Reciprocal Mobilities - (The David J. Weber the New Borderlands History) by Mark Dizon (Paperback)

About the Book

"Throughout the eighteenth century, independent Indigenous people from the borderlands of the Philippines visited the centers of Spanish colonial rule in the archipelago. Their travels are the counternarratives to one-dimensional stories of Spanish conquest of, and Indigenous resistance in, interior frontiers. Indigenous inhabitants on the island of Luzon constantly moved about-visiting allies and launching raids-and thus shaped history in the process. Their mobility allows us to glimpse their agency in colonial interactions in the early modern period. The landscape contains the traces of how they moved as well as how they channeled and impeded mobility in the borderlands. Mark Dizon views the colonial interactions in Philippine borderlands through the lens of reciprocal mobilities. Spanish mobilities of conquests and conversions had their counterpart in Indigenous visits and ambushes. Colonial encounters were not isolated individual events, but rather a connected web of approaches, rebuffs, rapprochements, and dispersals. They took place not only in the exploration of remote forests and mountains but also in conjunction with Indigenous travels to colonial cities like Manila. Indigenous people of the borderlands were not immobile, timeless actors; they created history in their wake as they journeyed through the borderlands and beyond"--

Book Synopsis

Throughout the eighteenth century, independent Indigenous people from the borderlands of the Philippines visited the centers of Spanish colonial rule in the archipelago. Their travels are the counternarratives to one-dimensional stories of Spanish conquest of, and Indigenous resistance in, interior frontiers. Indigenous inhabitants on the island of Luzon constantly moved about--visiting allies and launching raids--and thus shaped history in the process. Their mobility allows us to glimpse their agency in colonial interactions in the early modern period. The landscape contains the traces of how they moved as well as how they channeled and impeded mobility in the borderlands.

Mark Dizon views the colonial interactions in Philippine borderlands through the lens of reciprocal mobilities. Spanish mobilities of conquests and conversions had their counterpart in Indigenous visits and ambushes. Colonial encounters were not isolated individual events but rather a connected web of approaches, rebuffs, rapprochements, and dispersals. They took place not only in the exploration of remote forests and mountains but also in conjunction with Indigenous travels to colonial cities like Manila. Indigenous people of the borderlands were not immobile, timeless actors; they created history in their wake as they journeyed through the borderlands and beyond.

Review Quotes

"Any historian of the Philippines will tell you that the farther and higher you get from Manila, and the further back in time you go, the more difficult it is to find the requisite source materials. Mark Dizon has managed to do both. . . . It's quite an achievement and makes for a very interesting and thought-provoking read."--Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

"Meticulously researched and beautifully written. . . . [A]n excellent exploration of the intricate relationships and mobilities that underpinned colonial control in Northern Luzon, with an inspired thematic approach to interconnection at the local level . . . [that] highlights the value of studying geographical spaces that have never before been the central focus of Philippine history and shows how doing so changes our understanding of the colonial period."--American Historical Review

"Dizon's pathbreaking book paves the way for a broader and comparative study on borderlands that includes other regions in Southeast Asia and the Philippines."--Hispanic American Historical Review