| Abstract: |
Empire’s Mistress, Starring Isabel Rosario Cooper, aims to capture the ways in which gender, sex, and imperial intimacies made up the imperial romance that the American colonial adventure relied upon in the Philippines. This tale has three interwoven parts. First, I piece together the life of Isabel Cooper—a mixed race vaudeville and film star who was Douglas MacArthur’s sometime mistress—disentangling her story from the colonial desires that constrain its telling, and positioning it as a lens through which U.S.-Philippine imperial relations can be apprehended. Second, I outline an account of the archival evidence and my encounter with its authority and misdirections. Finally, I offer a tale of method, and the kinds of genres that might better animate stories like hers. |
