'The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race offers revelatory and invaluable new readings on the comp... more 'The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race offers revelatory and invaluable new readings on the complex intersections of race, gender, bodies, language, nation and citizenship. Nuanced, geopolitically situated and theoretically sophisticated, Laforteza's book provides a stunning new framework with which to address urgent and enduring questions about power, race, colonialism and imperialism.' Professor Joseph Pugliese, Macquarie University, Australia
'Elaine Laforteza has written an original, eloquent and passionate account of the multiple routes of mestiza whiteness that have constructed Filipinos abroad and at home. For the first time, this book introduces racialised somatechnics as a new framework to understand the intersections of diaspora, race, gender and sexuality in Australia. Anyone with an interest in how migrant identities are governed and shaped will be impressed with its interdisciplinary case studies from media, popular culture, religion, history, international relations and education, and Laforteza's command of contemporary race relations.' Assoc. Professor Audrey Yue, University of Melbourne, Australia
'In this important contribution to the burgeoning literature on somatechnics-an interdisciplinary approach to such "technologies of the body" as race and gender as well as biomedical interventions-Elaine Laforteza's concept of " mestizo/a whiteness " cuts usefully against the grain of much work in critical race and ethnic studies to interrogate what whiteness, as well as color, brings to hybrid identities in the Filipino/a disapora. Rather than leaving whiteness an untheorized default category, one whose processes of racialization are rendered invisible, Laforteza shows how vital it is, for all who seek to dismantle the racialized hierarchies that maldistribute the chances of life, to understand the ways in which whiteness contributes to mestizo/a social mobilities.'
Investigating the emergence of a specific mestiza/mestizo whiteness that facilitates relations be... more Investigating the emergence of a specific mestiza/mestizo whiteness that facilitates relations between the Philippines and Western nations, this book examines the ways in which the construction of a particular form of Philippine whiteness serves to deploy positions of exclusion, privilege and solidarity. Through Filipino, Filipino-Australian, and Filipino-American experiences, the author explores the operation of whiteness, showing how a mixed-race identity becomes the means through which racialised privileges, authority and power are embodied in the Philippine context, and examines the ways in which colonial and imperial technologies of the past frame contemporary practices such as skin-bleaching, the use of different languages, discourses of bilateral relations, secularism, development, and the movement of Filipino, Australian and American bodies between and within nations. Drawing on key ideas expressed in critical race and whiteness studies, together with the theoretical concepts of somatechnics, biopolitics and governmentality, The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race sheds light on the impact of colonial and imperial histories on contemporary international relations, and calls for a 'queering' or resignification of whiteness, which acknowledges permutations of whiteness fostered within national boundaries, as well as through various nation-state alliances and fractures. As such, it will appeal to scholars of cultural studies, sociology and politics with interests in whiteness, postcolonialism and race.
This article critiques the notion of authenticity and how this is used to adjudicate the worthine... more This article critiques the notion of authenticity and how this is used to adjudicate the worthiness of specific ethnic, racial and gendered identities within the classroom and everyday interactions
This article tracks the positions of power and authority deployed through conversation, specifica... more This article tracks the positions of power and authority deployed through conversation, specifically within the context of the academic conference space
This article is a personal reflection on the trials encountered when grieving the death of a fami... more This article is a personal reflection on the trials encountered when grieving the death of a family member
This article offers a tourist perspective on Beijing, Ningbo and Shanghai and investigates the un... more This article offers a tourist perspective on Beijing, Ningbo and Shanghai and investigates the uneven relations of power deployed in various tourist-local exchanges
This article reports on the annual awards ceremony hosted by Global Filipinos Australia (GFA) and... more This article reports on the annual awards ceremony hosted by Global Filipinos Australia (GFA) and the ways in which they acknowledge the efforts and achievements of young Filipinos across the world
This article tells the stories and shows pictures of some of the people who live in the barrio of... more This article tells the stories and shows pictures of some of the people who live in the barrio of Nalvo Norte in the Philippines
This article focuses on the privatization of developmental initiatives which ensures that develop... more This article focuses on the privatization of developmental initiatives which ensures that development progresses in terms of elite agendas, rather than for the benefit of the broader population
This article tracks how sustainable development progresses and/or is hindered through mining proj... more This article tracks how sustainable development progresses and/or is hindered through mining projects between Australia and the Philippines
This article uses a self-reflexive approach to investigate the ways in which race, gender and eth... more This article uses a self-reflexive approach to investigate the ways in which race, gender and ethnicity construct the ways in which teachers and students interact with one another and how the classroom space is managed. As my focus, I explore my role as a Filipina-Australian tutor in the course convened by Dr. Goldie Osuri entitled "Ways of Reading Asian Cultures" in the department of Critical and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University
This article argues that whiteness is a system of representation that produces specific discourse... more This article argues that whiteness is a system of representation that produces specific discourses of power and knowledge that deploy racialised spaces and bodily movements. I use North America as the focus of this analysis to examine the systematic operation of whiteness as a discursive and legislative authority in daily life.16 page(s
'The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race offers revelatory and invaluable new readings on the comp... more 'The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race offers revelatory and invaluable new readings on the complex intersections of race, gender, bodies, language, nation and citizenship. Nuanced, geopolitically situated and theoretically sophisticated, Laforteza's book provides a stunning new framework with which to address urgent and enduring questions about power, race, colonialism and imperialism.' Professor Joseph Pugliese, Macquarie University, Australia
'Elaine Laforteza has written an original, eloquent and passionate account of the multiple routes of mestiza whiteness that have constructed Filipinos abroad and at home. For the first time, this book introduces racialised somatechnics as a new framework to understand the intersections of diaspora, race, gender and sexuality in Australia. Anyone with an interest in how migrant identities are governed and shaped will be impressed with its interdisciplinary case studies from media, popular culture, religion, history, international relations and education, and Laforteza's command of contemporary race relations.' Assoc. Professor Audrey Yue, University of Melbourne, Australia
'In this important contribution to the burgeoning literature on somatechnics-an interdisciplinary approach to such "technologies of the body" as race and gender as well as biomedical interventions-Elaine Laforteza's concept of " mestizo/a whiteness " cuts usefully against the grain of much work in critical race and ethnic studies to interrogate what whiteness, as well as color, brings to hybrid identities in the Filipino/a disapora. Rather than leaving whiteness an untheorized default category, one whose processes of racialization are rendered invisible, Laforteza shows how vital it is, for all who seek to dismantle the racialized hierarchies that maldistribute the chances of life, to understand the ways in which whiteness contributes to mestizo/a social mobilities.'
Investigating the emergence of a specific mestiza/mestizo whiteness that facilitates relations be... more Investigating the emergence of a specific mestiza/mestizo whiteness that facilitates relations between the Philippines and Western nations, this book examines the ways in which the construction of a particular form of Philippine whiteness serves to deploy positions of exclusion, privilege and solidarity. Through Filipino, Filipino-Australian, and Filipino-American experiences, the author explores the operation of whiteness, showing how a mixed-race identity becomes the means through which racialised privileges, authority and power are embodied in the Philippine context, and examines the ways in which colonial and imperial technologies of the past frame contemporary practices such as skin-bleaching, the use of different languages, discourses of bilateral relations, secularism, development, and the movement of Filipino, Australian and American bodies between and within nations. Drawing on key ideas expressed in critical race and whiteness studies, together with the theoretical concepts of somatechnics, biopolitics and governmentality, The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race sheds light on the impact of colonial and imperial histories on contemporary international relations, and calls for a 'queering' or resignification of whiteness, which acknowledges permutations of whiteness fostered within national boundaries, as well as through various nation-state alliances and fractures. As such, it will appeal to scholars of cultural studies, sociology and politics with interests in whiteness, postcolonialism and race.
This article critiques the notion of authenticity and how this is used to adjudicate the worthine... more This article critiques the notion of authenticity and how this is used to adjudicate the worthiness of specific ethnic, racial and gendered identities within the classroom and everyday interactions
This article tracks the positions of power and authority deployed through conversation, specifica... more This article tracks the positions of power and authority deployed through conversation, specifically within the context of the academic conference space
This article is a personal reflection on the trials encountered when grieving the death of a fami... more This article is a personal reflection on the trials encountered when grieving the death of a family member
This article offers a tourist perspective on Beijing, Ningbo and Shanghai and investigates the un... more This article offers a tourist perspective on Beijing, Ningbo and Shanghai and investigates the uneven relations of power deployed in various tourist-local exchanges
This article reports on the annual awards ceremony hosted by Global Filipinos Australia (GFA) and... more This article reports on the annual awards ceremony hosted by Global Filipinos Australia (GFA) and the ways in which they acknowledge the efforts and achievements of young Filipinos across the world
This article tells the stories and shows pictures of some of the people who live in the barrio of... more This article tells the stories and shows pictures of some of the people who live in the barrio of Nalvo Norte in the Philippines
This article focuses on the privatization of developmental initiatives which ensures that develop... more This article focuses on the privatization of developmental initiatives which ensures that development progresses in terms of elite agendas, rather than for the benefit of the broader population
This article tracks how sustainable development progresses and/or is hindered through mining proj... more This article tracks how sustainable development progresses and/or is hindered through mining projects between Australia and the Philippines
This article uses a self-reflexive approach to investigate the ways in which race, gender and eth... more This article uses a self-reflexive approach to investigate the ways in which race, gender and ethnicity construct the ways in which teachers and students interact with one another and how the classroom space is managed. As my focus, I explore my role as a Filipina-Australian tutor in the course convened by Dr. Goldie Osuri entitled "Ways of Reading Asian Cultures" in the department of Critical and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University
This article argues that whiteness is a system of representation that produces specific discourse... more This article argues that whiteness is a system of representation that produces specific discourses of power and knowledge that deploy racialised spaces and bodily movements. I use North America as the focus of this analysis to examine the systematic operation of whiteness as a discursive and legislative authority in daily life.16 page(s
This paper draws on the interrelation of whiteness and Orientalism to provide a framework for exa... more This paper draws on the interrelation of whiteness and Orientalism to provide a framework for examining the use of skin-bleaching lotions and soaps by some Filipino men and women. Through this focus, I investigate the ways in which skin-bleaching negotiates the "threatening" existence of brown flesh upon the contours of Filipino bodies and within the corpus of western(ised) nations. These threats are negotiated through the skin wherein various chromatic inflections of the flesh become processed as a part of or a threat to normative comfort zones. Skin-colour is thus the site of and for discursive construction and a domain of material consequence. These characteristics of skin-colour and their deployment and resignification of whiteness and Orientalism are what I explore in this paper. For this, I divide the paper into three sections. The first maps how Spanish colonialism in the Philippines fostered an aesthetic hierarchy that privileges a mestiza/mestizo look. Further, I track how North American control of the Philippines deploys a geo-political hierarchy that promotes Americanised social systems. I argue that both hierarchical structures are fostered through the rubric of Orientalist whiteness. The second section complicates the cohesiveness of the authoritative position of Orientalist whiteness by showing that "non-whites" performatively enact whiteness through skin-bleaching. In the third section, the indeterminacy of skin lends itself as a tenuous means of totalising subject positions. Ultimately, this paper tracks the ways in which whiteness and Orientalism deploy specific racialising practices that package certain bodies/spaces as threats to normative individual, national and international social orders. While these strategies may push for a preference for whiteness and Orientalism to govern bodily practices, it simultaneously resignifies how whiteness and Orientalism are perceived.16 page(s
This paper examines how two secular nation-states, such as Australia and the Philippines, connect... more This paper examines how two secular nation-states, such as Australia and the Philippines, connect through their shared practice of secularism as Christianity. Through this, the paper argues that secularism in these contexts enables a Christian framework in which ‘mainstreaming’ Muslims becomes a paramount technique in fostering bilateral relations and (trans)national security. In focus is the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao project, which Australia and the Philippines have established as a pedagogical tool for including Muslim-Filipinos within ‘secular’ society.
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'Elaine Laforteza has written an original, eloquent and passionate account of the multiple routes of mestiza whiteness that have constructed Filipinos abroad and at home. For the first time, this book introduces racialised somatechnics as a new framework to understand the intersections of diaspora, race, gender and sexuality in Australia. Anyone with an interest in how migrant identities are governed and shaped will be impressed with its interdisciplinary case studies from media, popular culture, religion, history, international relations and education, and Laforteza's command of contemporary race relations.' Assoc. Professor Audrey Yue, University of Melbourne, Australia
'In this important contribution to the burgeoning literature on somatechnics-an interdisciplinary approach to such "technologies of the body" as race and gender as well as biomedical interventions-Elaine Laforteza's concept of " mestizo/a whiteness " cuts usefully against the grain of much work in critical race and ethnic studies to interrogate what whiteness, as well as color, brings to hybrid identities in the Filipino/a disapora. Rather than leaving whiteness an untheorized default category, one whose processes of racialization are rendered invisible, Laforteza shows how vital it is, for all who seek to dismantle the racialized hierarchies that maldistribute the chances of life, to understand the ways in which whiteness contributes to mestizo/a social mobilities.'
'Elaine Laforteza has written an original, eloquent and passionate account of the multiple routes of mestiza whiteness that have constructed Filipinos abroad and at home. For the first time, this book introduces racialised somatechnics as a new framework to understand the intersections of diaspora, race, gender and sexuality in Australia. Anyone with an interest in how migrant identities are governed and shaped will be impressed with its interdisciplinary case studies from media, popular culture, religion, history, international relations and education, and Laforteza's command of contemporary race relations.' Assoc. Professor Audrey Yue, University of Melbourne, Australia
'In this important contribution to the burgeoning literature on somatechnics-an interdisciplinary approach to such "technologies of the body" as race and gender as well as biomedical interventions-Elaine Laforteza's concept of " mestizo/a whiteness " cuts usefully against the grain of much work in critical race and ethnic studies to interrogate what whiteness, as well as color, brings to hybrid identities in the Filipino/a disapora. Rather than leaving whiteness an untheorized default category, one whose processes of racialization are rendered invisible, Laforteza shows how vital it is, for all who seek to dismantle the racialized hierarchies that maldistribute the chances of life, to understand the ways in which whiteness contributes to mestizo/a social mobilities.'