InCivilizationalImperatives,OliverCharbonneaurevealsthelittle-knownhistoryoftheUnitedStates’colonizationofthePhilippines’MuslimSouthintheearlytwentiethcentury.OftenreferredtoasMoroland,theSuluArchipelagoandtheislandofMindanaoweresitesofintenseUSengagementandlaboratoriesofcolonialmodernityduringanageofglobalimperialism.ExploringthecomplexrelationshipbetweencolonizerandcolonizedfromthelatenineteenthcenturyuntiltheeveoftheSecondWorldWar,CharbonneauarguesthatAmericanpowerintheIslamicPhilippinesresteduponatransformativevisionofcolonialrule.Civilization,protection,andinstructionbecamewatchwordsforUSmilitaryofficersandcivilianadministrators,whoenactedfantasiesofracialreformamongthediversesocietiesoftheregion.Violencesaturatedtheireffortstoremakeindigenouspoliticsandculture,embeddingitselfintogovernancestrategiesusedacrossfourdecades.AlthoughittookplaceontheedgesofthePhilippinecolonialstate,thisfraughtcivilizingmissiondidnotoccurinisolation.ItsharedstructuralandideologicalconnectionstoUSsettlerconquestinNorthAmericaandalsoborrowedliberallyfromEuropeanandIslamicempires.Thesecircuitsofcultural,political,andinstitutionalexchange--accessedbycolonialandanticolonialactorsalike--gaveempireintheSouthernPhilippinesitshybridcharacter.CivilizationalImperativesisastoryofcolonizationandconnection,reachingacrossnationsandempiresinitsexaminationofaSoutheastAsianspaceunderUSsovereignty.ItpresentsaninnovativenewportraitoftheAmericanempire’sglobaldimensionsandthemanywaystheyshapedthecolonialencounterintheSouthernPhilippines.
