Comics in the Classroom: Amplifying American Indian Voices and Visibility

ABSTRACT: In the spring of 2022, I achieved a longtime aspiration of teaching a course solely focused on American Indian-produced comics and graphic novels. The purpose of this course was to (1) illustrate the importance of comics and, consequently, the importance of the American Indian representations they create; (2) facilitate knowledge of American Indian federal policy and current topics of importance in Indian Country; and (3) elevate American Indian voices in an accessible, multimedia format. The course was an immediate success in attracting students and in fulfi lling the above goals. However, it was not until spring 2023, after moving to Duke University, which has a larger Indigenous student population, that the course truly began its work of refl ecting and inspiring Indigenous student voices and facilitating conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. By diving deeply into comics not just as entertainment but also as a form of Indigenous resistance, knowledge transmission, and futurisms—especially in the wake of regularly occurring threats of termination and genocide—students were able to more quickly understand the stakes of these discussions. In addition, the fi nal project—an “unessay” in which students choose the form of their project—created a platform for Indigenous students to showcase their own creativity through submissions such as beading, Indigenous language translations, and screenwriting. In this article, I refl ect on my experiences of teaching this course; student responses to the course; and, fi nally, the specifi c ways that comics and graphic novels enable the inspiring of Indigenous students as well as facilitate the education of and dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students regarding the critical issues American Indians are addressing today.

Duke Scholars

Author Courtney Lewis Cultural Anthropology