stenaros's review
2.0
Read for Librarian Book Group
I would not recommend this to elementary-aged children, nor middle school and I would be leery of recommending it to high school students because I think some parents would have a problem with the content. I found the prose style distracting at first, but it grew on me as the book went on. I found the artistic depiction of women throughout the book to be sexist and somewhat offensive. Was it necessary to draw protruding nipples on all of the women including Rosa Parks?
I would not recommend this to elementary-aged children, nor middle school and I would be leery of recommending it to high school students because I think some parents would have a problem with the content. I found the prose style distracting at first, but it grew on me as the book went on. I found the artistic depiction of women throughout the book to be sexist and somewhat offensive. Was it necessary to draw protruding nipples on all of the women including Rosa Parks?
erine's review against another edition
4.0
An intriguing mix of style and story design. The visual elements are bold and distinct and structured. The text is lyrical and rhythmic and succeeds at translating a typically oral story into a written, handheld one. The style and rhythm takes a bit of getting used to, but is very effective. I also appreciated the frank look at King's flaws and failures even while singing his virtues and achievements to the sky.
Interestingly, this reminded me very much of Hamilton in its cross-cultural, universally-themed story that takes a look at one man in his historical context.
Interestingly, this reminded me very much of Hamilton in its cross-cultural, universally-themed story that takes a look at one man in his historical context.
jasmineehare's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful art and prose. I think I appreciated it more having read the March series of graphic novels.
spencerbmiller's review against another edition
4.0
Beyond educational, the book was inspirational. The unique story telling and personal connection of the author came together in this beautiful tribute to Dr. King
lindsayb's review
5.0
I am trying to figure out if Manu Chitrakar has any relation to Moyna Chitrakar, the Patua scroll artist of [b:Sita's Ramayana|11097473|Sita's Ramayana|Samhita Arni|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51chEFlB33L._SL75_.jpg|16019479]. The styles are similar as is the overall presentation of each graphic novel. Anyone out there in Goodreadsland have any information?
clarehitchens's review
4.0
I am not generally a graphic novel reader. I'm not that visual, and if I see a page of images and little to no text I skip over it. But I made myself slow down and read this, and I reminded myself that it was written by a bluesman and tried to hear it in that way. Really powerful art, and text like poetry. I would love to see this as a performance of some sort.
meepelous's review
4.0
Today I'm going to be highlighting a random pickup I made at the library recently that turned out to be super interesting - namely I See the Promised Land with words by novelist/essayist/performance poet/professor at Syracuse University Arthur Flowers and pictures by Patua Scroll Artist Manu Chitrakar. This cross cultural collaboration was first published in 2010 by Tara Books and later published in 2013 by Groundwood Books - with my edition being the later.
As I already mentioned the author, Arthur Flowers, is widely talented writer who (as of the second publication of this book) was working in Syracuse University's MFA program in creative writing. The executive Director of the Harlem Writers Guild, co-founder of the New Renaissance Writers Guild and the Pan African Literary Forum. He describes himself in the author bio as a literary heir to both the Western written tradition and the African Oral One.
The artist, on the other hand, is a Patua Scroll Artist (I'm assuming I am pronouncing this incorrectly so if you have the knowledge and energy please correct me - I could not find anything on the interwebs). A tradition from Bengal Idea (where Manu Chitrakar still lives) where artists not only paint narrative scrolls, but then goes around performing them in song for different groups of people. Other scrolls that Chitrakar is known for include one are about 9/11.
Yet another biography of Martin Luther King Jr, I See the Promised Land is not just any biography of MLK. Unique, at least in my experience, in just how far it can get from being normative white/western story telling while still being comprehensible to monolingual ol' me. I also appreciated the choice by Flowers to, rather then to simply frame this as cut and dry nonfiction, he weaves this well known narrative into a more mythic/religious styled text focusing on the FA of MLK. It's an obvious choice in retrospect, but defiantly outside the mould as far as biographies go. And since one of my reading goals is to normalize experiences of people who I'm tempted to see as other, this is a book I would highly recommend to my white settler peers.
That said, there were two points that bothered me somewhat, namely the way in which the efforts of the few female identified people who do show up in the narrative are very downplayed. Namely the representation of Rosa Parks as being too tired to move to the back of the bus. This certainly is not the only place I've seen this be the reasoning behind her actions, but I was under the impression that it had been largely refuted and replaced with the truth that she was a trained activist who was deliberately setting off a legal battle. Perhaps the conflict is framed this way, and very briefly, because of the mythic quality Flowers is going for in his narrative, but it does feel like a step back in the representation of black women in the civil rights movement.
The other fact I wanted to note, mostly to my white peers (as I don't want to dictate to bipoc how they should or should not feel about MLK) is that this narrative felt like it might tempt myself and others to perpetuate the idea that there are good black people and bad black people in the civil rights movement. Namely MLK was a good pacifist and Black Panthers were a violent thorn in his side. While there's no arguing that MLK and the Black Panthers had different ideologies and likely had particular points of conflict (I'm not an expert) but this brief summerization compliments rather then challenges the ways in which the white supremacist culture of the USA has fetishized MLK and an exaggerated representation of his pacifism. Sorry for this tangent, it probably has more to do with me then the book itself, but it seemed like something I really needed to point out.
Visually this was a rich deep-dive into a culture not my own looking back at me, my culture and my history. That's so freaking cool! And while I want to say more, it kept felt like I was coming across as tokenizing or patronizing so I think I'll just shut up now. I hope that some of you pick up this book and that I get the opportunity to read more projects like this. As always, if you have any recommendations for me please share!
Bye y'all, keep reading and resist fascism
Article that includes the text of “Oil Trade Center 9/11” by Manu Chitrakar http://www.bu.edu/articles/2006/scrolling-through-time
Description of event where Arthur Flowers performed I See the Promised Land in the style of Patua Scroll http://artragegallery.org/arthur-flowers-performs-at-artrage/
As I already mentioned the author, Arthur Flowers, is widely talented writer who (as of the second publication of this book) was working in Syracuse University's MFA program in creative writing. The executive Director of the Harlem Writers Guild, co-founder of the New Renaissance Writers Guild and the Pan African Literary Forum. He describes himself in the author bio as a literary heir to both the Western written tradition and the African Oral One.
The artist, on the other hand, is a Patua Scroll Artist (I'm assuming I am pronouncing this incorrectly so if you have the knowledge and energy please correct me - I could not find anything on the interwebs). A tradition from Bengal Idea (where Manu Chitrakar still lives) where artists not only paint narrative scrolls, but then goes around performing them in song for different groups of people. Other scrolls that Chitrakar is known for include one are about 9/11.
Yet another biography of Martin Luther King Jr, I See the Promised Land is not just any biography of MLK. Unique, at least in my experience, in just how far it can get from being normative white/western story telling while still being comprehensible to monolingual ol' me. I also appreciated the choice by Flowers to, rather then to simply frame this as cut and dry nonfiction, he weaves this well known narrative into a more mythic/religious styled text focusing on the FA of MLK. It's an obvious choice in retrospect, but defiantly outside the mould as far as biographies go. And since one of my reading goals is to normalize experiences of people who I'm tempted to see as other, this is a book I would highly recommend to my white settler peers.
That said, there were two points that bothered me somewhat, namely the way in which the efforts of the few female identified people who do show up in the narrative are very downplayed. Namely the representation of Rosa Parks as being too tired to move to the back of the bus. This certainly is not the only place I've seen this be the reasoning behind her actions, but I was under the impression that it had been largely refuted and replaced with the truth that she was a trained activist who was deliberately setting off a legal battle. Perhaps the conflict is framed this way, and very briefly, because of the mythic quality Flowers is going for in his narrative, but it does feel like a step back in the representation of black women in the civil rights movement.
The other fact I wanted to note, mostly to my white peers (as I don't want to dictate to bipoc how they should or should not feel about MLK) is that this narrative felt like it might tempt myself and others to perpetuate the idea that there are good black people and bad black people in the civil rights movement. Namely MLK was a good pacifist and Black Panthers were a violent thorn in his side. While there's no arguing that MLK and the Black Panthers had different ideologies and likely had particular points of conflict (I'm not an expert) but this brief summerization compliments rather then challenges the ways in which the white supremacist culture of the USA has fetishized MLK and an exaggerated representation of his pacifism. Sorry for this tangent, it probably has more to do with me then the book itself, but it seemed like something I really needed to point out.
Visually this was a rich deep-dive into a culture not my own looking back at me, my culture and my history. That's so freaking cool! And while I want to say more, it kept felt like I was coming across as tokenizing or patronizing so I think I'll just shut up now. I hope that some of you pick up this book and that I get the opportunity to read more projects like this. As always, if you have any recommendations for me please share!
Bye y'all, keep reading and resist fascism
Article that includes the text of “Oil Trade Center 9/11” by Manu Chitrakar http://www.bu.edu/articles/2006/scrolling-through-time
Description of event where Arthur Flowers performed I See the Promised Land in the style of Patua Scroll http://artragegallery.org/arthur-flowers-performs-at-artrage/
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