Un imperio en la vitrina. El colonialismo Español en el Pacifico y la Exposición de Filipinas de 1887. By LUIS ANGEL SÁNCHEZ GÓMEZ. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 2003.

Abstract

Un imperio en la vitrina. El colonialismo Espanol en el Pacifico y la Exposicion de Filipinas de 1887. By LUIS ANGEL SANCHEZ GOMEZ. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 2003. doi:10.1017/S0022463405280189 Luis Sanchez Gomez's 'An empire in the showcase. Spanish colonialism in the Pacific and the Exposition of the Philippines of 1887' should open a Pandora's box to revisit an event as important as the Exposition of Madrid, celebrated in 1887 for its political and cultural relevance. Spain showed the maturity of the construction of its democratic state; and by celebrating an Exposition, it was displaying its new imperialistic policy. The Philippine Exposition of Madrid became a milestone to define the new contours of Spanish colonialism vis-a-vis other colonial systems, despite deep-rooted arguments about the 'medievalism' or 'immobilism' of the Spanish system. The architect of the Exposition, Victor Balaguer, the Minister of 'Ultramar' (colonies), showcased the Philippines as the Pearl of the Pacific. The Exposition had two intertwined objectives: on the one hand, the reaffirmation of Spanish-ness in the Philippines; on the other, the re-colonization of the archipelago (including Mindanao) by designing a real policy of colonization in the modern sense. Unfortunately, these two main dimensions are neglected in the book. Instead, the author gives a prominent role to the religious orders as an indispensable element to rule and preserve the Islands. Luis Angel Sanchez Gomez sheds light on the Exhibition of 1887; this is, no doubt, a worthy enterprise, since the Exposition has gone unnoticed by Spanish scholars. This neglect is nothing new, as Spanish histories of the Philippines are still tinged with a strong sense of Spanish-ness, whose dominant features are the history of the conquest, the galleons and the religious orders. Nineteenth-century colonialism is something of a blank page for Spanish scholars, and one cannot but be pleased with the publication of a new book on a new topic. Lamentably, as this review will illustrate, Sanchez Gomez gives us a history full of stereotyped images of the Spanish colonial system at the turn of the nineteenth century. The cliche he offers--a quite inaccurate one--paves the way for the idea that the Spanish system was anachronistic until its very end. This thesis will please those American scholars of the Philippines who can read Spanish, since it tacitly accords with their traditionally held assumptions about Spanish colonialism. Sanchez Gomez explains in the introduction that the objective of his study is the analysis and interpretation of the Philippine Exposition. One immediately perceives in his analysis and interpretation the American imprint in the categorization of the Filipinos, the terminology applied to it, the American bibliography (largely irrelevant to the topic) and an analogy between the Exposition of Madrid and that of Saint Louis in 1904, though they are in fact hardly comparable. It is important to analyse the Madrid Exposition through the chapter structure of Un imperio en la vitrina. The book includes 13 chapters plus the bibliography. The first chapter, 'A Catalan politican for a Philippine Exposition', is devoted to the architect of the exposition, Victor Balaguer. From the beginning, Sanchez Gomez misrepresents the colonial policy designed by Balaguer. He does not perceive the transformation of the colonial structure through conspicuous reforms, which started timidly in 1868 and culminated in the 1880s. The author mentions the reformist activity of Spanish Liberal and even Conservative governments, but he does not emphasize or deepen this important issue. This first chapter is the catalyst of the book since the author builds up his central argument--a defeatist history of Spanish colonialism--by minimizing the new colonial policy. By overlooking the restructuring of colonial objectives, he introduces a prevalent idea in Spanish academe--that of 'generous, paternalist and utopian policy'. …