world of white supremacy. Showcasing the “underdeveloped culture” of its newly acquired colonies appeared to be an implicit justification on their decision of annexation of the countries as well as adhering to their mission to educate and govern these little brown brothers of them. The fair featured unusual rides, savage natives, exotic foods, state and national exhibits, freaks, and grandiose architecture (Boulanger, 1992). The “civilized” tourist of the fair did not maximize the fortuity to learn from other cultures but instead they viewed the ethnic groups as lesser, a culturally backward human beings—practicing traditions that are not deemed acceptable and appropriate by their standards.
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The superior attitude manifests in the way the ethnic groups had been portrayed and had been centered on talks, articles, and even themes of publications of the fair – framed in the most racist manner. In another article, entitled, “Dong! Dong! Hark to the Wisdom of Liberty Bell Dong! Dong! (Post-Dispatch, June 19, 1904, as cited in Boulanger, 1992), Clark McAdams writes an imaginative dialogue between the Igorottes and the Liberty bell in which “no ring for Brown Man” occurs since democracy and freedom go with white people’s culture (Boulanger, 1992).
Traditions practiced (e.g. Dog-eating, wearing their traditional outfits, and the like) by the natives are also shamed, manifested into seemingly comical article headlines such as, “Tie Fido Before Igorottes Get Him”, “No pants for IG. Boys”, “Poor Little Brown Men”. Terms such as “savage”, “wild” and “untamed” were used by the press to further emphasize and point out the inferiority of the Filipinos. This is a clear form of othering adhering to the idea of outgroup homogeneity bias. Where members of the “in-group” see themselves as diverse in all kinds of ways but impose a stereotyped idea on all of the 'other group', seeing the “other group” as less compared to those belonging to the “in-group”. The idea of the fair to bring the cultures in one place may have served a better purpose if only its participants maximized the opportunity to appreciate and expand each other’s repository of knowledge, but instead, they had resorted to prejudice, discrimination, and assertion of their supremacy. It appeared that they had forgotten that human beings are created equal and are all equal throughout time. Philippine Exposition at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair was a stunning visual extravaganza. But indeed, it also popularized distorted images of the Philippines and its people (Silva, 1994).
Before proceeding to the next and final section of this essay allow me to present a synthesis of what had been presented in this writing so far. To begin with, let me make it clear that the dominant position of elites in society had been shaped not only by historical and cultural factors but also influenced by economic factors. Even before the arrival of the colonizers the archipelago had its social stratification system and it varies depending on the region or the area, the pattern then had been existent from pre-colonial times to the present. However, it is worth noting that even though the pre-colonial society adheres to this pattern it was bounded by the system of kinship and mutual dependence, making it less harsh and brutal relative to other societies practicing slavery.
As trade partook in its role of furthering the assimilation of intercultural ideas and inter-ethnic marriages, and so sociopolitical and economic factors in furthering the areas of mineralization and racism. A minority group is a group of people arising as a result of mineralization, where members of the group are singled out and treated unequally in society – they are often been regarded as an object of discrimination. It must be clear that the minority group referred to in this writing is not those in the sense of number, but is rather distinguished by a set of characteristics, which of them experiences, according to Charles Wagley and Marvin Harris (1958, as cited in Little, n.d), a.) Unfair treatment and whose lives are being subject to control, b.) Separated in the society because of physical or cultural traits, c.) subject to and aware of being under subordination.
It had been clear in the past sections the dire situations that had arisen from such economic activities with each of their own have aspects of mineralization and racial injustices. When the Chinese population was starting to increase in number, restrictions in residences, periodic deportations, and actual or threatened violence resulted in riots and massacres of the Chinese population had been imposed. Likewise, the complex taxation system was based on race and ethnicity, with “mix breeds” and “Indios” paying a lot more than the Spanish colonizers and other white people. Furthermore, we can also witness the unequal treatment, involuntary membership, and segregation based on race if we were to look at the enconmienda system, the forced labor polo y servicio, implementation of boletas, and the burden that comes along with the colonial agro-economic system, and of course not forgetting the unfairness of the 1904 Louisiana purchase exposition in popularizing the “savage” image of the Filipinos.
The practice of segregation was extended and institutionalized during the American period but only existed up until President’s Quezon term, his initial move was to abolish the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribe and to gear toward the integration of the indigenous people back to the mainstream population. The integration is framed in a way of providing services and projects that will further the cultural minorities’ economic and social development. The goal of unification and vanishment of segregation however appears to fail as the PANAMIN remains to exclude the Muslim groups in the label of national minorities, the exclusion from the label consequently forfeits one’s entitlement to the benefits extended to help the classified people of indigenous communities. It is only in 1984 through Executive Order No. 969 that amendments had been undertaken with the creation of OMACC, the merger of the Office of Muslim Affairs, and the PANAMIN. In contemporary times, it is quite evident that the structure of minoritization and marginalization never ceased to exist and is further amplified with the unsettled land ownership disputes, especially when glanced at and tied up with economic “developmental” activities.
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