American Workers, Colonial Power: Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919-1941

Dorothy B. Fujita Rony

Published by University of California Press 2003

American Workers, Colonial Power

Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919-1941

Dorothy B. Fujita Rony

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520927728

Overview
Contents

About this book

Historically, Filipina/o Americans have been one of the oldest and largest Asian American groups in the United States. In this pathbreaking work of historical scholarship, Dorothy B. Fujita-Rony traces the evolution of Seattle as a major site for Philippine immigration between World Wars I and II and examines the dynamics of the community through the frameworks of race, place, gender, and class. By positing Seattle as a colonial metropolis for Filipina/os in the United States, Fujita-Rony reveals how networks of transpacific trade and militarism encouraged migration to the city, leading to the early establishment of a Filipina/o American community in the area. By the 1920s and 1930s, a vibrant Filipina/o American society had developed in Seattle, creating a culture whose members, including some who were not of Filipina/o descent, chose to pursue options in the U.S. or in the Philippines.

Fujita-Rony also shows how racism against Filipina/o Americans led to constant mobility into and out of Seattle, making it a center of a thriving ethnic community in which only some remained permanently, given its limited possibilities for employment. The book addresses class distinctions as well as gender relations, and also situates the growth of Filipina/o Seattle within the regional history of the American West, in addition to the larger arena of U.S.-Philippines relations.

Author / Editor information

Fujita Rony Dorothy B. :

Dorothy B. Fujita-Rony is Associate Professor of the Asian American Studies Department and Affiliate to the History Department at the University of California, Irvine. She coedited Privileging Positions: The Sites of Asian American Studies (1995).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Note on Terminology Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Introduction: The Role of Colonialism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. Charting the Pacific Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
Part Two. Working the American West Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Part Three. Power and Choice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Conclusion: The Past and the Future Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: March 4, 2003
ISBN: 9780520927728