Comics, Activism, Feminism


Book Description

"Comics, Activism, Feminisms explores how comic art, activism, and feminisms are intertwined from both historical and contemporary perspectives and how comic art in itself can be a form of activism. Feminist comic art emerged with the second-wave feminist movements; today, in the 2020s, there are comics connected to social activist movements working for change in a variety of areas. Comics artists often react quickly to political events and make comics on topical issues, assuming a critical or satirical stance and highlighting the need for change. Comic art can point to problems, present alternatives, and give hope. Issues pertaining to feminisms and LGBTQIA+ issues, war and political conflict, climate crisis, the global migrant and refugee situation, and other societal problems engage comics artists from all parts of the world. The chapters illuminate aesthetic and thematic aspects of comics, activism, and feminisms globally. The founding of comics collectives, where Do-it-Ourselves is a strategy among activism-oriented artists, shows the use of a great variety of media such as fanzines, albums, webcomics, and exhibitions to communicate and disseminate activist comic art. Comics, Activism, Feminisms is an essential collection for scholars and students of comics, literary, art, and media studies, and gender studies"--




Comics, Activism, Feminisms


Book Description

Comics, Activism, Feminisms explores from both historical and contemporary perspectives how comic art, activism, and feminisms are intertwined, and how comic art itself can be a form of activism. Feminist comic art emerged with the second-wave feminist movements. Today, there are comics connected to social activist movements working for change in a variety of areas. Comics artists often respond quickly to political events, making comics on topical issues that take a critical or satirical stance and highlighting the need for change. Comic art can point to problems, present alternatives, and give hope. Comics artists from all parts of the world engage issues pertaining to feminisms and LGBTQIA+ issues, war and political conflict, climate crisis, the global migrant and refugee situation, and other societal problems. The chapters of this anthology illuminate the aesthetic and thematic aspects of comics, activism, and feminisms globally. Particular attention is given to the work of comics collectives, where Do-it-Ourselves is a strategy among activism-oriented artists, which use a great variety of media, such as fanzines, albums, webcomics, and exhibitions to communicate and disseminate activist comic art. Comics, Activism, Feminisms is an essential anthology for scholars and students of comics studies, literary studies, art history, media studies, and gender studies.




Movements & Moments


Book Description

In 1930s Bolivia, self-described Anarchist Cholas form a libertarian trade union. In the Northern Highlands of Vietnam, the songs of one girl’s youth lead her to a life of activism. In the Philippines, female elders from Kalinga blaze a trail when pushed into an impromptu protest. Equally striking accounts from, Chile, Ecuador, India, Nepal, and Peru weave a tapestry of trauma and triumph, shedding light on not-too-distant histories otherwise overlooked. Indigenous Peoples all over the world have always had to stand their ground in the face of colonialism. While the details may differ, what these stories have in common is their commitment to resistance in a world that puts profit before respect, and western notions of progress before their own. Movements & Moments is an introductory glimpse into how Indigenous Peoples tell these stories in their own words. From Southeast Asia to South America, vibrant communities must grapple with colonial realities to assert ownership over their lands and traditions. This project was undertaken in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Indonesien in Jakarta. These stories were selected from an open call across forty-two countries to spotlight feminist movements and advocacies in the Global South.




Latin American Comics in the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

How twenty-first-century Latin American comics transgress social, political, and cultural frontiers. Given comics’ ability to cross borders, Latin American creators have used the form to transgress the political, social, spatial, and cultural borders that shape the region. A groundbreaking and comprehensive study of twenty-first-century Latin American comics, Latin American Comics in the Twenty-First Century documents how these works move beyond national boundaries and explores new aspects of the form, its subjects, and its creators. Latin American comics production is arguably more interconnected and more networked across national borders than ever before. Analyzing works from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay, James Scorer organizes his study around forms of “transgression,” such as transnationalism, border crossings, transfeminisms, punk bodies, and encounters in the neoliberal city. Scorer examines the feminist comics collective Chicks on Comics; the DIY comics zine world; nonfiction and journalistic comics; contagion and zombie narratives; and more. Drawing from archives across the United States, Europe, and Latin America, Latin American Comics in the Twenty-First Century posits that these comics produce micronarratives of everyday life that speak to sites of social struggle shared across nation states.




The Routledge Companion to Gender, Sex and Latin American Culture


Book Description

The Routledge Companion to Gender, Sex and Latin American Culture is the first comprehensive volume to explore the intersections between gender, sexuality, and the creation, consumption, and interpretation of popular culture in the Américas. The chapters seek to enrich our understanding of the role of pop culture in the everyday lives of its creators and consumers, primarily in the 20th and 21st centuries. They reveal how popular culture expresses the historical, social, cultural, and political commonalities that have shaped the lives of peoples that make up the Américas, and also highlight how pop culture can conform to and solidify existing social hierarchies, whilst on other occasions contest and resist the status quo. Front and center in this collection are issues of gender and sexuality, making visible the ways in which subjects who inhabit intersectional identities (sex, gender, race, class) are "othered", as well as demonstrating how these same subjects can, and do, use pop-cultural phenomena in self-affirmative and progressively transformative ways. Topics covered in this volume include TV, film, pop and performance art, hip-hop, dance, slam poetry, gender-fluid religious ritual, theater, stand-up comedy, graffiti, videogames, photography, graphic arts, sports spectacles, comic books, sci-fi and other genre novels, lotería card games, news, web, and digital media.




Comic Art and Feminism in the Baltic Sea Region


Book Description

This edited collection explores how the relationship between comic art and feminism has been shaped by global, transnational, and local trends, curating analyses of multinational comic art that encompass themes of gender, sexuality, power, vulnerability, assault, abuse, taboo, and trauma. The chapters illuminate in turn the defining features of the aesthetics, materiality, and thematic content of their source material – often expressed with humorous undertones of self-reflection or social criticism – as well as recurring strategies of visualising and narrating female experiences. Broadening the research perspective of feminist comics to include national comics cultures peripheral to the cultural centers of Anglo-American, Franco-Belgian, and Japanese comics, the anthology explores how the dominant narrative or history of canonical works can be challenged or deconstructed by local histories of comics and feminism and their transnational connections, and how local histories complement or challenge the current understanding of the relationship between feminism and comic art. This is an essential collection for scholars and students in comics studies, women and gender studies, media studies, and literature.







Can We All Be Feminists?


Book Description

“As timely as it is well-written, this clear-eyed collection is just what I need right now.” —Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming “The intersectional feminist anthology we all need to read” (Bustle), edited by a feminist activist and writer who “calls to mind a young Audre Lorde” (Kirkus) Why do some women struggle to identify as feminists, despite their commitment to gender equality? How do other aspects of our identities – such as race, religion, sexuality, gender identity, and more – impact how we relate to feminism? Why is intersectionality so important? In challenging, incisive, and fearless essays – all of which appear here for the first time – seventeen writers from diverse backgrounds wrestle with these questions, and more. A groundbreaking book that elevates underrepresented voices, Can We All Be Feminists? offers the tools and perspective we need to create a 21st century feminism that is truly for all. Including essays by: Soofiya Andry, Gabrielle Bellot, Caitlin Cruz, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Brit Bennett, Evette Dionne, Aisha Gani, Afua Hirsch, Juliet Jacques, Wei Ming Kam, Mariya Karimjee, Eishar Kaur, Emer O’Toole, Frances Ryan, Zoé Samudzi, Charlotte Shane, and Selina Thompson







Gender and the Superhero Narrative


Book Description

Contributions by Dorian L. Alexander, Janine Coleman, Gabriel Gianola, Mel Gibson, Michael Goodrum, Tim Hanley, Vanessa Hemovich, Christina Knopf, Christopher McGunnigle, Samira Nadkarni, Ryan North, Lisa Perdigao, Tara Prescott-Johnson, Philip Smith, and Maite Ucaregui The explosive popularity of San Diego’s Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests. Yet just as these areas have become more openly inclusive to an audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an intense backlash, most famously in 2015’s Gamergate controversy, when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers, and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic shifts—both in the creation of superhero media and in their critical and reader reception—need reassessment not only of the role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives of masculinity. Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman: Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change.