New Books In Gender Studies

Beauty is often dismissed as superfluous and frivolous cultural consumption. In her book, Beauty Regimes: A History of Power and Modern Empire in the Philippines, 1898-1941 (Duke UP, 2023), Genevieve Clutario asks the readers, "what can we gain by taking beauty seriously?" (3) What does it tell us about national identity formation and intimate connections between overlapping empires? Bringing together sartorial styles and women's labor by critically engaging with archival documents ranging from colonial government reports to photograph collections, memoirs, and women’s magazines, Clutario shows how “colonial subjects, like Filipinas, were not only impacted by [nation-building] but also actively shaped [these] ventures within and beyond national borders” (14). Furthermore, her work highlights how the embroidery industry, public schools, and colonial prison systems mobilized the racial idea of dexterous fingers and modernization to discipline Filipina women. However, the imperial rule was contested by Flipina w