https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1250&context=thes

Colonization is the conquest of one nation by another. It involves

the exploitation of the colonized nation’s labor, resources and
space for the gain of the colonizing nation. (Kapoor 2007) Not only
does the colonizer physically assert itself onto the colonized, it
also asserts itself into the locals’ minds. Colonizers taught the
colonized that they must emulate its conquerors in order to become
civilized. (Quijano 1992) (Cupples and Glynn 2011) Thus, rather than
acknowledging the indigenous ways of life as merely different than
their own, colonizers instilled an inferiority complex among those it
colonized. This inferiority complex forced the colonized to conceal
their own cultures and redefine what being civilized meant. (Fanon
1967) (Kapoor 2007)

Spain colonized the Philippines and left upon being defeated by the
United States in the Spanish-American War.

Both Spanish and American colonizers projected definitions of

civilization overruling the Philippines’ own determination of
development. These definitions continue to exist in the Philippines
today through what some scholars call “colonial mentality.”
Colonial mentality (CM), as defined by ethnic study scholars, is an
internalized oppression among Filipinos in which they experience an
automatic preference for anything Western—European or U.S. American
—and rejection of anything Filipino. (David 2013)

Because European colonizers embedded a colorism onto the cultures of

those they colonized, a skin color hierarchy can be seen among
nations who have been colonized by Westerners today.

Spain sought to convert Filipinos into Christian believers during its

colonial reign. Colonizers manipulated indigenous beliefs to be
favorable of Christianity. The first Archbishop in Manila Domingo de
Salazar, for example, taught locals that those who believed in the
Christian God would be protected from natural disasters. He stated in
1586 that prejudice against Filipinos who converted to Christianity
caused natural disasters. (Salazar 1911 [1588]: 57-69) (Camba 2012)
Therefore, Filipinos’ obeying the Spanish colonizers and their
religious beliefs perceived their Christian conversion to be a
favorable act for divine will.