Date Awarded
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
American Studies
Advisor
Arthur Knight
Committee Member
Elizabeth Losh
Committee Member
Charles McGovern
Committee Member
Shilpa Davé
Abstract
This dissertation combines cultural history of the superhero genre and critical analysis of contemporary comic books featuring Arab and Muslim superheroes created after 9/11 and the Arab Spring protests of late 2010 and early 2011. The first chapter critically engages existing scholarship about post-9/11 superheroes and introduces new analysis on the racialization of religious identity through visual tropes in their origin stories. Between 2011 and now, Arab and Muslim American creators introduced Lebanese and Muslim American Simon Baz, Pakistani and Muslim American Kamala Khan, and mixed-race Egyptian American Khalid Nassour as Arab and Muslim American superheroes (Green Lantern, Ms. Marvel, and Doctor Fate). The second, third, and fourth chapters focus on each of these post-Arab Spring superheroes, and each chapter introduces a new theoretical concept: critical color theory, identity pauses, and repatriation, respectively. Critical color theory combines color theory and critical race theory to argue that social discourse and technology produce race and effect and affect the racialization of minoritized people in visual media. Identity pauses are sequences in comics, television series, and films during which superheroes are civilians rather than costumed crimefighters, which highlight the particularities of their (secret) identities. Repatriation is the return of fictional material heritage to characters who share a fictionalized place of origin with those objects. The conclusion turns from the Arab Spring to the 2017 Muslim Ban and from comics to television and film adaptations, focusing on Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel (2022).
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.21220/s2-aps8-gn60
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Resha, Adrienne, "From Superman To Sana Amanat: Alienation, Assimilation, And American Superhero Comics, 1938 To Present" (2024). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1717521655.
https://dx.doi.org/10.21220/s2-aps8-gn60
