This seminar will introduce students to Muslim American histories and cultures through diverse visual representations of Muslim Americans. Selected pieces of photography and visual art as well as film scenes will raise awareness for stereotypical representations of Muslim Americans, while cultural artifacts produced by Muslim artists will illustrate how those stereotypes can be disrupted. Additionally, this seminar will cover graphic novels by Muslim American writers: Toufic El Rassi’s "Arab in America" (2007) and G. Willow Wilson’s "Ms. Marvel: No Normal" (2014). Toufic El Rassi’s graphic memoir "Arab in America" addresses his struggles of growing up as a Lebanese immigrant in the United States and his experiences with post-9/11 islamophobia. In contrast to the more realist mode of representation in El Rassi’s work, G. Willow Wilson’s "Ms. Marvel: No Normal" is the first volume of a superhero comic series that features Muslim Pakistani American teenage protagonist Kamala Khan whose secret superhero identity is shaped by her religious orientation and whose desire to fit into Anglo-American mainstream society is thwarted by her classmates’ xenophobic and islamophobic prejudices. We will pay special attention to the graphic novels’ narrative structure and style as well as to the ethical, social, political, and cultural issues they raise.

Students will be asked to purchase their own copy of Toufic El Rassi’s "Arab in America" (2007) and G. Willow Wilson’s "Ms. Marvel: No Normal" (2014). Other reading material (including secondary literature) will be made available through Stud.IP.