The purpose of this essay is to elucidate the networks in which non-Christian bodies moved through empire, from the Mountain Province, to Manila, into the imperial metropoles, and back home. It explores cultural performance as a form of labor and prestige, and the role of these networks of labor and exploitation in the production of Igorot images. Furthermore, it considers the tensions and ambiguities in these representations within the various sites of the American empire and the Philippine archipelago which resulted in the specific need for an additional clause in the 1913 Anti-Slavery Act that prohibited Igorot cultural performances.

Keywords: Cordilleran history, American empire, World’s Fairs, Igorot cultural shows