American interpretations: A study of American discourse and popular thought during the Philippine insurrection and the Vietnam War

The purpose of this thesis is to present two periods where American foreign policy was intended as a benevolent enterprise to uplift the Filipino culture in the late nineteenth century and during the Vietnam conflict and the use of language that supported both endeavors. A predominant view of Asians, which was repeatedly outlined in American foreign policies, projected the "exotic Other" as a malleable culture capable of being transformed into an American archetype. Examining the rhetorical justification and the impulse for the U.S. to intercede in to those country's affairs underscores an American ideology projected upon Southeast Asian culture and politics. The main thrust of my argument is show that although the medium of "race language" changed significantly from the Philippine-American War to Vietnam, the underlying emphasis among many foreign policy-makers and journalists, for example, was to negate Southeast Asian affairs as a means of emphasizing American superiority.