Before we started our reading of Sherman Alexie's
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, we took a look at one of the greatest places to spot stereotypes in use: comics. Because comics are often based in trends and comment on what's going on in a society, it is easy to see the perceptions of a group of people or a politician if you look at enough comics.
We looked at a dozen or so comics in today's class. You all received your own comic, read it and looked at the imagery and then reported out to the group about the stereotypes you believe were being related in your comic. Most of the comics are making fun of the stereotypes about Native Americans; not working to perpetuate them.
Here's our class definition of "stereotype":
And what you saw in the comics for stereotypes (this is hard to read, but clicking on the image should make it larger and easier to read):
And, we read today. We were busy! We read the first two chapters. You were all laughing and getting sad and enjoying the comics included in the book. I just love this book and I think that you will too!
