Comics writer talks Islam

Author and essayist G. Willow Wilson joined comic book fans, a rabbi and Middle East Studies students yesterday for a discussion on religion, politics and the western perception of Islam, told through the perspective of a comics writer.

Wilson, the author of the graphic novel Cairo and one of the industry’s few Americans who converted to Islam, read from her recent memoir Butterfly Mosque and led yesterday’s talk, “The Post 9/11 Conversation that Americans Need to Have.” The event was sponsored by the Middle East Center and the Muslim Students Association.

In a time where cartoon scandals — notably the controversial depiction of Muhammad in South Park and Molly Norris’, a former cartoonist for Seattle Weekly, proposal for “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” — are common, the dialogue regarding minorities beyond the white-black divide is more crucial than ever, according to Wilson.

“Political and economic scapegoating of minorities has nothing to do with most people in those groups,” Wilson said. “In times of stress, we get the human disinterest story where stories about Muslims are mostly linked to rape, stoning or the cutting of body parts. But that is not what it’s like everyday even in hyper-conservative countries like Iran.”

Following up on a Washington Post opinion column, Wilson argued that although comic book artists who caricature the Prophet in their work claim they do not hurt ordinary Muslims, the reality is that ordinary Muslims, including Wilson herself, are the only ones who are hurt.

Since working as a comic book artist, Wilson has sought to prevent this tendency, spending the majority of her time defending “the art and religion that I love from each other.”

“When I first got started I wasn’t sure the readers in the comic industry wanted comics written by a woman in a headscarf,” Wilson said. “But it’s now about a balance between being a visible member of a community and being a producer of good art and ideas that keep a culture chugging along.”

Students and faculty alike said they were left impressed by the interdisciplinary nature of yesterday’s discussion, that spanned topics as varied as American Islam, challenges of a multicultural audience and representations of Fox News. Some students just appreciated the humanistic approach by Wilson, who was also the first western writer to interview Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the current Mufti of Egypt.

“I’m a huge comic book fan,” said College junior Ben Kahan, who hopes to enter the comicindustry. “While my interest was solely geared toward the comic side of things, the Islam identity aspect was unique and informative.”

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