“From the composite image of deviant types to the photographic of colonial subject, photographs have long been deployed to establish categories and hierarchies that justify structures of power” (Alinder, 2). This is true in all of the photographs of children used in this argument. However, Alinder does not focus on children in her essay on photographs from Japanese internment. Many of her arguments are applicable to the photographs with child subjects, but there has not been a lot of research into just children. It would be interesting to look at pictures with more specific dates to see if they change with shifts in government policy. Also, while I chose to focus solely on Tule Lake, there has to be research done on the difference of photography of children from different internment camps. It is also important to remember that adults were staging, photographing, and writing about the children. Their definition of childhood will be different than that of the children who lived through internment. It is noteworthy to remember Michael Wyness’s view on the social meaning of childhood in that “[t]he deconstruction of childhood leads to claims being made about how powerful adults ideas lock children into behaving in particular ways at particular times” ( 22). In this context it would be interesting to see how the adult idea and fear of Japanese Americans altered the behavior of children in the camp and after they were released. These accounts from children can be used against those from adults of the camp. The study of pictures has to matter and continue because it captures nuances that people may still be afraid to talk about openly.
Works cited:
Alinder, Jasmine. “Introduction.” Introduction. Moving Images: Photography and the
Japanese American Incarceration. Urbana: U of Illinois, 2009. N. pag. Print.
Inada, Lawson Fusao. “Appendix B: Chronology.” Afterword. Only What We Could
Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience. Berkeley, CA: Heyday,
2000. 412-21. Print.
Wyness, Michael G. "The Social Meaning of Childhood." Childhood and Society: An
Introduction to the Sociology of Childhood. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
2006. 7-26. Print.
Alinder, Jasmine. “Introduction.” Introduction. Moving Images: Photography and the
Japanese American Incarceration. Urbana: U of Illinois, 2009. N. pag. Print.
Inada, Lawson Fusao. “Appendix B: Chronology.” Afterword. Only What We Could
Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience. Berkeley, CA: Heyday,
2000. 412-21. Print.
Wyness, Michael G. "The Social Meaning of Childhood." Childhood and Society: An
Introduction to the Sociology of Childhood. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
2006. 7-26. Print.