Colonized to Canonized

Kateri Tekakwitha

Recently I read an article in the Chronicle Herald, it was a front page article on Monday, October 22 2012 titled Lily of the Mohawks, and it was about how the Vatican had canonized its first Aboriginal saint named Kateri Tekakwitha, who was a young Aboriginal woman that was born in 1656. Other articles further expand on the new canonizations stating that seven new saints were canonized in, what the articles have said is, an effort to revive Christianity in places where is it lagging. Much celebration was had in Rome and throughout the world. Some things of note from the Chronicle Herald article are that her parents died of smallpox which did not exsist in the Americas and is something that can be linked to colonialism, and that the pope spoke in both French and English to honor her “Canadian-ness.” I want to talk about how religion, in this case Christianity, is used for the continued enforcement of imperial rule and colonial advancement. One of the first things new colonist brought to north America was religion, through religion the European colonist could “normalize” the native populations. Religion was used as a tool to attempt to bring the native population under the control

Colouring inside the lines, A new ultimate Spiderman

Last year Marvel comics released a comic book titled Ultimate comics Spider-man, September 14 2011 being the exact date. The writer for this new beginning of Spiderman is Brian Michael Bendis. What makes this series run so note worthy is that they have killed off our long time friend Peter Parker. Peter had been Spiderman in the Ultimate universe, as well as in the Marvel universe (where he is still alive and is Spiderman). This opens the door for young Miles Morales to take the reigns as ultimate Spiderman, but some people were not happy with this new face of spiderman, you see Miles Morales is a half black, half Hispanic. The appearance of this new spiderman was met with a usual comic news, on the usual comics news websites, but unlike other character developments, handovers, deaths (except for superman) or births, like when Bruce Wayne died and Dick Grayson, took over as batman. I don't recall so much as a batted eyelash, or the many incarnations of the Blue Beetle, from

Halloween Costume Horrors

Halloween has just passed for another year; I got exactly zero kids trick or treating at my house, partly, I think, due to the location of my house which is nestled neatly in between giant apartment buildings, and partly because of the threat of hurricane Sandy which battered the north east coast of the US, but hardly had an impact on us here is little ol’Halifax, but I digress. Halloween is probably my favourite “holiday,” Some great songs have come about because of it,

 great costume ideas, like your favourite superhero, and sadly some horrible costume ideas. This is what I’d like to talk about, the racial stereotypes found in many Halloween costumes, the discourse that surrounds this issue, and how the ideology of racism is reinforced.

Superman, Wonder woman, and immigration

Superman, created by Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster, and first appeared in DC comics in 1938. Some may remember the Canadian Heritage moments TV spot. Superman, aka Clark Kent, aka Kal-El, is from the, now destroyed, planet Krypton, and arrived here on an intergalactic spaceship that crash landed on earth. His arrival was not reported and he lived under an assumed name.

 

Wonder Woman, created by William Moulton Marston (also creator of the polygraph, which I didn't know), and first appeared in DC comics is 1941. Wonder Woman, aka Princess Diana, aka Diana Prince, is from Paradise Island, Home of the Mythic Amazons. Wonder Woman arrived on the shores of the United States to escort home crashed air force pilot Steve Trever, but stayed under an assumed named which she purchased illegally.

Race in Comic Books

Comic books are often an overlooked medium, mostly relegated to the realm of children and children’s literature, viewed more along the lines of children’s cartoons. Comic books exist in a world of bright colours where fantastic heroes fight for justice using unimaginable supernatural powers, or technology so futuristic it can only be described as science fiction. I will be looking at an article by Marc Singer titled “’Black Skins' and White Masks: Comic Books and the Secret of Race,” that deals with how race is portrayed in comic books. What I will attempt to do is summarize the article while pin-pointing, through the authors’ critique of the works understudy, the concepts the author employs to get us to understand his concept of race and racism as social constructs and lived experience. I will then look at how the author sees race done incorrectly in comic books through the concept of colour blind racism, and how the more complex idea of split identity or double consciousness is a fuller and more correct way to represent minority characters and their experiences.  With colour blind racism, I will talk about Charles W. Mills and how his theory of colour-blind racism applies to how Singer discusses the issue in relation to race in comic books. Then I will talk about Franz Fanon and W.E.B. Du Bois, and the idea of double consciousness and how Singer has applied that idea in his discourse on how race is portrayed in comic books.