Surveillance, debasement, and classification: Colonial rhetorical devices in Fedor Jagor's travels in the Philippines

Date of Publication

11-6-2024

Document Type

Bachelor's Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in Literature

Subject Categories

Arts and Humanities | Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Literature, Department of

Thesis Advisor

Jazmin Badong Llana

Defense Panel Chair

David Jonathan Y. Bayot

Defense Panel Member

Isabela Lacuna
David Jonathan Y. Bayot

Abstract (English)

Between the 16th and early 20th-century, European travel writing experienced a proliferation of ethnographic accounts for the purpose of imperial expansion and knowledge. Studies on this phenomenon essentially focus on the discursive modes of major political and economic powers such as Spain, England, France, U.S., and the Netherlands. Germany’s status in the literature on colonial discourse has been understudied because of its short-lived expansion and late unification under Otto von Bismarck. In the case of the Philippines, scholars focus on travel narratives and scientific records written by the country’s colonizers, despite the plethora and reception of German accounts. Fedor Jagor’s Reisen in den Philippinen (Travels in the Philippines), for instance, is hailed for its “exactness and scientific precisions, free from religious or political prejudices”, and dubbed as “the most valuable ethnographic book among French, English, and German accounts from 1775 to 1860.” This thesis will conduct a rhetorical and close reading analysis of the text based on the three rhetorical devices of colonial representation identified by David Spurr - namely Surveillance, Debasement, and Classification. Surveillance will show the privilege and commanding gaze of the viewer as it enters into an economy of control and authority over the Other, and in particular the gaze over the Other’s body as objects of aestheticization as well as scientific evidence of difference and inferiority and argue some points of resistance from the subject. Meanwhile, Debasement, commonly understood as the act of reducing the value of something, will focus on images stirred by the fear and loathing of the Other as well as justifications for imperial conquest. Moreover, it will mention the colonial discursive ironies and paradoxes with which contempt against the natives appears in a perpetual loop. Finally, Classification will discuss a hierarchical system of appellation among cultures and races in the Philippines, which easily manifests as a form of discrimination. Through the use of these colonial rhetorical devices, this paper ultimately aims to investigate how the colonial subject is being positioned in colonial discourse.

Abstract Format

html

Abstract (Filipino)

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Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Keywords

Fedor Jagor, 1816-1900; Philippines—Description and travel; Imperialism; Rhetoric—Political aspects

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Embargo Period

12-8-2024

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