Tender violence: domestic visions in an age of U.S. imperialism

Abstract

"In Tender Violence, Wexler presents an incisive analysis of how the first cohort of American female photojournalists contributed to a "domestic vision" that helped sustain the imperialism and racism of turn-of-the-century America. These photographers, white and middle class, constructed images of war disguised as domestic peace through a mechanism Wexler calls the "averted eye," which had its origins in the private domain of family photography."

Contents

What a woman can do with a camera -- Seeing sentiment: photography, race, and the innocent eye -- Tender violence: domestic photographs, domestic fictions, and educational reform -- Black and white and color: The Hampton Album -- Käsebier's Indians -- The domestic unconscious -- The missing link.