Photography and the Japanese American Incarceration
Art, throughout human history and civilization, has been the primary method of passing down information through generations. From Da Vinci’s paintings to folklore songs from the native Indian tribes of America, we can relieve the lives and experiences of those before us. In the modern age, photography has taken the mantle of being the main relay of past experiences affecting close to resembling turning back time (Cadava, Eduardo, pg. 23,2018. Photographers in history covered vast events and happenings around the world, most specifically, in this case, the world wars. These events saw countless losses in the form of lives, wealth, and homes, not to mention racial and nationalistic segregation.
Jasmine Alinder, through her book Photography and the Japanese American Incarceration, offers an in-depth analysis of photography during the period. My understanding of the book gives me an insight as to how photography was principal in representing the events in the camps. The banning and prohibition of detainees to own or have cameras violated Japanese Americans’ very rights to freedom and expression. The book goes on to depict the results of war and how they affect innocents (Saavedra, Martin Hugo, pg. 65, 2018). During the period, the camera acted more like a visual gatekeeper tasked with determining those fit be part of the Body politic and those to get casted out (Jasmine Alinder, pg. 2, 2009). The statement mentioned above directly describes the injustice most of Japanese Americans faced as a result of nothing more than their native origins. The author argues that the government, among other things, enacted unfair laws to those incarcerated, and the actions were war motivated and brutal.
The chapter of the book mainly covers aspects or accounts from the Japanese American photographers within the camps. Their accounts vary based on the perspectives they had during their incarceration. A chapter is bound to be dedicated to the events that happened before and during the incarceration process. The cause and effect of ideology will come into play as the author will take us through the events that led to the incarnation of Japanese Americans. Another chapter will showcase art and photographs that depict Japanese American incarceration and their locations, probably in museums. Most of the sections will entail an analysis of the works from resilient Japanese Americans that made it their mission to tell stories through their pictures to the world despite the restrictions or challenges they faced (Nagata et al., pg. 36,2019).
In my opinion, the title of the book is a clear giveaway to what the book is entirely about. Early engagement with the books provides us with the ability to decipher the message from the author, call it having a glimpse into the larger message she is projecting. In my opinion, the author has surmised most of her arguments into the chapters, with each giving an in-depth feel and understanding. I suspect that race and ethnicity played a significant role in the incarceration of Japanese Americans primarily because it is easier to discriminate against foreigners as compared to nationals (Madison, Kenneth, pg. 78-98, 2019).
History has proven that a lot of the world’s harshest of treatments resulted from a deep underlying dislike for people of different racial and ethnical backgrounds. The majority always have a claim to be superior to the minority, giving them a biased justification to most of the injustice they commit with the argument of ensuring the survival and prosperity of “their” kind. It was easy to incarcerate Japanese Americans because it was easy to link them to terrorism after the bombing of the pearl harbor, and most unsuspecting or ignorant Americans could be gullible enough to support it (Fitzgerald, Stephanie, pg. 45, 2017). The current political climate is employing the same form of reasoning to Muslims and Africans, citing them as security risks. These racial and ethnical forms of segregation play a significant role in travels and services offered to people of the decent mentioned above, mostly.