A Glance at Selected

Philippine Political
Caricature in Alfred
McCoy’s Philippine
Cartoons
Alfred McCoy

◦ Alfred W. McCoy holds the Harrington chair of History at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison where he teaches classes on the Vietnam War, modern empires, and U.S.
foreign policy. Most recently, he is the author of "In the Shadows of the American
Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power" (Chicago, 2017). He is also the
author of "Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of
the Surveillance State" (Madison, 2009) which won the Kahin Prize from the Association
for Asian Studies.
◦ His best known book, "The Politics of Heroin," stirred controversy when the C.I.A. tried
to block its publication back in 1972, but it has remained in print for nearly 50 years,
been translated into nine languages, and is generally regarded as the "classic" work on
global drug trafficking.
Political Caricature of the American Era
(1900-1941)
Political cartoons and caricature are a rather recent art form, which veered away from the
classical art by exaggerating human features and poking fun at its subjects.
Cartoons became an effective tool of publicizing opinions through heavy use of symbolism,
which is different from a verbose written editorial and opinion pieces.
The unique way that a caricature represents opinion and captures the audience’s imagination is
reason enough for historians to examine these political cartoons.
In his book Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the American Era (1900-1941), Alfred
McCoy, together with Alfredo Roces, compiled political cartoons published in newspaper dailies
and periodicals in the aforementioned time period.
Analysis of the Political Caricature during
the American Period
The transition from the Spanish Colonial period to the American Occupation period
demonstrated different strands of changes and shifts in culture, society, and politics. The
Americans drastically introduced democracy to the nascent nation and the consequences
were far from ideal. Aside from this, it was also during the American period that Filipinos
were introduced to different manifestations of modernity like healthcare, modern
transportation and media.
This ushered in a more open and freer press. The post-independence and the post- Filipino-
American period in the Philippines were experienced differently by Filipinos coming from
different classes. The upper principalia class experienced economic prosperity with the
opening up of the Philippine economy to the United States but the majority of the poor
Filipino remained poor, desperate, and victim of state repression.