Through the lenses of food and gender, this study examines the experiences of female Allied civilians who were interned in the Philippines during World War II. In recent decades, scholars from diverse fields of study have increasingly turned to food as a lens for studying everyday life in times of war. The topic of food in the context of World War II, particularly during the Holocaust, is a burgeoning scholarship. The role that food played in Allied women’s experience of captivity is an understudied topic in the history of Allied women who were interned in the Philippines. For this paper, I analyzed diaries and memoirs of Allied women and girls, who were interned at the Santo Tomás Internment Camp in Manila, where food shortages were common during Japanese occupation. How did Allied women and girls deal with the food situation in Santo Tomás? And what do girls’ and women’s responses to food shortages reveal about the ways that gender influenced camp life? I argue that food and gender intertwined to shape the captive lives of these women and girls. This study illustrates survival strategies used by female Allied civilians and the crucial roles they played. Food insecurity in times of war and its impact on women have been major issues throughout the global history of women.

Scholars have demonstrated that borders play a critical role in policing and reproducing normative understandings of sexuality on a global scale. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, U.S. immigration officials favored Chinese women with bound feet during screenings, perceiving them as more respectable and of higher social standing. However, footbinding, practiced across social classes in China, was increasingly viewed as a symbol of national shame. This article examines how competing narratives surrounding footbinding, alongside the affective experiences of Chinese migrants, were obscured in immigration screening processes and official immigration archives during the era of Chinese exclusion. Through critical engagement with bilingual sources, this study highlights a hierarchy of vocality among immigration authorities, migrants, and intermediaries in producing knowledge and the creation of archives within a trans-Pacific context. By analyzing two investigations from 1911 and 1912 concerning the mistreatment of Chinese migrants at Angel Island Immigration Station, it reconstructs the contested processes of knowledge production about the body through archival labor. The article traces the efforts, successes, and failures of various actors—ordinary migrants, Chinese diplomats, community leaders, immigration inspectors, stenographers, interpreters, and attorneys—to vocalize the "truth." It demonstrates how a masculine vision of ideal bodies within US boundaries structured this hierarchy of vocality and institutionalized knowledge about whose bodies were deemed acceptable and who was granted belonging.

Mindanao, the Philippines' southernmost island, has the lowest family income, the greatest unemployment rate, and is the most vulnerable to conflict and violence. Inadequate leadership has always been a concern in the area, with women historically being disregarded due to restricted employment and educational options. Women's responsibilities have shifted dramatically in recent decades as a result of military conflicts and political turmoil. Based on interviews and other sources, this research assesses Mindanao women's participation in the broader women's movement in the Philippines from 1970 to the present. There is still a dearth of writing about women in Mindanao that depicts them as having a vulnerable position in Filipino society, despite the fact that the problem has been extensively examined. Political and social activism by Filipino women is well-established, especially during the long years of Marcos dictatorship. Without the contributions of women from Mindanao, the history of the women's movement in the Philippines would not be complete. A story that isn't complete can't be called a complete history. This study will demonstrate how resilient and strong women in Mindanao were essential to peacekeeping, community development, and governance in the conflict-torn Southern Philippines, particularly in light of the newly created political entity known as theBangsa Moro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.