Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century
In the Spanish Empire, the term mestizo/mestiza denoted, overwhelmingly, people of so-called “mixed” European and indigenous ancestry, but there existed also some regional adaptations with differing genealogies such as the mestizos de sangley in the Philippines. The article traces some developments...
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2025-05-01
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| author | Sarah Albiez-Wieck |
| author_facet | Sarah Albiez-Wieck |
| author_sort | Sarah Albiez-Wieck |
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| description | In the Spanish Empire, the term mestizo/mestiza denoted, overwhelmingly, people of so-called “mixed” European and indigenous ancestry, but there existed also some regional adaptations with differing genealogies such as the mestizos de sangley in the Philippines. The article traces some developments of the application and racialization of the term mestizo shortly after the end of the Spanish Empire in the Philippines under U.S. rule. It will look at photographs that were taken in by Dean Worcester, secretary of the interior, and his staff, in order to apply and develop theories of the biologist racism, which in the early twentieth century was <i>en vogue</i> all over the globe. Worcester and his crew took the photographs during their expeditions and used them to illustrate their hypotheses about racialized taxonomies, adapting and further developing Spanish colonial ideas. I will contrast them with a photograph from a local studio in Mindanao. The photographs stem from the photographic collection of the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, Germany. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e4b54f7b464b426fa55846840ea55fd4 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2409-9252 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Histories |
| spelling | doaj-art-e4b54f7b464b426fa55846840ea55fd42025-08-20T02:21:02ZengMDPI AGHistories2409-92522025-05-01522310.3390/histories5020023Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th CenturySarah Albiez-Wieck0Department of History & Philosophy, University of Münster, Domplatz 20–22, 48143 Münster, GermanyIn the Spanish Empire, the term mestizo/mestiza denoted, overwhelmingly, people of so-called “mixed” European and indigenous ancestry, but there existed also some regional adaptations with differing genealogies such as the mestizos de sangley in the Philippines. The article traces some developments of the application and racialization of the term mestizo shortly after the end of the Spanish Empire in the Philippines under U.S. rule. It will look at photographs that were taken in by Dean Worcester, secretary of the interior, and his staff, in order to apply and develop theories of the biologist racism, which in the early twentieth century was <i>en vogue</i> all over the globe. Worcester and his crew took the photographs during their expeditions and used them to illustrate their hypotheses about racialized taxonomies, adapting and further developing Spanish colonial ideas. I will contrast them with a photograph from a local studio in Mindanao. The photographs stem from the photographic collection of the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, Germany.https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9252/5/2/23Dean WorcesterPiang studiosPhilippinesU.S. imperialismanthropometric photographycolonial photography |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Albiez-Wieck Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century Histories Dean Worcester Piang studios Philippines U.S. imperialism anthropometric photography colonial photography |
| title | Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century |
| title_full | Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century |
| title_fullStr | Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century |
| title_full_unstemmed | Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century |
| title_short | Racializing Mestizos and Mestizas in the Philippines—Dean Worcester’s Anthropometric Types in the Early 20th Century |
| title_sort | racializing mestizos and mestizas in the philippines dean worcester s anthropometric types in the early 20th century |
| topic | Dean Worcester Piang studios Philippines U.S. imperialism anthropometric photography colonial photography |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9252/5/2/23 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahalbiezwieck racializingmestizosandmestizasinthephilippinesdeanworcestersanthropometrictypesintheearly20thcentury |