Comics Review: Indiginerds: Tales From Modern Indigenous Life
The representation of Indigenous people in comics and in SF&F alike has historically been … as someone who’s not Indigenous, I’m just going to say that my understanding is that on balance, and despite some notable exceptions, it’s been not great. Viewed most frequently through the understanding and expectations of white creators and readers, the depiction of Indigenous characters has often been profoundly stereotypical. And whether those stereotypes were entirely negative or partly positive, they were reductive and limiting. Of course, Indigenous people have always been telling their own stories, but which stories were able to reach a wider audience was heavily influenced by the expectations of, again, white publishers, reviewers, and readers – and that means that the works that broke through often focused on present or historical Indigenous trauma.
But Indigenous people are more than their pain. Indigenous creators shouldn’t have to perform pain to be considered worthy of our attention.
