Earthpainting
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Some panels from a Belgian comic book, 'Suske & Wiske', made the headlines in its home country yesterday. Its creators expected to make some waves with this issue, however they seemed to be oblivious to exactly what people would end up objecting to. The panels in question featured a fisherman encountering the African water spirit Mami Wata. The creators had some internal discussions about how this mythical figure would be depicted. She is typically described and depicted as a topless mermaid-like figure, and they were unsure if that would be appropriate for a comic whose target demographic includes children. They ended up going for it though, as this way they could be the most respectful to the character, and make a point that nudity is not inherently pornographic. When the comic was released however, this potential hurdle was eclipsed by something else. Meet the fisherman who stumbles onto her:
The creators swiftly issued an apology, and regret that the breast-discussion made the racist imagery slip past so many parties of the publishing process. This is however not the comic's first run-in with unfortunate colonial-era depictions of black people. Early on in the comic's life, it has its own Tintin-esque excursions to Africa, where they made jokes about how savage the continent was.
"This (Dutch equivalent of the N-word) is starting to swingdance! Perhaps he is more civilised than I thought!"
As gross and unfortunate as this is, the black and white drawings and crude artwork do reveal its age. Folks were too busy being enchanted by the exotic wonders of colonialism to care about the humanity of Africans. Surely they'd have learned their lesson in time, except that time was not when they faithfully recreated these in colour decades later, slurs and all. Even in the early 2000s, they still couldn't resist the thrall of racial caricatures.
"Because it's King Boeloe birthday, he is handing out gifts to all his black peers."
While Belgium is slowly making progress on the Zwarte Piet issue, it seems like we still have a long road ahead of us with how black people are depicted. A Rwandan-Belgian writer is trying to turn this train-wreck into a teachable moment for illustrators. She asked for anyone who can to edit the panels and show how easy it is to respectfully depict a black person without evoking racist colonial stereotypes. Some examples have been popping up already, for those interested in the edits or the hashtags. If anyone has any English press coverage, feel free to link it. I looked around for a bit, but didn't seem to find any sources.
The creators swiftly issued an apology, and regret that the breast-discussion made the racist imagery slip past so many parties of the publishing process. This is however not the comic's first run-in with unfortunate colonial-era depictions of black people. Early on in the comic's life, it has its own Tintin-esque excursions to Africa, where they made jokes about how savage the continent was.
"This (Dutch equivalent of the N-word) is starting to swingdance! Perhaps he is more civilised than I thought!"
As gross and unfortunate as this is, the black and white drawings and crude artwork do reveal its age. Folks were too busy being enchanted by the exotic wonders of colonialism to care about the humanity of Africans. Surely they'd have learned their lesson in time, except that time was not when they faithfully recreated these in colour decades later, slurs and all. Even in the early 2000s, they still couldn't resist the thrall of racial caricatures.
"Because it's King Boeloe birthday, he is handing out gifts to all his black peers."
While Belgium is slowly making progress on the Zwarte Piet issue, it seems like we still have a long road ahead of us with how black people are depicted. A Rwandan-Belgian writer is trying to turn this train-wreck into a teachable moment for illustrators. She asked for anyone who can to edit the panels and show how easy it is to respectfully depict a black person without evoking racist colonial stereotypes. Some examples have been popping up already, for those interested in the edits or the hashtags. If anyone has any English press coverage, feel free to link it. I looked around for a bit, but didn't seem to find any sources.
