Orientalists, Propagandists, and Ilustrados: Filipino Scholarship and the End of Spanish Colonialism

(Paperback)

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The writings of a small group of scholars known as the "ilustrados" are often credited for providing intellectual grounding for the Philippine Revolution of 1896. Megan C. Thomas shows that the ilustrados' anticolonial project of defining and constructing the "Filipino" involved Orientalist and racialist discourses that are usually ascribed to colonial projects, not anticolonial ones. According to Thomas, the work of the "ilustrados" uncovers the surprisingly blurry boundary between nationalist and colonialist thought.

Reviews

"Rigorously researched and lucidly written, Orientalists, Propagandists, and Ilustrados breaks new ground in the study of the 19th century Philippines. In particular, the book stands out in its careful attention to texts produced by the intellectuals at the center of its story. Importantly, Megan C. Thomas framesand powerfully defamiliarizescanonical works and authors by placing them alongside lesser-known texts, a move that is not only recuperative and inclusive, but transformative."Paul A. Kramer, author of The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States and the Philippines

"Megan C. Thomass attention to the dissonances between writers of the late nineteenth century is as important as her observation of the emergent nationalism that was their legacy." Rosalind Carmel Morris, Columbia University

Author Bio

Megan C. Thomas is associate professor of politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.