Constructing a Filipino American Cold War Social Imaginary, 1945-1965

Focusing on Filipina/o Americans in three occupational groups in the United States---servicemen, journalists, and laborers---this project explores how the preexisting edifice of U.S. imperialism in the Philippines coupled with the geopolitical exigencies of the Cold War to create a uniquely Filipina/o American Cold War social imaginary that influenced the path the Philippines would take after independence.;Of these groups, servicemen remained most tightly conscripted by the U.S. Cold War project. Soldiers and sailors had to undergo screening processes that probed for potential disloyalty and found themselves regularly inundated with stories of American exceptionalism. Although Filipinos had crafted a form of military masculinity in the form of the Filipino guerilla during World War II, the U.S. armed services left little space for the heroics of the guerilla. Though many Filipino servicemen found themselves excluded from the privileges of both rank and military masculinity, others derived great satisfaction from their involvement in the U.S. mission.;In contrast, journalists often found significant space in which to construct a unique Cold War social imaginary. In community newspapers written for Filipina/o audiences, journalists exercised the privilege of narrating events in ways that highlighted positively the role of the Philippines and that often sympathized with the U.S. view that communism constituted a global threat. Journalists also constructed a genre of Filipino manliness modeled on the trappings of middle class behaviors and mores, attempting to claim the rights of whiteness through emulation and dedication to the United States' Cold War project.;Labor unions like Seattle's Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, a majority-Filipino union, also offered space in which Filipina/o Americans could construct a Cold War social imaginary. During this era, the union became a forum for contestation as different personalities, separated by class, affiliation and ideology, attempted to control its levers of power. Ultimately, Seattle's Local 37-ILWU emerged as a militant union that challenged the U.S. Cold War project by presenting militant unionism as a more authentic embodiment of American ideals of democracy and fraternity.