Close encounters: romantic and sexual relationships between Americans and Filipinos in the American Empire, 1898-1946

”Close Encounters: Romantic and Sexual Relationships between Americans and Filipinos in the American Empire, 1898-1946,” uses interracial intimacies between Americans and Filipinos–in both the U.S. and the Philippines–to explore the relationship between immigration and imperialism in the early 20th century. It is a history of the broader United States, attending to the transnational connections between the U.S. and the world. This multifaceted project analyzes interracial intimacies on three levels: as intimacies between individuals, as a social problem, and as a metaphor for the imperial relationship. Bringing together these strands of inquiry, I trace the actions of individuals, their coverage in newspapers and fiction, and the ways the U.S. imperial bureaucracy dealt with them. Each chapter traces the significance of interracial intimacies to various aspects of the imperial relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines, revealing how such intimacies are integral to understanding imperialism and the ways people experienced it.