ANTICIPATING 1898: WRITINGS OF US EMPIRE ON PUERTO RICO, CUBA, THE PHILIPPINES ...

362 Pages·2008·3.65 MB·English

ANTICIPATING 1898: WRITINGS OF U.S. EMPIRE
ON PUERTO RICO, CUBA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND HAWAI’I

DISSERTATION
by

Ivonne Marie García, Ed.M, M.A.

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School
of The Ohio State University
2008

Dissertation Committee: Approved by:
Prof. Chadwick Allen, Advisor ________________________
Prof. Susan Williams, Co-Director Advisor
Prof. Frederick Aldama English Graduate Program
Copyright by

Ivonne Marie García

2008
ABSTRACT

This dissertation argues for a re-periodization of 1898 as the moment of U.S.
empire by utilizing a transhemispheric methodology that discursively connects the Pacific
and the Americas. Arguing that the federal campaign of Indian Removal that federalized
the dispossession of American Indian nations should be considered as the actual marker
of intra-continental U.S. imperialism, this dissertation takes 1830 as its starting point.
Within that historical context, the study examines literary texts by U.S. writers who in the
1830s anticipated the extra-continental colonial visions that would become cultural
commonplaces after 1898, when the United States became an imperial nation through its
acquisition of colonial possessions in the Pacific and the Spanish Caribbean. The
dissertation also examines writers from those regions who proposed their own
transcolonial revisions to dominant colonial discourses in the late nineteenth century.
Specifically, this dissertation examines the colonial visions articulated by two sets
of New England writers who traveled to Puerto Rico and Cuba, respectively. Edward
Bliss Emerson and Charles Chauncy Emerson (brothers of Ralph Waldo Emerson) visited
Puerto Rico between 1831 and 1834. Almost during the same time period, Sophia
Amelia Peabody (who would later become Nathaniel Hawthorne’s wife), and her sister
Mary Tyler Peabody, traveled to and lived in Cuba from 1833 to 1835. The colonial
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visions articulated by the Emersons and Peabodys reveal that a decade before Manifest
Destiny was articulated publicly as a political ideal, the notion that the United States was
fated to expand into an extra-continental empire was expressed more privately in literary
and cultural terms.
Within the context of the competing imperialisms of the late nineteenth century,
including a nascent U.S. empire, this dissertation further shows how writers in Puerto
Rico, Cuba, the Philippines and Hawai’i deployed transcolonial strategies to challenge
colonialism in their regions. This study examines texts by the Puerto Rican Ramón
Emeterio Betances, the Cuban José Martí, and the Filipino José Rizal to argue that these
writers were transcolonial anti-colonialists. This dissertation also juxtaposes the colonial
translations of Hawai’i, written and disseminated by Mark Twain, with the anti-colonial,
or indigenized translations, deployed by deposed Hawaiian Queen Lili’uokalani in her
autobiography. By deploying distinct transcolonial revisions of dominant representations
of their islands and their people, and by representing the United States in their own terms,
these writers anticipated later anti-imperialist discourses aimed at U.S. imperialism.
Following post-national and postcolonial approaches, but also moving beyond
such methods of analysis, my dissertation advocates for a broadening of our critical lens
to include texts from different hemispheres, cultures, languages, and nations. This study
thus expands and enriches our ability to interpret not only what John Carlos Rowe has
described as “the genealogies of U.S. empire,” but also the interconnected, and
simultaneous, genealogies of the national and regional revisions that transcolonially
countered empire across the globe.
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A LKO, por todo.
A mis padres, por su amor.
A Chad y Susan, por creer en mi.

To LKO, for all.
To my parents, for their love.
To Chad and Susan, for believing in me.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I tell my students that writing is a communal effort, and this dissertation is proof
of that fact. The manuscript, which I have affectionately called my “Monster,” would
never have seen the light of day without the advice and support of my husband, family,
friends, professors, students, librarians, and nameless others who directly and indirectly
helped in the long process of putting my Monster – in a Frankenstein sense – together.
My husband, Lance Oliver, was an unflagging copyeditor, sounding board, cheer
leader, task master, and a good shoulder to cry on, or a strong hand to pick me up when I
felt too tired or discouraged to continue. He made sure I never lost sight of the prize.
My parents, Juan Manuel García-Passalacqua and Ivonne Acosta Lespier, instilled
in me a passion for history and literature, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and a
perfectionist streak in my personality. My mother, a historian, pointed me to the
Emerson brothers, and was invaluable in locating some of the Betances texts, while my
father, a cultural studies professor, recommended that I include José Rizal in my study.
My mother also translated into Spanish some of Betances’ works written originally in
French. Both of my parents were invaluable research assistants, and my dad not only
constantly flagged important books, but he also was a willing, and enthusiastic reader.
My mother also helped copy edit the final version of the dissertation.
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I have an eternal debt of gratitude to my dissertation co-directors, Professors
Chadwick Allen and Susan Williams, who were careful and demanding readers, and who
never ceased to challenge me to produce the very best work. Early on, when I was
uncertain as to what my project should be, Professor Allen provided much-needed focus
and guidance. His insights were always invaluable, and he recommended important
sources, such as Queen Lili’uokalani and Mark Twain. As an advisor, Professor Allen
was the best, not only because his own scholarship represents the type of groundbreaking
work I hope to produce, but also because he always inspired me to strive for excellence,
and was unfailingly generous with his time and his advise. I owe my passion for the
nineteenth century to Professor Williams, who first introduced me to the texts by the
Peabody sisters, and to the intersections of postcolonial and nineteenth-century U.S.
literary studies. Professor Williams also represents for me the highest scholarly and
collegial standards in our field. She always kept her eyes on the forest when I was lost
among the trees, she pointed me to crucial sources, and she modeled for me what it
means to be a successful woman professor in our discipline. Professor Williams taught a
dissertation seminar at Ohio State that was also instrumental in getting me started and on
the right track toward timely completion. Together, this amazing pair made up a
veritable Dream Team, being the most committed, hardworking and encouraging co-
directors that any dissertating graduate student could wish for. They are both my mentors
and embody the type of teacher, scholar and colleague that I strive to be.
My good friend and fellow graduate student at Ohio State, Marisa Cull, was a
careful reader, who provided insightful comments and asked important questions as we
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continued to work together after Professor Williams’ seminar in a two-person dissertation
workshop. Marisa read and commented on most of this dissertation, and her
encouragement and excitement for my project was greatly appreciated. Likewise, my
friend and colleague at Kenyon College, Professor Sarah Heidt, read parts of early
versions of Chapters 1 and 2, and her on-point critiques helped me hone many of my
arguments.
My close friends, Kathleen Griffin and Theresa Kulbaga, encouraged me
throughout the entire process of bringing my Monster to life. Their friendship, their
unwavering support and their belief in me is a gift.
I want to thank Professor Frederick Aldama for agreeing to be part of my
dissertation committee upon joining the faculty in the Department of English at Ohio
State. Professor Debra Moddelmog provided encouragement throughout the process, and
Professor Clare Simmons’ Writing for Publication Seminar helped me improve the
Hawai’i chapter at its early stages.
Professor John Carlos Rowe, whom I met at an American Studies Association
“Breakfast of Champions” in 2006, kindly wrote me a letter of recommendation based on
my dissertation prospectus. Accessible and generous, Rowe gave me early and welcome
encouragement to believe that my project was both worthwhile and significant.
Professor Félix Ojeda Reyes, the expert on Betances in Puerto Rico, helped me
locate (through my mother) a series of important documents and texts. Ojeda Reyes will
publish a three-part collection of all of Betances’ works, which I hope contributes to
recover the least known of Betances’ works from near critical oblivion.
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At Kenyon College, Marilyn Yarbrough Search Committee Co-Chairs, Professor
Ted Mason and Associate Provost Ric Sheffield, were excellent guardians of my sanity,
and instrumental in helping me to keep on track for timely completion. Professor Mason,
the chair of the Department of English, suggested important sources, as did my
eighteenth-century friends and colleagues, Professors Jim Carson and Deborah Laycock,
who also shared their expertise on the gothic. Professor Janet McAdams read Chapter 4,
and was unfailingly encouraging of my work. Kenyon Faculty Seminar members
provided excellent comments on an article-length version of parts of Chapter 2.
Audiences at Kenyon College and at the Modern Language Association, to whom
I presented sections of Chapters 4, and 1 and 2, respectively, provided helpful and
stimulating comments in 2006 that contributed to how I framed later research and
writing.
The librarians at Harvard University’s Houghton Library, the New York Public
Library’s Berg Collection, the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Massachusetts
Historical Society, and the Concord Public Library provided invaluable help and
guidance in the archival work that helped make this dissertation possible. The libraries at
Ohio State and at Kenyon College were key resources in my obtaining any and all the
resources I needed to assemble my Monster.
The Ohio State Department of English’s Corbett Dissertation Research Award,
the Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship, and the Kenyon College
Faculty Development Grant funded travel for archival research. Last but never least, the
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Kenyon College Marilyn Yarbrough Dissertation Teaching Fellowship made possible
both the completion of my doctoral degree.
Also at Kenyon, incoming first-year student Marenka Thompson-Odlum was a
great informal research assistant during summer 2007. She helped me with the analysis
of the visual rhetoric in several cartoons and portraits of Queen Lili’uokalani and King
Kalākaua. A number of my students, including Janae Peters, Prabhat Gautam, Ryan
Bash, and Mark Luskus, were continually supportive and encouraging.
Justin Pepperney, a fellow Ph.D. student working at the Ohio State Writing
Center, helped me hone the writing and the close reading of early versions of the Hawai’i
chapter.
When I started the program at Ohio State in 2002, I had to take the required and
dreaded “English 700: Introduction to Graduate Study,” which for me (as for most of my
class mates) was an intimidating survey introduction to literary theory. To my great
relief, I finished the class successfully, and in a self-reflective essay I told Professor
Marlene Longenecker that I hoped someday I would “think great thoughts.” I cannot
claim that this dissertation achieves that goal, but my work here certainly reflects that
ambition and effort.
The theoretical and writing work herein is the product of this great community
that has supported and encouraged me as I pursued this seemingly never-ending Ph.D. for
the past five years. While all errors and shortcomings of the work are solely my own,
any and all successes in the work are theirs, too. ¡Mil gracias!
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