Photography and Race

In Sight of America: Photography and the Development of U.S. Immigration Policy by Anna Pegler-Gordon

I wanted to draw out some thought-provoking quotes from this book. I just relied on this book and Photography on the Color Line: W.E.B. DuBois, Race, and Visual Culture to write a lecture on visual culture, immigration, and race science.

“Not only was Chinese exclusion central to the development of general immigration policy, it was the foundation of visual immigration policy.  The immigration Bureau used the early photographic identification of the Chinese as a model for their expansion of photographic identification of the Chinese as a model for their expansion of photographic documentation to other immigrant groups and, by the 1920s, all immigrants.  At the same time, however, the Chinese experience remained distinct; they were more strictly regulated than any other group and resisted their photographic regulation both forcefully and effectively.” (p. 9)

“This study focuses on the ways that immigration photography produced race not only by representing it visually but also by regulating which immigrant groups would require representation. In immigration photography, racial hierarchies and the differential privilege of vision operated together to ensure that some immigrants (in particular, the Chinese) were marked and others (especially Europeans) remained unmarked. Chinese immigrants were photographed because they were viewed as different, but they were also viewed as different because they were photographed.” (p. 10) 

 “Chinese honorific identity portraits were both a conscious counter-representation to popular stereotypes and a succinct visual argument in support of their application to enter the United States.  By presenting themselves as conventionally respectable, Chinese immigrants opposed exclusion through seeking acceptance” (p. 48).

These ideas juxtapose well with the ideas in Photography on the color line regarding the work on race science and then the response of the “othered” using the medium of photography to talk back to the racism.

References

Pegler-Gordon, A. (2009). In sight of America: Photography and the development of U.S. Immigration         policy.  Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Smith, S. M. (2004). Photography on the color line: W.E.B. DuBois, race, and visual culture. Durham &         London: Duke University Press.

Into the Beautiful North

L. A. Urrea (2009) wrote a descriptive novel with so many quirky characters that is instructive to a person still learning about immigration issues pertinent to the U.S. and Mexico.  His work begins in an empty town called Tres Camarones in Mexico where people left behind have interesting lives, but feel the impact of people gone missing to the North (U.S.) in search of work. For example, some of the characters in the book cannot remember the last time someone they knew was pregnant. Community members hatch a plan to go North to bring seven men back.  The book turns into a road trip of sorts by bus, by foot, and then by car as Nayeli (a young woman in search of her father) and Tacho (a gay café owner who accompanies the traveling group) head to Illinois to a sanctuary city. In between the book is a critique of the U.S. through the eyes of nearby neighbors from various class backgrounds.  The book emphasizes the idea that networks back in Mexico, on the border for crossing and survival in the U.S. (that include people from various backgrounds) play vital roles. A memorable line of conversation in the book communicates much, “It’s the USA…They do whatever they want” (p. 288).

Urrea, L. A. (2009). Into the beautiful North. NY: Little, Brown, and Company.

"Trauma, Culture, and Myth: Narratives of the Ethiopian Jewish Exodus" by Gadi BenEzer

BenEzer (2007) in a chapter from the anthology, Understanding Trauma: Integrating Biological, Clinical, and Cultural Perspectives thoughtfully presented a case for the importance of migration stories in trauma studies. "Powerful processes occur on such journeys that affect the individual and community in life-changing ways and shape their initial encounter with, and adaptation to, their new society"  (BenEzer, 2007, p. 382). The focus on migration and trauma can be applied to Indigenous experiences around the U.S. as well.  For example, two pertinent novels  examine Cherokee forced removal in the Pushing the Bear series by Diane Glancy.  Sources on the expulsion of Dakota communities from Minnesota would have to be part of this.  Migration rips away all that is familiar and all the resources and can sever relationships that once helped a community or a person flourish.

BenEzer, G. (2007). Trauma, culture, and myth: Narratives of the Ethiopian Jewish Exodus.  In L. J. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson & M. Barad (Eds.), Understanding trauma: Integrating biological, clinical, and cultural perspectives (pp. 382-402). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

"Posttraumatic Politics" by L. Dwyer & D. Santikarma

This quote  from a chapter titled, "Posttraumatic Politics: Violence, memory, and biomedical discourse in Bali" really transforms my approach to thinking about atrocity. Dwyer & Santikarma wrote,

[T]rauma is most productively understood not as a universal human response to certain inherently traumatizing events unassimilable by the human psyche, but rather as a socially positioned process. Trauma, in this view, includes, first, identifying what constitutes experience that cannot or should not be integrated into everyday life; second, engaging in culturally mediated responses that may range from withdrawal to resistance, from alienation to solidarity, and from disruption to the creation of new forms of emotion and interaction; and third--depending on the cultures of treatment present in a given setting--formulating means of attempting to alleviate distress. (p. 405)

Later in the piece, the authors explain how a few activist groups in Bali were internally divided about whether to address PTSD as part of their mission. "'What we need to know to make our decision,' one young man explained, 'is what's political about PTSD?"

This question really is important to think about.

Reference

Dwyer, L., & Santikarma, D. (2007). Postraumatic politics: Violence, memory, and biomedical discourse in Bali.  In L. J. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson, & M. Barad. Understanding trauma: Integrating biological, clinical, and cultural perspectives (p. 403-432). NY: Cambridge University Press.

Interesting Article on Human Rights Activist Who Evaded His Imprisonment

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/world/asia/chen-guangcheng-blind-lawyer-escapes-house-arrest-china.html?hp

Further postings on intergenerational historical trauma....to get ready for a fall class on Trauma and Traumascapes.