Justin F Jackson, "The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines" (UNC Press, 2025)

About this episode

Justin F Jackson discusses his book on the role of American soldiers and local labor in shaping colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines during and after the Spanish-American War.

In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba…

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guest: Justin F Jackson

Topics covered

• American colonialism
• military history
• Spanish-American War
• Cuba
• Philippines
• occupation
• labor

Keywords

• American military
• colonial administration
• Cuban labor
• Filipino labor
• empire
• insurgencies
• global conflict
• US Army
• occupation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UNC Press

Books & works: The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines

Places: Cuba, Philippines

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