Yes, We Khan
Diversity and De-Monsterization of Muslim Identities in ‘Ms. Marvel’ (2014–)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7557/13.5005Keywords:
comic books, superheroes, identity, monsters, Muslim-Americans, de-monsterizationAbstract
In 2014, Marvel comics introduced a new character to take over the mantle of the superhero identity Ms. Marvel. The new heroine is Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old girl born and raised in New Jersey. Khan is Marvel’s first Pakistani-American, Muslim superhero to headline her own comic book; as such, she represents a move towards diversification in a historically conservative, white and masculine genre. In addition, Kamala Khan comes into existence in a political and social context where the 9/11 attacks, the ‘War on Terror’, and Islamophobia continue to reverberate. This article explores how the Ms. Marvel comic functions as a critique of the ways in which social norms, stereotypes and prejudices have monsterized multicultural, Muslim identities, especially in the years following 9/11. Conducting analyses of Khan’s conflicted relationship to her own identities and issues concerning visibility and concealment, I explore how these negative framings affect her self-perception, and in turn her self-representation. Lastly, I aim to illustrate the ways in which the comic challenges monolithic and monstrous representations of Islam through its depiction of diverse, multicultural, Muslim identities.
References
Ahmed, Saifuddin, and Jörg Matthes. 2017. “Media Representation of Muslims and Islam from 2000 to 2015: A Meta-Analysis”, The International Communication Gazette 79:3, 219–244. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048516656305.
Astonishingblow [pseudonym]. 2017. “Ten Most Ridiculous Broken Back Superheroine Poses”, Imgur, March 24. Available online: https://imgur.com/a/1snFc [February 16, 2019].
Bahlmann, Andrew R. 2016. The Mythology of the Superhero. Jefferson: McFarland & Company.
Bridge Initiative Team (author unknown). 2018. “When Islamophobia Turns Violent: The 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections”, Bridge—A Georgetown University Initiative, November 29. Available online: https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/when-islamophobia-turns-violent-the-2016-u-s-presidential-elections/ [February 27, 2019].
Chute, Hillary. 2008. “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis”, Women’s Studies Quarterly 36:1–2, 92–110. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.0.0023.
Chute, Hillary. 2010. Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. 1996. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”, in Monster Theory: Reading Culture, edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 3–25. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctttsq4d.4.
Curtis, Neal, and Valentina Cardo. 2018. “Superheroes and Third-Wave Feminism”, Feminist Media Studies 18:3, 381–396. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2017.1351387.
DeConnick, Kelly Sue (writer), Emma Ríos, and Dexter Soy (artists). 2012. Earth’s Mightiest Hero Captain Marvel: In Pursuit of Flight. Volume 1. New York: Marvel.
Donovan, Caitlin. 2015. “Five Insane Things Comic Books Believe Women’s Bodies Can Do”, Cracked, February 14. Available online: http://www.cracked.com/article_22120_5-insane-things-comic-books-believe-womens-bodies-can-do.html [February 16, 2019].
Duncan, Randy, and Matthew J. Smith. 2009. The Power of Comics: History, Form & Culture. New York: Continuum.
Eisner, Will. 1985. Comics and Sequential Art. Tamarac: Poorhouse Press.
Ewert, Jeanne C. 2000. “Reading Visual Narrative: Art Spiegelman’s Maus”, Narrative 8:1, 87–103. Digital object identifier not available: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20107202 [October 31, 2019].
Harvey, Robert C. 1994. The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Harvey, Robert C. 1996 [1994]. The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History. Reprint edition. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Hatfield, Charles, Jeet Heer, and Kent Worcester (eds.). 2013. The Superhero Reader. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781617038068.001.0001.
Kruger, Liam. 2015. “Panels and Faces: Segmented Metaphors and Reconstituted Time in Art Spiegelman’s Maus”, Critical Arts 29:3, 357–366. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2015.1059550.
Lee, Stan, Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake, Gary Friedrich, Archie Goodwin, Don Heck (writers), Gene Colan, and Dick Ayers (artists). 2008. Essential Captain Marvel. Volume 1. New York: Marvel.
Lendrum, Rob. 2005. “The Super Black Macho, One Baaad Mutha: Black Superhero Masculinity in 1970s Mainstream Comic Books”, Extrapolation 46:3, 360–372. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.3828/extr.2005.46.3.8.
Lichtblau, Eric. 2016. “Hate Crimes Against American Muslims Most Since Post-9/11 Era”, The New York Times, September 17. Available online: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/us/politics/hate-crimes-american-muslims-rise.html [February 21, 2019].
Macdonald, Myra. 2006. “Muslim Women and the Veil”, Feminist Media Studies 6:1, 7–23. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680770500471004.
Malek, Amy. 2006. “Memoir as Iranian Exile Cultural Production: A Case Study of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis Series”, Iranian Studies 39:3, 353–380. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1080/00210860600808201.
McCloud, Scott. 1993. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Perennial.
Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin. 2011. Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation after 9/11. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061149.
Reed, Brian (writer), Roberto Delatorre, and Frank Cho (artists). 2006. Ms. Marvel #5. New York: Marvel. Front cover [as mentioned in the footnote] available online: https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/4443/ms_marvel_2006_5 [February 24, 2019].
Regalado, Aldo J. 2015. Bending Steel: Modernity and the American Superhero. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781628462210.001.0001.
Renegar, Valerie R., and Stacey K. Sowards. 2009. “Contradiction as Agency: Self-Determination, Transcendence, and Counter-Imagination in Third-Wave Feminism”, Hypatia 24:2, 1–20. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01029.x.
Reynolds, Richard. 1992. Superheroes: A Modern Mythology. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Robbins, Trina. 1996. The Great Women Superheroes. Northampton: Kitchen Sink Press.
Robinson, Lillian S. 2004. Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes. London/New York: Routledge. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203642016.
Scott, Cord. 2007. “Written in Red, White, and Blue: A Comparison of Comic Book Propaganda from World War II and September 11”, The Journal of Popular Culture 40:2, 325–343. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00381.x.
Simone, Gail. 1999–. Women in Refrigerators. Website. Available online: http://www.lby3.com/wir/index.html [July 8, 2018].
Shams, Tahseen. 2018. “Visibility as Resistance by Muslim Americans in a Surveillance and Security Atmosphere”, Sociological Forum 33:1, 73–94. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12401.
Skal, David J. 2001 [1993]. The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. Revised edition. New York: Faber and Faber.
Steinem, Gloria. 2013. “Wonder Woman”, in The Superhero Reader, edited by Charles Hatfield, Jeet Heer, and Kent Worcester. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 203–210. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781617038068.003.0017.
Steuter, Erin, and Deborah Wills. 2010. “‘The Vermin Have Struck Again’: Dehumanizing the Enemy in Post-9/11 Media Representations”, Media, War & Conflict 3:2, 152–167. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635210360082.
Strömberg, Fredrik. 2011. “‘Yo, Rag-Head!’: Arab and Muslim Superheroes in American Comic Books after 9/11”, Amerikastudien/American Studies 56:4, 573–601. Digital object identifier not available: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23509430 [October 31, 2019].
Warhol, Robyn. 2011. “The Space Between: A Narrative Approach to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home”, College Literature 38:3, 1–20. Digital object identifier: https://doi.org/10.1353/lit.2011.0025.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), and Adrian Alphona (artist). 2014. Ms. Marvel: No Normal. Volume 1. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), and Adrian Alphona (artist). 2015. Ms. Marvel: Last Days. Volume 4. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), Adrian Alphona, and Jacob Wyatt (artists). 2015. Ms. Marvel: Generation Why. Volume 2. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), Elmo Bondoc, and Takeshi Miyazawa (artists). 2015. Ms. Marvel: Crushed. Volume 3. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), Marco Failla, Diego Olortegui, and Ian Herring (artists). 2017. Ms. Marvel: Mecca. Volume 8. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), and Takeshi Miyazawa (artist). 2016. Ms. Marvel: Civil War II. Volume 6. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), and Takeshi Miyazawa (artist). 2017. Ms. Marvel: Damage Per Second. Volume 7. New York: Marvel.
Wilson, G. Willow (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa, Adrian Alphona, and Nico Leon (artists). 2016. Ms. Marvel: Super Famous. Volume 5. New York: Marvel.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
How to Cite
