Tag Archives: hinduism

online

The Atlantic Questions Amar Chitra Katha

Logo for ACKA search of its archives results in this compelling December 2017 article from The Atlantic on the  potential influence of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK)  on cultural intolerance:

[…S]ince its debut in 1967, ACK has also helped supply impressionable generations of middle-class children a vision of “immortal” Indian identity wedded to prejudiced norms. ACK’s writing and illustrative team led by [Anant] Pai as the primary “storyteller”) constructed a legendary past for India by tying masculinity, Hinduism, fair skin, and high caste to authority, excellence, and virtue. On top of that, his comics often erased non-Hindu subjects from India’s historic and religious fabric. Consequently, ACK reinforced many of the most problematic tenets of Hindu nationalism—tenets that partially drive the platform of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, currently under fire domestically and internationally for policies and rhetoric targeting religious minorities and lower castes.

Atlantic contributor Shaan Amin also notes the normative beauty standards that ACK tacitly endorses along with class distinctions.

Yet, concludes Amin, the curative here might be as parents discussing the comics with their children and questioning these issues: rather than modify or condemn ACK, a push for early critical reading and inquiry may be the best solution…as could be the case with so many products of popular culture and/or religion.

academic, controversy, from the Internet

UPDATE: Two Universities Vie for Largest Collection of Indian Comics in U.S.

Illinois vs. MichiganLast October, Sacred and Sequential reported that the the largest collection of Indian comics in the U.S. resides at the University of Illinois under the care of curator Mara Thacker. In December, however, we received the following e-mail from Professor Siddharth Chandra, excerpted below:

Subject: Largest collection of Indian comics in a US library
Message Body:
Dear Mr. David,

A small correction to your article titled “THE U.S.’S LARGEST INDIAN COMICS COLLECTION IN IS IN ILLINOIS.” ‘Illinois’ should read ‘Michigan.’ For more information, please see https://magic.msu.edu/search~S39?/dIndian+comic+books%2C+strips%2C+etc./dindian+comic+books+strips+etc/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CB/exact&FF=dindian+comic+books+strips+etc&1%2C1763%2C .

This link leads to a partial listing of Indian comics in Michigan State University’s comic arts collection. There are hundreds of additional volumes in the process of being cataloged.

Kind regards,
Siddharth Chandra

After following the link and reading its contents, I caught the gist of his message and responded:

Actually, you’re saying that the premise of the article is incorrect — that the largest one ISN’T in Illinois, as stated by the article, but at MSU?

And his reply was polite and clear (as were his bona fides):

Yes, I believe so.

Siddharth Chandra
Director, Asian Studies Center
Professor of Economics, James Madison College and
Professor (by courtesy), Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Michigan State University

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cultural

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know on Black Panther and Religion

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Black Panther rules the box office worldwide and is a cultural phenomenon. As such, it’s being viewed from every possible angle and through every available lens. And, to paraphrase Ian Malcolm, the thinkpiecers were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

So, without comment, here is a short sampling of the various ways Black Panther, with its roots in comics, is being applied to the subject of religion, of religious intolerance, censorship, and interfaith relations. Your mileage may vary.

We’ve loosely grouped them below as “Black Panther and…”

…Religion in General

What The Movie ‘Black Panther’ Teaches Us About Religion

‘Where Is Your God Now?’ 3 Religious Objects of Worship in ‘Black Panther’

http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/23/black-panther-is-a-quasi-religious-atonement-for-white-guilt/

…Judaism

Black Panther Is a Jewish Creation

Why ‘Black Panther’ might also be a milestone in black-Jewish relations

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/256186/black-panther-is-a-great-zionist-movie

The Defeat of Killmonger in ‘Black Panther’ Holds Lessons for Israel

…Spirituality

Black Panther’s Spirituality Pulls from Reality

Spiritual Reflections on the Black Panther Movie

https://aleteia.org/2018/02/17/is-the-hero-in-black-panther-secretly-spiritual/

African cosmologies: spiritual reflections on the ‘Black Panther’ movie

…Hinduism

http://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/black-panther-cbfc-muted-hanuman-reference-due-to-not-hurt-any-kind-of-religious-sentiments/1225555

CBFC Offended by ‘Hanuman’ in Black Panther Is Divine Stupidity

http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/black-panther-fans-in-india-angry-over-beeping-out-hanuman-reference-twitter-reactions-5073987/

…Islam

Is the Black Panther Islamophobic?

Is Black Panther Islamophobic?

Is Black Panther Islamophobic? A Somali Canadian Perspective

Black Panther Shows Muslims Too Can Escape Tokenism

Black Panther Makes A Nod To The Boko Haram Kidnapping in Nigeria

…Christianity

What “Black Panther” Means for Christians

Four Lessons the Church Can Learns from Black Panther

Clergy’s View on Black Panther

http://www.jesusdaily.com/inspire/black-panther-movie-review-christian-perspective/

‘Black Panther’ and the Longing for Home

At Home in Wakanda

Do it For the Diaspora?: The Moral Question Behind Black Panther

https://crtvchurch.com/why-christians-need-to-see-marvels-black-panther/

https://aleteia.org/2018/02/23/black-panther-star-boldly-proclaims-i-fell-in-love-with-jesus/

Christian actress Sope Aluko says ‘Black Panther’ set felt ‘almost like church’

In several of these cases, the charge could be levied that groups ostensibly unrelated to Black Panther are ‘making it all about them,’ but, in others, there are some legitimate linkages to be made. It says something, though, when so many religious communities want to comment on or be reflected by a cinema blockbuster — almost as if it means more than superhero popcorn entertainment…

academic

The U.S.’s Largest Indian Comics Collection in Is in Illinois

Above: From Indrajal Comics Online

For the largest collection of Indian comics in the U.S., including those about Hindu myth, lore, and religion, one would want to travel to the University of Illinois where Mara Thacker, librarian and professor in South Asian studies, has curated a collection along with reference services librarian David Ward.

“The uniqueness is one of the things we first thought about,” Ward said. “It’s an area that’s not being collected heavily elsewhere in the United States, which provides the opportunity to have this unique collection.”

Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

In addition to compiling the collection, cataloguing it has been its own “beast,” reports Nicole Ream-Sotomayor, foreign language cataloging specialist. “The comics proved to be the hardest material she has ever had to catalog,” reports Stephanie Kim of The Daily Illini.

The inspiration for such a collection, reports Jodi Heckel of The Illinois News Bureau, came from the library’s initial collection of comics and graphic novels as well as its push for foreign-language material. Spinning out of a workshop of he Committee on South Asian Libraries and Documentation, Thacker engaged in the task.

Along with the comics themselves, the library offers useful online LibGuide for research and popular resources on the topic, along with a go-to bibliography.

Tacker can be followed on Twitter as @marathacker.

academic, contributors

The Tangled Relationship Between Religion and Comics

[The following piece was originally published at Women Write About Comics in two parts; and it is reposted here with the author’s permission, for the first time in its entirety.]

My cocktail party introduction of myself is basically, “I’m a religion scholar working on a dissertation that uses a comics to interpret religious text.” Maybe it’s not the smoothest handshake, but it’s a place to start. When I tell people this, I occasionally get quizzical looks from strangers who wonder how comics relate to religion at all. Either that or they are wondering if they are going to need another cocktail before we get into a conversation. The comics/religion relationship is a fantastic tangle that needs to be sorted out when we get into deep discussions. If we talk about religion and comics without sorting this out, we risk all kinds of misunderstandings and hurt feelings, not to mention frustrating cocktail parties.

Religion and comics have been in some sort of relationship for millennia. Stained glass church windows are a familiar Christian example; they tell the stories that are important to the builders of particular churches in different styles. Ancient peoples used comics-type language in cave paintings and Egyptian tombs to express their relationship to the supernatural. Although my own work centers mostly on Christian relationships to comics, I want to stress that there is much more out there to be discovered in comics from all the world’s religions. Comics are a medium that can deliver a particular message where text and images interact to create narrative and emotional results—something that religions of all stripes often strive to do and that comics can do with religious effect.

I conceive of the relationship between comics and religion in four categories: comics as religion, comics in religion, religion in comics, and religion and comics in dialogue. In this month’s installation, I’ll give you the first two categories (comics AS religion and comics IN religion), but be sure to follow along for the exciting conclusion soon. These categories are modeled on the four relationships between religion and popular culture more broadly as outlined in by Bruce David Forbes in his introduction to this great popular culture book with Jeffrey Mahan. They are solid tools for tackling a very messy relationship.

Continue reading The Tangled Relationship Between Religion and Comics →