Dr. Winkelmann Interview

What do you find as one of the most important factors of gender roles in intimate relationships and why?

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I think that societal/cultural acceptance and promotion of patriarchy and male privilege is likely the most important factor that shapes all peoples intimate relationships.  For some, this manifests in things like one partner's career takes precedence over another, while for others this manifests in dangerous domestic abuse and violence. Because of the ways that we are all shaped by and make decisions within the context of the societies we live in, none of us are free from societal patriarchy, none of us have relationships untouched by it, even in the most feminist of households/relationships.

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In what ways have historical interracial relations shaped modern day U.S. society? Are these factors similar to other countries with similar background/history as the U.S.?

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Many colonial nations continue to be in uneven relationships with the nations that formerly controlled them. This continues in interracial relations as well. Some places, like the Philippines, had the now notorious rest and recreation sex districts formed during the colonial period.

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How does U.S. interracial relationships compare with other colonies'? What are some important similarities/differences that led to the formation of these interracial relations?

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In the colonial Philippines, it was never encouraged by the US colonial government to formally marry Filipinos. Other colonial sites, like in British colonial India, white employees of the British East India company were often encouraged to marry Indian women, especially high ranking women in society. Scholars have pointed out to how this was to make connections to the local wealthy communities in order to access resources and gain a foothold for British influence in the society. This was a common way that colonizing powers gained influence and prestige through intermarriage. especially if intermarriages occurred with the ruling families, the colonizing powers would then have more ability to influence the direction of colonial rule by having the ear of influential families. In British India, the encouragement of intermarriage eventually changed as more and more British people settled in colonial India, it became more unacceptable to intermarry. At this point, British power in the colony was more secure, there was less need to incorporate colonial officials into the ruling and influential families.

To what extent has interracial relations under colonialism impacted modern day perceptions of interracial marriage?

Often, the contemporary phenomenon of "yellow fever" or the idea that some people only want to date Asian's (especially Asian women) because they are subservient etc., is not being examined from a historical perspective. It is often brushed off as individual choices made by people that hold certain stereotypes about certain ethnic groups, or worse, justified by the idea that Asian women just like white men more. However, if one looks at the history of these relationship, the idea that Asian women (Filipina women in my studies specifically) are more open to and welcoming of relations with white men was a narrative created by and sustained by white colonial rule over the Philippines. While many people did genuinely fall in love, etc, for many others who saw their nations ruled over by foreigners,  these relationships were a means to an end, a way to find some security in an occupied homeland. Currently, intimate relations between those from post colonial nations and those from "Western" nations continue to reflect this dynamic, a testament to the fact that a colonial relationship between nations cannot simply just end. Rather, colonial relationships between nations, continue in different and often less recognizable ways - economic control, cultural influence, military bases, etc.

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