Search

This article examines the gendered politics of dress and the rise of transnational Filipino student networks in the early twentieth century. In the context of empire, with Filipino students acting as representatives and defenders of their native land, everything from personal behaviour and dress to assessments of educational progress became fraught with political meaning. This article argues that Filipino students on both sides of the Pacific chose to enact their nationalism bodily. The self-conscious presentation of the body, including dress, was a crucial site of struggle over issues of national and personal autonomy. Ideas about nationalism and self-representation were debated in a transnational context, as Filipino students travelled back and forth over the Pacific, interpreting and constituting the colonial relationship along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]