Brown Skin, White Minds

Filipino Americans have a long and rich history with and within the United States, and they are currently thesecond largest Asian group in the country. However, very little is known about how their historical andcontemporary relationship with America may shape their psychological experiences. The most insidiouspsychological consequence of their historical and contemporary experiences is colonial mentality orinternalized oppression. Some common manifestations of this phenomenon are described below:•Skin-whitening products are used often by Filipinos in the Philippines to make their skins lighter. Skinwhitening clinics and businesses are popular in the Philippines as well. The 'beautiful' people such as actorsand other celebrities endorse these skin-whitening procedures. Children are told to stay away from the sun sothey do not get 'too dark.' Many Filipinos also regard anything 'imported' to be more special than anything'local' or made in the Philippines.•In the United States, many Filipino Americans make fun of 'fresh-off-the-boats' (FOBs) or those who speak English with Filipino accents. ManyFilipino Americans try to dilute their 'Filipino-ness' by saying that they are mixed with some other races. Also, many Filipino Americans regardFilipinos in the Philippines, and pretty much everything about the Philippines, to be of 'lower class' and those of the 'third world.'The historical and contemporary reasons for why Filipino -/ Americans display these attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors - often referred to as colonialmentality - are explored in Brown Skin, White Minds. This book is a peer-reviewed publication that integrates knowledge from multiple scholarly andscientific disciplines to identify the past and current catalysts for such self-denigrating attitudes and behaviors. It takes the reader from indigenous Taoculture, Spanish and American colonialism, colonial mentality or internalized oppression along with its implications on Kapwa, identity, and mentalhealth, to decolonization in the clinical, community, and research settings.This book is intended for the entire community - teachers, researchers, students, and service providers interested in or who are working with Filipinosand Filipino Americans, or those who are interested in the psychological consequences of colonialism and oppression. This book may serve as a toolfor remembering the past and as a tool for awakening to address the present.