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Sheena C. Howard is an African-American [1] academic, author and producer. She is a professor of communication at Rider University. She is also the past chair of the Black Caucus (National Communication Association) [2] and the founder of Power Your Research, [3] and academic branding company. Howard is the recipient of the 2014 Eisner Award for her first book Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (2013). [4]
Howard attended West Catholic Preparatory High School in Philadelphia, where she played basketball, soccer and track. She attended Iona College in New Rochelle, New York and played three years of Division 1 basketball with the Iona Gaels. Howard attended NYIT for master's degree graduating in 2007, [5] and Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 2010 with a PhD in communication and culture. [6]
Howard is a social justice activist and cultural critic, [7] who writes about social and political events with a focus on racial and sexual minorities. From 2011 to 2013 Howard served as a Dissertation Award Committee member, AABHE. She was also a section editor for the Journal of African American Males In Education in 2009.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, Howard became the first Black woman to win an Eisner Award for her book Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation. The book, edited with Dr. Ron Jackson II, is based on her dissertation "African American Communication Dynamics Through Black Comics Strips." In an interview with Michael Cavna at The Washington Post, Howard is quoted as saying, "I want people to read the book and learn about the great black creators and writers that were writing characters during a time in which there was immense racism and hatred towards black people. These writers and creators were as much a part of the civil-rights movement as music artists, preachers and speakers." [8]
In 2017, NBC News featured a story on a comic book that Howards co-authored; the lead character in the comic had Down Syndrome. The show noted, "Incorporating a theme of fake news into her latest story line in 'Superb', a comic series co-written by 'Luke Cage' comic writer David F. Walker, the Philadelphia native finds it important to add current political challenges in order to bring ethos and depth to her comic creations. But while her work is often political in nature, she is careful not to inundate adolescent readers with overt commentary." [9]
VIBE magazine also acknowledged Howard's literary contributions: "In the past two years, many of the best-selling and deeply profound books, as well as research, have been headed by women of color: Jacqueline Woodson, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Brit Bennett, Angie Thomas, Roxane Gaye, Prof. Brittany Cooper, and newcomer Prof. Keisha Blain, Ava DuVernay and Issa Rae, among others. This phenomenon of black women telling their/our stories isn't new, either. It's just that millennials weren't fortunate enough to witness the god-like momentum of our foremothers. We've had to Google, purchase books, or listen to our elders tell stories of trailblazing black women from way back when. Adding to this vast body of work by black queens is Howard University alumna, Dr. Sheena Howard, associate professor of communication at Rider University. Prof. Howard, [is] also a filmmaker." [10]
Introduced as a response to popular political activism and academic scholarship that excludes black lesbian females' lived experiences, Howard's construction of intersectionality as an analytical praxis is timely and will prove foundational for new lines of thought. In order to better understand the absence (or omission) of certain voices within mainstream LGBTQ political projects and the related conflict in feminist and queer studies scholarship, what is needed is a framework for analysis that recognizes the interlocking nature of identities without centering the most seemingly salient political issues at a given historical moment. Utilizing autoethnography, ethnographic case studies, and theories of identity, Black Queer Identity Matrix provides a framework for understanding the black lesbian through a 'paradigmatic inquiry around the intersections of gender, sexual orientation, and race-ethnicity.' [16]
Although the "Black Queer Identity Matrix" comes out of a communication context, scholars have used the Black Queer Identity Matrix in the context of social justice and equity reform, as well as a framework that highlights the difference between queer theory and queer identity. [17] Howard has used the constructs outlined in Black Queer Identity Matrix to analyze media representations in the show Empire and to challenge homophobia. Howard says in a Huffington Post article, as the author of Black Queer Identity Matrix, a book that deconstructs the matrix in which lesbian and gay people of color live and the strategies employed in negotiating ones sexual identity in public discourse: "I found the reaction of media commentator and political analyst, Dr. Boyce Watkins severely problematic and troubling, especially within the context of a persistent discourse that says the Black community is homophobic." [18] The Atlantic has cited Dr. Howard's work, making a connection between sexual identity, masculinity, and media representation. [19]
In a feature piece with the Los Angeles Times , writer Jevon Phillips noted some of the controversy around the Encyclopedia of Black Comics, stating, "Like any encyclopedia, though, one of the first things people tend to do is point out what's not in the compilation. Dwayne McDuffie, probably the most influential African American figure in comics and cartoons over the past few decades, was not included in the book. He died in 2011, but it's a notable omission, and there are a few others: William Wilson, the first black independent publisher to list digital comics on iTunes, Percy Carey (the rapper MF Grimm), who was the first black Eisner nominee, and Michael Davis — who could claim a place in the book." [20] In multiple interviews, Howard responded to these critiques reminding the public that this is only volume one and if people want more Black comic creatives to be recognized, they have to support volume one. Howard has said that undertaking the writing of the Encyclopedia of Black Comics was daunting, but she solicited the help of several writers in and out of the comics community to write entries in the book.
In 2018, Howard was featured in an Emmy nominated segment [21] of the show State of the Arts. [22] The segment featured Howard's work in comics and her implementation of comics into the college classroom. The show traced the impact and history of Black comics.
Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, social background, caste, and social class. The term could also encompass other social phenomena which are not commonly understood as exemplifying identity politics, such as governmental migration policy that regulates mobility based on identities, or far-right nationalist agendas of exclusion of national or ethnic others. For this reason, Kurzwelly, Pérez and Spiegel, who discuss several possible definitions of the term, argue that it is an analytically imprecise concept.
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional American comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published primarily by Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with her 1941 premiere issue preceding Wonder Woman #1. Sheena inspired a wealth of similar comic book jungle queens. She was predated in literature by Rima, the Jungle Girl, introduced in the 1904 William Henry Hudson novel Green Mansions.
In comics, LGBT themes are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes and characters were historically omitted from the content of comic books and their comic strip predecessors due to anti-gay censorship. LGBT existence was included only via innuendo, subtext and inference. However the practice of hiding LGBT characters in the early part of the twentieth century evolved into open inclusion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and comics explored the challenges of coming-out, societal discrimination, and personal and romantic relationships between gay characters.
Ethnic stereotypes in comics have evolved over time, reflecting the changing political climate.
Lee Marrs is an American cartoonist and animator, and one of the first female underground comix creators. She is best known for her comic book series The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp, which lasted from 1973 to 1977.
Jackie Ormes was an American cartoonist. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the Torchy Brown comic strip and the Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger panel.
Mary Wings was an American cartoonist, writer, and artist. She was known for highlighting lesbian themes in her work. In 1973, she made history by releasing Come Out Comix, the first lesbian comic book. She also wrote a series of detective novels featuring lesbian heroine Emma Victor. Divine Victim, Wings' only Gothic novel, won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery in 1994.
In American mainstream comics, LGBT themes and characters were historically omitted intentionally from the content of comic books, due to either formal censorship or the perception that comics were for children and thus LGBT themes were somehow inappropriate. With any mention of homosexuality in mainstream United States comics forbidden by the Comics Code Authority (CCA) until 1989, earlier attempts at exploring these issues in the US took the form of subtle hints or subtext regarding a character's sexual orientation. LGBT themes were tackled earlier in underground comix from the early 1970s onward. Independently published one-off comic books and series, often produced by gay creators and featuring autobiographical storylines, tackled political issues of interest to LGBT readers.
Historically, the portrayal of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in media has been largely negative if not altogether absent, reflecting a general cultural intolerance of LGBT individuals; however, from the 1990s to present day, there has been an increase in the positive depictions of LGBT people, issues, and concerns within mainstream media in North America. The LGBT communities have taken an increasingly proactive stand in defining their own culture, with a primary goal of achieving an affirmative visibility in mainstream media. The positive portrayal or increased presence of the LGBT communities in media has served to increase acceptance and support for LGBT communities, establish LGBT communities as a norm, and provide information on the topic.
Satsu is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, a comic book continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Introduced as one of the strongest Slayers, she has a close relationship with her mentor Buffy Summers. Satsu develops romantic feelings for Buffy, and the two have a brief sexual relationship. She becomes the leader of her own Slayer squadron in Tokyo, and forms a friendship with fellow Slayer Kennedy during her performance review. She also makes a minor appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten.
Cathy J. Cohen is an American political scientist, author, feminist, and social activist, whose work has focused on the African-American experience in politics from a perspective which is underlined by intersectionality. She is currently the David and Mary Winton Green Professor in Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago, and is the former Director of the Center for the Study of Race (2002–05).
Racism is a concern for many in the Western lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, with members of racial, ethnic, and national minorities reporting having faced discrimination from other LGBT people.
Roderick Ferguson is Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and American Studies at Yale University. He was previously professor of African American and Gender and Women's Studies in the African American Studies Department at the University of Illinois, Chicago. His scholarship includes work on African-American literature, queer theory and queer studies, classical and contemporary social theory, African-American intellectual history, sociology of race and ethnic relations, and black cultural theory. Among his contributions to queer theory, Ferguson is credited with coining the term Queer of Color Critique, which he defines as "...interrogat[ion] of social formations as the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class, with particular interest in how those formations correspond with and diverge from nationalist ideals and practices. Queer of color analysis is a heterogeneous enterprise made up of women of color feminism, materialist analysis, poststructuralist theory, and queer critique." Ferguson is also known for his critique of the modern university and the corporatization of higher education.
Ronald L. Jackson II is an American academic and author. He is Past President of the National Communication Association and a professor of communication, culture, and media, and a former dean of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati.
In contrast with mainstream American comics, webcomics are primarily written and drawn by women and gender variant people. Because of the self-published nature of webcomics, the internet has become a successful platform for social commentary, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) expression.
Zethu Matebeni is a sociologist, activist, writer, documentary film maker, Professor and South Africa Research Chair in Sexualities, Genders and Queer Studies at the University of Fort Hare. She has held positions at the University of the Western Cape and has been senior researcher at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at UCT. She has been a visiting Professor Yale University and has received a number of research fellowships including those from African Humanities Program, Ford Foundation, the Fogarty International Centre and the National Research Foundation.
Karma R. Chávez is a rhetorical critic who utilizes textual and field-based methods and studies the rhetorical practices of people marginalized within existing power structures. She has published numerous scholarly articles and books, including Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities, as well as co-founding the Queer Migration Research Network. She works with social justice organizations and her scholarship is informed by queer of color theory, women of color feminism, poststructuralism, and cultural studies.
No Straight Lines is an anthology of queer comics covering a 40-year period from the late 1960s to the late 2000s. It was edited by Justin Hall and published by Fantagraphics Books on August 1, 2012.
Queer erasure refers to the tendency to intentionally or unintentionally remove LGBT groups or people from record, or downplay their significance, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.
Nilah Magruder is an American comic artist who also works in storyboarding and animation.
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