It's been 76 years since the Philippines gained independence from the United States.
In Michigan, Filipinos began attending universities in 1900.
The students were elite, young men sent by the U.S. government to receive an education with the goal of sending them back to the Philippines to lead their country with American ideals.
Now, a project at the University of Michigan is working to restore power to the state’s Filipinos by creating more opportunities for them to engage with their history.
Deidre De La Cruz is an associate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and Department of History. She’s at the helm of the project.
WKAR's Megan Schellong spoke with De La Cruz to discuss the ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections at the University of Michigan.
Interview Highlights
On how these materials from the Philippines arrived in Michigan
So, this is a story that goes all the way back to the 1870s and 1880s, when University of Michigan faculty and students went on expeditions to the Philippines to collect botanical and zoological specimen. When the U.S. took over the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule at the end of the 19th century, that production of knowledge about the Philippines then became put to the service of ruling over America's newly acquired colony and our most extensive collections of archival materials, and photographs, and material objects were really acquired during the first 20 years of American colonial rule, and were instrumental to colonial rule.
On how the current labeling of Philippine archives might harm the Filipino community
The first way that the archival and museum collections can produce harm in their labeling is simply in the names of the collections themselves. So, a lot of the collections are named after the colonial actors who acquired them. So, continuing to use those names in reference to the collection, basically, reinscribes, that colonial history, and it erases the Filipino voices and the actors who were also a real central part in that history.
On the outcomes she hopes to see from the project in two years
The first is just to educate the university community on their own history, this is a history that has been really at the cornerstone of some of our major institutions at the University of Michigan. Of course, we also want to create better, more culturally appropriate descriptions of our collections, and means of access and use both for Filipino communities in Michigan and in the Philippines, and in the diaspora. And we're hoping that the exploration and the work that we do over these two years, serves as a model for other institutions that are seeking reparative and decolonial approaches to their own collections.
Interview Transcript
Megan Schellong: It's been 76 years since the Philippines gained independence from the United States.
In Michigan, Filipinos began attending universities in 1900.
The students were elite, young men sent by the U.S. government to receive an education with the goal of sending them back to the Philippines to lead their country with American ideals.
Now, a project at the University of Michigan is working to restore power to the state’s Filipinos by creating more opportunities for them to engage with their history.
Deidre De La Cruz is an associate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and History. She’s at the helm of the project and joins me now.
Thanks for being here.
Deirdre De La Cruz: Hi, good morning Megan, thank you for having me.
Schellong: So, provide us with a little back story, how did these materials from the Philippines end up here in Michigan and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor?
De La Cruz: So, this is a story that goes all the way back to the 1870s and 1880s, when University of Michigan faculty and students went on expeditions to the Philippines to collect botanical and zoological specimen. When the U.S. took over the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule at the end of the 19th century, that production of knowledge about the Philippines then became put to the service of ruling over America's newly acquired colony and our most extensive collections of archival materials, and photographs, and material objects were really acquired during the first 20 years of American colonial rule, and were instrumental to colonial rule.
Schellong: Deirdre, why is this reparative work happening now?
De La Cruz: Well, I think there's a number of different reasons. One is that, you know, there have been early efforts by students and some faculty at the University of Michigan, to really take a critical look at the collections. So, this is not something that we're doing for the first time. Why it's happening now, I think, owes to an overall change in climate, both within our institution, curators, museum curators, archivists are, you know, are ready now to take this kind of critical look at the colonial history of our collections. And I think there's a changing climate nationwide.
Schellong: Can you walk me through your thought process of how you and your team are going to work to make these archives more accessible to Filipinos in Michigan and beyond?
De La Cruz: The first thing is just really letting people know that these collections exist, and that they're here. When we go out into the Filipino American community, you know, people are often really surprised that these collections are just in their backyard. So that's the first thing.
And there are already a number of collections that are digitized. So, people can access digitized collections of Philippine material from wherever they are. The other way that we want to create greater accessibility, locally, is to generate kind of public programs that bring people into the collection. So open houses, tours, and those are just some of the ways that we're really trying to generate interest in the collections and bring more people to them.
Schellong: You and your team are sifting through a lot of archives for this project. How might the current labeling of these archives harm the Filipino community in Michigan?
De La Cruz: Right, so there's a number of different ways some really obvious, some more subtle. The first way that the archival and museum collections can produce harm in their labeling is simply in the names of the collections themselves. So, a lot of the collections are named after the colonial actors who acquired them. So, continuing to use those names in reference to the collection, basically, reinscribes, that colonial history, and it erases the Filipino voices and the actors who were also a real central part in that history.
And there are some collections that are just poorly described, or not even really described at all, which makes the discoverability of the Philippine collections and their accessibility really challenging.
Schellong: What are you hoping the curation of these materials throughout the next two years will ultimately result in?
De La Cruz: The first is just to educate the university community on their own history, this is a history that has been really at the cornerstone of some of our major institutions at the University of Michigan.
Of course, we also want to create better, more culturally appropriate descriptions of our collections, and means of access and use both for Filipino communities in Michigan and in the Philippines, and in the diaspora.
And we're hoping that the exploration and the work that we do over these two years, serves as a model for other institutions that are seeking reparative and decolonial approaches to their own collections.
Schellong: Deirdre De La Cruz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures & Department of History at the University of Michigan.
Her project is called Reconnect/Recollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections.
Deirdre, Thanks for your time.
De La Cruz: Thank you so much and happy Filipino American history month.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.