Presenter: Yangyou Fang (Princeton University)
Topic: “Writing to the King: Transculturation and Anti-Colonial Resistance in the Spanish Philippines”—article
Respondent: Adrian De Leon (NYU)
Abstract: Since the founding of Spanish Manila in 1571, Chinese and “mestizo” communities used petitions to articulate grievances, defend rights, and seek protection from exploitation. How did they navigate a multiethnic society where their labor and businesses sustained the colony yet left them marginalized? By employing an intellectual tradition of writing-to-the-king, they asserted political agency despite Spanish indifference to their circumstances. How and why did they write? Departing from a reliance on colonial narratives, this chapter centers Chinese voices, revealing how they strategically navigated evangelization and taxation demands while preserving their cultural identities. Though rare and often unnoticed in the Spanish archives, these documents textually and visually reconstruct how Chinese and “mestizos” integrated transcultural identities into legal practices.
Yangyou Fang pays special attention to their political agency expressed through multilingual petitions, which not only contested forced conversions, segregation, expulsions, and massacres but also shaped colonial decrees themselves. Examples include “Letter from the Chinese infidels of Luzon to His Majesty, pleading for a remedy for the wrongs and bribes they suffered in their trade” (1598), “Petition of the Sangleys Not to Cut Their Hair” (1625) and “Petition of the Sangleys of Manila Stating the Reasons Not to Be Expelled from the Philippine Islands” (1688).
About the International, Global, and Transnational History Workshop
We are thrilled to announce that the International, Global, and Transnational History Workshop will be supported by ISERP, along with Professors Mark Mazower, Adam Tooze, and Matthew Connelly.
This newly designed workshop builds on its earlier version (International History Workshop) but aims to expand its scope - geographically, chronologically, and methodologically. A key new feature is the inclusion of a respondent for each guest speaker, fostering deeper engagement with the presented work.
Our goal is to bring together a diverse group of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members interested in comparative, transnational, global, and international subjects. The workshop will meet weekly on Wednesdays, from 6:00–7:30pm, in Fayerweather Hall, Room 413 unless otherwise specified, and will serve as a forum for discussing work-in-progress.
We hope you will find this schedule as engaging as we do and that many of you will join us this semester! To receive the paper (which will be distributed approximately a week in advance), please RSVP using this link. Only registered participants will receive the papers.
Fall Semester Schedule
Below are the upcoming events. The full schedule can be found on our Workshops Page.
October 8
Presenter: Madeleine Dungy (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Topic: “Managing Migrant Pensions: National Welfare and Multilateral Order from the International Labour Organization to the European Economic Community”—chapter of an upcoming book
Respondent: Sandrine Kott (University of Geneva & NYU)
October 15
Presenter: Ana Antić (University of Copenhagen)
Topic: “Measuring Emotions: Schizophrenia, Family, and Society Across Cultural Boundaries”—chapter of an upcoming book
Respondent: Dagmar Herzog (CUNY Graduate Center)
October 22 (Fay. Rm. 513)
Presenter: Katharina Kreuder-Sonnen (University of Cologne)
Topic: "African management knowledge: Contesting marginality in postcolonial Nigeria"
Respondent: TBD
October 29 (Fay. Rm. 513)
Presenter: Fabrice Bensimon (Sorbonne Université)
Topic: “Reading Aloud in the Workshop. Collective Reading Among Workers in Britain, France, and Beyond, 1780s-1870s”
Respondent: James Stafford (Columbia University)
November 5
Presenter: Diego Javier Luis (Johns Hopkins University)
Topic: “Rethinking Colonial Categories: Linking Manila to the Black Pacific”
Respondent: Frank Guridy (Columbia University)
November 12
Presenter: Peter Zhang (University of British Columbia)
Topic: “Remains of the Ming: 17th-Century Chinese Diaspora in Japan and Korea and Transnational Discourses on National Identities in Early Modern East Asia”—dissertation chapter
Respondent: TBD
November 19
Presenter: Mary Elise Sarotte (Johns Hopkins University)
Topic: “The Post-Cold War Era as History”
Respondent: Adam Tooze (Columbia University)
December 3
Presenter: Giorgos Giannakopoulos (City University London)
Topic: “Ιnternational Interventions in Greece in the Shadow of the Crimean War”
Respondent: Mark Mazower (Columbia University)
December 10
Presenter: Yoram Gorlizki (University of Manchester)
Topic: “Ideas and Institutions in Soviet Legal History”—chapter of an upcoming book
Respondent: Yana Skorobogatov (Columbia University)
