Height matters The making, meanings and materialities of human stature in the Philippines

My research project looks at the making, meanings, and materialities of height in the Philippines, using a cultural history of height in the country and an ethnography among young people in the tourist city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan Island, Philippines. By "materialities", I refer to situations where height matters - from basketball games that privilege tall bodies to school programs where children's heights are measured. While the existence of a height premium has been proposed by scholars from various fields, I argue that the value of height can best be understood and properly contextualized by looking at how it figures in everyday lives of people.
Altogether my chapters show, firstly, that the meanings of height are historically contingent, and in the case of the Philippines, the American colonial period was a significant moment in the making of height as an important attribute of individuals and populations. Secondly, they show that height figures in various domains in society, from the raising of children and their socialization in schools to their pursuit of employment opportunities. As gleaned from various actors' practices, height emerges as a 'body capital' - one that is always measured in relation terms, and one whose meanings and materialities in society are inexorably linked with its biological 'making'.