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"Introducing America to Americans": FSA Photography and The

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“INTRODUCING AMERICA TO AMERICANS”: FSA PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF RACIALIZED AND GENDERED CITIZENS Lisa Helene Kaplan A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2015 Committee: Susana Peña, Advisor Danielle Kuhl Graduate Faculty Representative Andrew Hershberger Lynn Whitney © 2015 Lisa Helene Kaplan All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Susana Peña, Advisor Historians and artists have examined the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) Photographic Collection as a broad and deep account of Depression era US experience, and as a valuable collection of early documentary photography. During the Depression, FSA photographs had everyday life implications for those experiencing rural poverty; the images were made and circulated in order to garner support for rural rehabilitation programs. Simultaneously, the images were circulated as visual representations of “Americans” and the rural US citizen. Problematically, the images were circulated within a modern framework of straight photography in connection to a discourse of objectivity. I consider the photographic project within the historical moment in which it was created with a specific focus on the influence of dominant constructions of race, motherhood, and poverty. The impetus for this research stems from a 1935 photograph by Dorothea Lange of a Mexican-American mother and child which is strikingly similar to her iconic 1936 “Migrant Mother.” In stark contrast to the icon, the image to which I refer as the “1935 Migrant Mother” was rendered invisible within the national imaginary. These two images serve as an entry point through which to consider the entire archive in terms of those images of rural mothers and motherhood that were popularly circulated and those images that were left unseen, unprinted, or unmade. I ask how popular readings of FSA photographs as objective or “true” impacted the material which circulated and that which were excluded from the dominant frame. Using written materials between the photographic unit director, field photographers, and media in conjunction with analysis of circulated photographs of mothers, I argue that the FSA photographs served as popular representations of those who could be imagined as possibly iv “deserving poor,” “client family,” “rehabilitatable mother,” and “US citizen.” The representation of these categories included, almost exclusively, white-appearing subjects. Using FSA photographs of mothers which were not circulated and contain subjects identified as “Mexican,” I analyze images of Mexican mothers in relation to dominant racial constructions and trends in the circulated FSA photographs. I argue that representations of Mexican mothers reflected and reinforced the gendered racialization of Mexicans in the US at the time. The analysis of representations of Mexican mothers unveils a history of marginalization and exclusion through the lack of existing images, the lack of varied representation, and the lack of circulation. I conclude by discussing the significance of the way FSA photographs inform the contemporary national imaginary of who is possibly a citizen. My research is historical, but carries implications for contemporary photographic production, consumption, and archival interpretation. By complicating such a well-known archive, it becomes possible to imagine new ways of seeing through a conscious, critical lens. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the members of my dissertation committee. Special thanks to my advisor Susana Peña for your guidance and support. I could not have asked for a more committed, challenging, and thoughtful mentor. To Lynn Whitney for your enthusiasm for the project and for modeling a way of reading photographs to which I continue to aspire. To Andrew Hershberger for the courses I took with you and feedback about my research. To Danielle Kuhl for your thorough and awesome edits on the final draft. My research at the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division was made possible through the kindness of friends and strangers. I am especially indebted to Beverly Brannan, Curator of Photography, and the wonderful staff including Jeff Bridgers, Jon Eaker, and Kristi Finefield who helped to introduce me to the FSA-OWI Collection. To Johni Amos for finding me lovely hosts and drawing me a detailed map of DC. To Tracy, Ben, and Lulu Hardaway, you welcomed me into your home and made my research possible. I am very privileged to have had the help and encouragement of many excellent people during my graduate education and with this work especially. In particular, I’d like to thank: Amberlyn Britt, Kate Schaab, Mallory Jagodzinski, Mallory Mann, Heather Sloane, Luis Moreno, Radhika Gajjala, Vibha Bhalla, and Ellen Berry. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the many friends and family that have supported me before and during the process of writing this dissertation. I extend endless thanks for the years of patience, love, and support. Finally, to my unflinchingly supportive husband Nick. You wore many hats during this process and did so expertly. There will never be words to thank you enough. Te amo. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................ 5 Review of Literature .................................................................................................. 10 Theoretical Frameworks ............................................................................................ 18 Method ....................................................................................................................... 21 Position ...................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter Summaries .................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 2. TOWARDS A VIEW FROM SOMEWHERE: THE DISCOURSE OF OBJECTIVITY IN PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION .................................................................. 31 FSA Photographs as Objective Documents ............................................................... 32 Creating the File: Why Photographs? ........................................................................ 40 All Is Situated: Beyond the Image ............................................................................. 47 Deconstructing/Problematizing “The View from Nowhere” ..................................... 57 God’s Eye View: Closures upon Meaning Making ................................................... 61 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 66 CHAPTER 3. WITHIN THE FRAME: CONSTRUCTING FSA CLIENTS ....................... 70 Visual Depictions of Nationalist Imaginaries ............................................................ 73 “Toward Farm Security”: FSA Rehabilitation of Good Mothers .............................. 80 This is America: Compelling Evidence ..................................................................... 89 Popularly Circulated: Representative, Typical, Good Clients ................................... 97 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 111 vii CHAPTER 4. BEYOND THE FRAME: ERASING THE RACIALIZED OTHER............. 115 Historical Context: Racialization of Mexicans in the US .......................................... 116 FSA Client Criteria: Deserving Poor and Contingent Whiteness .............................. 126 Agents in Modernizing: The Role of Good Mothers ................................................. 130 The Invisible Collection: FSA Images of Mexicans in the United States ................. 134 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 155 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION: SO THE FSA MADE A FARMER .................................... 158 Contemporary Implications: “So God Made a Farmer” ............................................ 161 Gendered Labor: The Family Table Revisited........................................................... 164 Lasting Impact: Public Fictions ................................................................................. 166 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 169 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1 Mexican mother in California. “Sometimes I tell my children that I would like to go to Mexico, but they tell me ‘We don’t want to go, we belong here.’” (Note on Mexican labor situation in repatriation.), by Dorothea Lange, 1935. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa-8b26837 ............................................................ 3 1.2 Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty- two. Nipomo, California, by Dorothea Lange, 1936. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa- 8b29516 ..................................................................................................................... 3 3.1 Two adjoining pages. Joseph Gaer, Toward Farm Security: The Problem of Rural
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