Identity and Decoloniality in Contemporary Caribbean Comics

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs 

Program on Latin America and the Caribbean presents

Identity and Decoloniality in Contemporary Caribbean Comics

This presentation will examine the decolonial narratives presented in independent comics such as La Borinqueña (Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez), Temporada (Rosaura Rodríguez), Is'nana: The Were-Spider and Marassa (Greg Anderson-Elysée), and Contos dos Orixás(Hugo Canuto). By focusing on the creators' engagement with the natural world, it will demonstrate how they reject colonial discourses of exploitation and extraction, be it through activism, depicting the realities of post-María Puerto Rico, or by turning to Afrodiasporic and Indigenous spiritualities to question our relationship with the environment. Despite their contrasting styles and genres, these comics center Black, Indigenous, and Caribbean perspectives to articulate multifaceted narratives of resistance and imagine complex, decolonial futures. 

Colgate University

Paul Humphrey is Assistant Professor at Colgate University, where he teaches classes in LGBTQ studies and Caribbean studies. His research and teaching focus on gender, sexuality, and Afrodiasporic religions in contemporary Caribbean literature. He is the author of Santería, Vodou and Resistance in Caribbean Literature: Daughters of the Spirits (Legenda, 2019) and his articles have appeared in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Studies in Comics, Journal of Haitian Studies, Sargasso, and International Journal of Francophone Studies.

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For more information, please contact Havva Karakas Keles, hkarakas@syr.edu or to request additional accommodation arrangements, please contact Morgan Bicknell, mebickne@syr.edu.