Empire's Proxy : American Literature and U.S. Imperialism in the Philippines / Meg Wesling.
2011
PS217.I47 W48 2016
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Title
Empire's Proxy : American Literature and U.S. Imperialism in the Philippines / Meg Wesling.
Author
Wesling, Meg, author.
ISBN
9780814795415
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2011]
Copyright
©2011
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Item Number
10.18574/nyu/9780814794760.001.0001 doi
Call Number
PS217.I47 W48 2016
Dewey Decimal Classification
810.9358599032
Summary
In the late nineteenth century, American teachers descended on the Philippines, which had been newly purchased by the U.S. at the end of the Spanish-American War. Motivated by President McKinley's project of "benevolent assimilation," they established a school system that centered on English language and American literature to advance the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which was held up as justification for the U.S.'s civilizing mission and offered as a promise of moral uplift and political advancement. Meanwhile, on American soil, the field of American literature was just being developed and fundamentally, though invisibly, defined by this new, extraterritorial expansion.Drawing on a wealth of material, including historical records, governmental documents from the War Department and the Bureau of Insular Affairs, curriculum guides, memoirs of American teachers in the Philippines, and 19th century literature, Meg Wesling not only links empire with education, but also demonstrates that the rearticulation of American literary studies through the imperial occupation in the Philippines served to actually define and strengthen the field. Empire's Proxy boldly argues that the practical and ideological work of colonial dominance figured into the emergence of the field of American literature, and that the consolidation of a canon of American literature was intertwined with the administrative and intellectual tasks of colonial management.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series
American Literatures Initiative ; ; 1
Available in Other Form
print 9780814794760
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Educated Subjects: Literary Production, Colonial Expansion, and the Pedagogical Public Sphere
1. The Alchemy of English
2. Empire's Proxy
3. Agents of Assimilation
4. The Performance of Patriotism
Conclusion. "An Empire of Letters": Literary Tradition, National Sovereignty, and Neocolonialism
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Educated Subjects: Literary Production, Colonial Expansion, and the Pedagogical Public Sphere
1. The Alchemy of English
2. Empire's Proxy
3. Agents of Assimilation
4. The Performance of Patriotism
Conclusion. "An Empire of Letters": Literary Tradition, National Sovereignty, and Neocolonialism
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author