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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]

The article discusses the experiences of American women teachers employed by the U.S. government during the American occupation of the Philippines in the early 1900s. Particular focus is given to the ways in which these women benefited from empire and from their position of authority over the Filipino population. According to the author, these women were not constrained by an ideology of domesticity but instead used it in conjunction with ideologies of maternalism and the so-called strenuous life as conceptualized by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It is suggested that these teachers' experiences illustrate the ways in which many women were becoming more mobile in the early 20th century. Other topics include bravery, violence and teachers' relationships with Filipino servants.