Narrating Muslim Girlhood in the Pakistani Cityscape of Graphic Narratives

Narrating Muslim Girlhood in the Pakistani Cityscape of Graphic Narratives Tehmina Pirzada a ABSTRACT In this article I focus on the graphic narratives Gogi (1970–the present) by Nigar Nazar and Haroon Rashid’s Burka Avenger (2013–the present) in particular to examine the empowering portrayal of Muslim girlhood that these works offer in addition to advocating for the rights of Muslim girls. I emphasize that graphic narratives have become a powerful medium that represents the resistance of Mus- lim girlhood both in the context of local patriarchies and as a tool to challenge the stereotypical representation of Muslim identities globally. By focusing on the depiction of the girl protagonists in these graphic narratives, I analyze how these artists rework the western superhero trope to foreground the girls’ everyday heroism. Moreover, by situating the interaction of the girls with Pakistani cityscapes, I argue, in terms of De Certeau’s concept of tactics, that the protagonists navigate the Pakistani cities as familiar places rather than as othered spaces. KEYWORDS cartoon, comics, feminism, graphic narrative, heroism, panoramic, superheroism, place b In the United States, representations of Muslim girlhood1 in comics such as Dust in X-Men Comics (1963–2014) and Kamala Khan in the Ms. Marvel (2014) series have offered Muslim girlhood much needed visibility. However, the representations of Muslimness and femininity in comics is sporadic and somewhat limited in nature. Dust, created in the post 9/11 era is a burka- clad Afghan girl who willfully dons the burka and uses her super powers to destroy her enemies. However, Dust still exists within a Western rescue narrative in which a white mutant, Wolverine, saves her (Dar 2008). In contrast to Dust, Kamala Khan is a fashionable 16-year-old Pakistani-American girl who combats crime, racism, and Islamophobia in Jersey City, New Jersey. Deploying her liminal position as a young Muslim girl, Khan defies both the patriarchal status quo of her own community and the hegemonic power Girlhood Studies 10, no. 3 (Winter 2017): 88-104 © Berghahn Books doi: 10.3167/ghs.2017.100308 ISSN: 1938-8209 (print) 1938-8322 (online) NARRATING MUSLIM GIRLHOOD IN THE PAKISTANI CITYSCAPE OF GRAPHIC NARRATIVES b of white masculinity (Khoja-Moolji and Niccolini 2015). However, the portrayal of Muslim girlhood in comics is not restricted to the United States, nor is it the sole creation of Marvel and DC comics. Graphic narratives like Gogi (1970–present) by Nigar Nazar and Burka Avenger (2013–present) by Haroon Rashid serve as an interesting counterpoint to the Western big budget productions. In my discussion of Gogi, I analyze the newly hosted website Gogi by Nigar Nazar as well as the book Going Gogi published in 2009. The Gogi narratives are fascinating because, unlike Western graphic novels, they do not exist in a cohesive volume. Instead, Gogi appears in sev- eral different media such as newspapers, printed books, television, and online resources to reach its desired audiences. In contrast to Gogi, Burka Avenger is an animated television show, of which many episodes are also available online at no charge. It is currently in its third season on the TV channel, Geo Taiz, but in this article, I will focus only on the first season. I argue that Gogi and Burka Avenger are significant because they employ the format of what could be loosely termed a cartoon to portray Muslim girlhood,2 while simultaneously drawing attention to the medium of the cartoon itself. Reviled by conservative Muslims for its perceived use as caricature but considered a form of liberal expression in the West, the cartoon signifies a polarized sociopolitical reality.3 However, Gogi and Burka Avenger deviate from the binary us-versus-them way of thinking by transforming the cartoon into a graphic narrative that engages in a complex discussion of gender, adolescence, religion, and urban reality. Pramod K Nayar considers graphic narrative as a “descriptor and label that references the visual ‘graphic’ composition of the medium and the crafting of the story or ‘narrative”’ (2016: 5). In my discussion of graphic narratives, I draw on David Lewis’s concept of “putting the hero back in the superhero” (2013: 34; see also Lewis 2014) to discuss the visibility that graphic narratives like Gogi and Burka Avenger offer Muslim girlhood. I argue that these narratives offer a layered verbal- visual aesthetic by synthesizing codes of realism with the artifice of the graphic medium, subsequently allowing their girl protagonists to oscillate between the tropes of heroism and superheroism. Joseph Campbell (1949) describes the (male) hero as an individual who represents the core values of his society, is first and foremost a winner, a successful warrior, and, second, refuses being defined by other persons. For Campbell, “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fab- ulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons 89 a TEHMINA PIRZADA on his fellow men” (1949: 23). David Lewis (2013) argues that in contrast to Campbell’s hero, the American superhero ventures on an adventure, achieves victory, but remains unchanged and immortal in the process. There- fore, superheroes, especially in the American context, overcome death and restore order by shifting the society to its unchanged previous position. However, for Lewis the concept of heroism as opposed to superheroism gets complicated when we analyze this from the standpoint of a Muslim superhero. Lewis argues that Muslim superheroes in comics like The 99 actively try to change their communities, advocate for Islamic principles of self-sac- rifice, and remain humbly human. As a result, they emerge as “misfits in the genre that mis-fits” (Lewis 2014:1). Building on Lewis’s concept of the Muslim superhero, I argue that the everyday heroism of Gogi and Jiya reframes the superhero trope by focusing more on the ordinary experiences of Muslim girlhood instead of emphasiz- ing values of exceptionalism. In Burka Avenger, Jiya represents herself as the school teacher during the day and Burka Avenger at night, while in Gogi comics, Gogi is a powerful social activist, trendsetter, and conscientious cit- izen. In having these characters refer, for example, to girl activists such as Malala Yousafzai, their creators blur the boundaries between fiction and reality. The nuanced self-representation and social activism of the girls gives them a superheroic quality, and their day-to-day heroism foregrounds Pak- istani cityscapes as familiar places rather than dangerous, unfamiliar, and othered spaces. Furthermore, Gogi and Jiya engage with the city in slightly different ways. Jiya’s interaction with her city is more “panoramic” as she offers an overview of the city from the top, rendering the complexity of the city into a readable, stable function. In contrast to Jiya, Gogi prefers to walk in the city, thereby engaging with it in a more “ambulatory” (de Certeau 1984: 99) fashion. The girls’ varied engagement with the city relies on what de Certeau calls “tactics” that allow the girls to assess their environments and challenge those in power by “seizing the opportunity” (33) thereby cre- ating new opportunities for themselves. For de Certeau, tactics are practices that are not contained within institutional or spatial borders. Therefore, sub- altern groups such as workers, migrants, ethnic minorities, and women usu- ally employ tactics to transform everyday life practices into different forms of resistance. The use of tactics by the girls in Gogi and Burka Avenger allow for the girls’ self-representation on their own terms in addition to providing them with heightened visibility. 90 NARRATING MUSLIM GIRLHOOD IN THE PAKISTANI CITYSCAPE OF GRAPHIC NARRATIVES b School Teacher during the Day and Burka Avenger by Night The creator of Burka Avenger (2013–present), Haroon Rashid, emphasizes Jiya’s struggle to create a hybrid self-representational space. As a superhero, Jiya dons a silken ninja-like burka different from the yards of bulky cloth that make up an actual burka. Further accentuating the power evident in Jiya’s appearance is a provocative hip-hop song that is also a part of Burka Avenger’s opening credits. The lyrics of the song ominously warn her adversaries to be careful. A spirit so quick to deliver a beating To the enemies of peace, love, logic, and reason… The way it was, she’ll be taking it back So tune in for the story of the lady in black (n.p.) The lyrics of the song point to Jiya’s role as a social justice warrior who refuses to fight her adversaries with violence. Instead, she chooses peace, love, logic, and reason as viable tactics to overcome her enemies. These tactics are particularly significant because they not only subvert the platitudi- nous stereotype about the Muslim community, especially Muslim men, as irrational and barbaric, but also celebrate logic and reason as feminine (and feminist) qualities. Confident in her abilities yet relaxed in her demeanor, Jiya moves between the light and shadows as she anonymously fights the tyrannical authority of adult men, especially the clerics, whom she feels have hijacked her Muslim faith. Jiya’s burka’ed persona, although pitched as a strategy of self-defense and anonymity, enters the broader discourse about veiling in Islam and its contentious position in feminist conversations. Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani lawyer, praised the concept of Jiya’s story but disapproved of the burka. For her, “Burka Avenger is good, but I don’t like the feudal stereotyping of the burqa” (quoted in Khazan 2013: n.p.). Rehman’s critique is grounded in the equation of female modesty with social respectability in a country like Pak- istan.

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