From "Little Brown Brother" to Filipino Genocide: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Philippine-American War's Impact on Modern Filipino Colorism.

The Philippine-American War from 1899 to 1913, which has long been misnamed as the Philippine Insurrection in United States (U.S.) history textbooks, is a major yet little-known event. Both American and Filipino scholars have described it as a genocide that killed more than a million Filipinos between 1819-1913 (Francisco, 1973; Pomeroy, 1970; San Juan, Jr., 2007; Tan, 2002; Zinn, 1980). According to Clem (2016), it is a genocide that remains unacknowledged today and predates the first officially recognized genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide in 1915. It is theorized that the consequences of this war--the U.S. colonization of the Philippines--has contributed to the development of colonial mentality among Filipinos and Filipino Americans. Defined as a form of internalized oppression, colonial mentality is a multidimensional psychological construct that is a specific consequence of colonialism and characterized by a perception of ethnic and cultural inferiority (David et al., 2006; David et al., 2010; David et. Al., 2013; David, 2013; David, 2017). One of the overt dimensions of colonial mentality is Filipino colorism: the belief that white skin is superior to dark skin. Today, 123 years since this war began, Filipino colorism remains ubiquitous in the Philippines, as evidenced by the continued success of the skin whitening industry and skin whitening advertisements (Hardon, 2021; Mendoza, 2014; Singson, 2017). Using critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995; Mullet, 2018) and Rank's (1974) Intensify/Downplay doublespeak framework, this article examines texts and political cartoons about the Philippine-American War, tracing one of the roots of modern Filipino colorism. Implications for educators and suggestions for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]