Graphic Novels as means to understand Race Relations

Questions of race are central to Mat Johnson’s graphic novel, Incognegro.  At Parsons, Johnson’s lecture explored the evolution of the comic book in relation to race and  cultural history.  The novel explores Black/White relations and lynchings in the South.  The use of comics, illustrated by Warren Pleece, allows the story to be presented in both theatrically and literally.  Johnson continually stresses the mixed race experience as it links it to his own personal life as a light-skinned Black male.

Cornel West – whose support for Incognegro appears on the book’s cover –  is a prominent intellectual figure known for championing the cause of racial justice.  His books address topics such as race, religion, family and democracy.  He graduated from Harvard and currently teaches at Princeton.

From the 1950s to the 1970s numerous movements shattered the ascribed cultural homogeneity in the United States and as a result, three changes took place: the shun of postmodern thinking, the revisioning of American history, and the development of a new popular culture. These change advocated democracy, diversity, multiplicity, and heterogeneity to stress the expansion of freedom. In his article, The New Cultural Politics of Difference, West reviews these changes in light of the Black artistic and intellectual community through focusing on what he identifies as a new cultural worker.  According to West, the cultural worker faces three main challenges: intellectual, existential, and political.

The Black community has faced continuous oppression and stereotyping from other groups.  As a result, the community holds identity specific values that were derived of, but also challenged normal European standards.  Through  shared experiences framed by language and music, they rejected oppression and found strength within their communities.

The New Cultural Politics of Difference provides a discussion of four responses common to oppression. However, ultimately West encourages only one, which depends on culture specific involvement in mainstream ideas and experiences.  This revision of modernity promotes “prospective and prophetic vision with a sense of possibility and potential,” stressing that the new cultural worker must address “politics of representation” to discuss diversity.

If you are interested in the mixed race experience or topics of otherness I suggest reading Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.  There is also a collection of primary sources written by Ida B. Wells about the lynchings in the South (On lynchings: Southern horrors, A red record, Mob rule in New Orleans), which closely relates to both Johnson’s novel and his lecture.

 

RyanMassey