ABSTRACT
Chapter four, “Road: W. Cameron Forbes, Philippine roadwork, and the production of space,” turns from the aesthetics of landscapes to the labor required to build them, and to new geographies of circulation and exchange envisioned under the regime's emphasis on “material development.” While every mile of new or upgraded roadways—rendered in maps and statistics—could be celebrated by Insular officials as evidence of progress under benign American governance, each was also the product, more directly, of untold hours of backbreaking and often dangerous human toil, much of it coerced through a variety of means by the U.S. Army, Insular government, Philippine Constabulary, and local elites. The chapter explores the project of Philippine roadwork under the Taft-Forbes regime as one of both labor and geography, following Forbes's efforts in seeking solutions through the revival of the Spanish corvée, exploitation of prison labor, and constitutional strategies for ensuring a consistent labor supply. Through Forbes's signature project of roadbuilding, the chapter offers a lens onto the production of space at a granular level, while contributing to the broader picture of a coercive state apparatus intent on sweeping social and economic transformations. In Forbes's campaign for a “permanent” system of road construction, maintenance, and inspection, the chapter also explores the work that new and improved roads were expected to perform, opening pathways of markets and commerce while extending the reach of the state into heretofore more isolated places.
