Expectations for Assignment 3:- Emailed to professor.
Pre-Draft for Assignment 3:- http://archive.cunyhumanitiesalliance.org/breathingthroughwriting/2017/05/26/pre-draft-for-assignment-3-5/
Rough Draft for Assignment 3:- http://archive.cunyhumanitiesalliance.org/breathingthroughwriting/2017/05/30/rough-draft-for-assignment-3/
Peer-Review:- Discussed Diego’s comic with him in class.
Artist statement
I decided to write an essay for this assignment because I thought it is the best way to express and explain my ideas in a complete and detailed format. My audience for this assignment is of course my professor and also an average American Citizen who is not well informed about Islam. Before they start reading my paper, they should know that I tried my best to cover all ideas that stood out to me from this comic series. I want them to learn two things from my project, first one is to get an idea of how this comic series paints a beautiful picture of what a Muslim household is like, and the second thing is how this comic series fights against the stereotypes of Muslim people living in the states. I think they would be able to learn these two things since I have already mentioned these things now, so it would be easy for them to point it out in the actual essay. The emotional impact that I am hoping to achieve from this project is religious tolerance racial harmony. It is not that only one or few sections of Ms.Marvel had inspired me to create my project in this type, it is the overall idea that made me write an analytical essay on this assignment, so I can have the freedom and space to express my thoughts completely. I am not so sure what I have learned about my writing process through doing this project, but I know that I picked up some ideas from Ms.Marvel and then explain it with my own observation of the society and then supported it with an example from the book itself. I think the one unique perspective that I brought in this project was the fact that I’m a muslim immigrant myself, although I wasn’t born in the states but still I can relate to this comic series on another level, and think of something related to Ms.Marvel that someone else might not. In terms of what I learned through this project, well this was my first experience with a comic book. It introduced me several things, the art of telling stories through pictures, and the fact that sketches are also part of literature. I would still like to learn how the story of “Kamala Khan” would turnout in the next part. I got so much help from the peer review on my rough draft and from my professor’s feedback. They helped me to narrow my focus and thoughts in one specific direction. If I had another week to work on my project, I would probably expand the three paragraphs containing my main ideas. The deep analysis that I did in this project to get the most of it and to make it relevant to today’s society, I can use that deep analysis technique in my future projects. I would like my audience to know one last thing, there maybe some points that you won’t agree with me. But I can say that I have a firsthand experience of these things so just bear with me. It would all make sense by the end.
IDENTITY
Migrating to other countries can be resulted in some hard choices for first generation of children. The struggle to blend in a new community, to own a new culture, to keep in touch and follow their own virtues and ideas can easily make them confused and frustrated. They often feel ashamed for being different and try to deny their stereotypes. For our third and final assignment, we read a comic series named ,”MS.MARVEL”. It is a story of a teenage girl who was born in New jersey, where her parents moved from Pakistan. In the beginning she seemed a bit confused and scared while she tried to adjust herself in the community and be like her friends. This comic series does a great job at portraying the actual version of Muslim people living in the states.
This comic series shows us the insights of Muslim immigrant households and their way of life. We all can clearly see that dividing wall between the beliefs of two completely separated communities. For instance, in the very beginning scene. The main character “Kamala Khan” is trying to smell “Bacon” but she can not eat it because that is against her religious belief. And when she goes to her friend’s party and accidentally drinks alcohol, she gets so terrified and spits it out. These are just some examples of how Muslim people have to be careful and frightened while trying to adjust themselves in western culture.
This comic series also does a fine job in highlighting stereotypes of Muslim people. For example, the idea in American’s mind that muslim women are required by their parents to wear headscarf and like it is a matter of death and life. There is a scene in this comic series where a white girl named Zoe asks Kamala, “But I mean… nobody pressured you to start wearing it, right? Your father or somebody? Nobody’s going to like, honor kill you? I’m just concerned.” Well this is pretty much the mindset of an average American. They believe that all religious practices are accompanied by someone else’s pressure. And ironically nowadays these same people are identifying Muslim women by their headscarves and harassing them.
Another idea that I think this comic series shed some light on or tried to defend it was the most famous and everlasting thought that “All muslims are terrorists”. (Period. No exception). So when Kamala becomes Ms.Marvel and gains super powers, she then jumps into the lake to save Zoe from drowning. But before doing that, she remembers something from Muslim religious book. Which is, “WHOEVER KILLS ONE PERSON, IT IS AS IF HE HAS KILLED ALL OF MANKIND– AND WHOEVER SAVES ONE PERSON, IT IS AS IF HE HAS SAVED ALL OF MANKIND.” This verse clearly tells us what are the actual Islamic views on violence and humanity. But people still find a way to ignore the authentic version of the religion and blame everyone who follows it because of an individual person’s acts.
These are the two ideas that stood out to me in this comic series. It can be really helpful for Muslims living in states if people read this series and get a new perspective on several issues. But the problem remains the same, because people who are Islamophobic and believe that is a religion of oppression, are not going to even touch this comic because it propagates the “Liberal Agenda.”
