Bidmead, Pat (1998) Differences in presentation of white, black, Asian and oriental ethnic groups in British comic and magazine publications for children. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

My interest in comics began at about ten years of age. Reading difficulties and a dismissal
as stupid by one of my primary school teachers left me believing that reading was beyond my
capabilities. One morning when walking reluctantly to school I saw a comic lying in the
gutter. Attracted by the bright colours I picked it up, I could not read the title 'Dandy' but
the picture stories meant for the first time I could follow a narrative. Quickly I realised that
the pictorial content gave me clues to the dialogue presented in the 'bubbles'. Reading for
me was a possibility and I soon became addicted to a diet of comics. Unfortunately the racist
nature of British society was reflected in those comic strips. Brought up in an environment
where there were no visible black faces most of my racial education was from the society
around me and the comics I read. I did not realise how deeply ingrained the racial
conceptions were until I attempted to draw my own comic strip to amuse two small children
for whom I had frequent care. Without thinking I automatically reproduced the same kind of
stereotypes to be found in the comics I had read.
Soon racial inequalities were to become a central concern in my life. I became conscious of
the pervasiveness of racism in society and this consciousness increased as I embarked on a
mixed race marriage generally disapproved of in the white dominated society of the early
1950s. My experience as a mother of mixed race children led me to join various anti-racist
groups and thus become interested in all aspects of racial injustice. A combination of factors
encouraged the undertaking of this research amongst them being, a teacher first, of young
children and later of adolescents. A further influence came from the literature I read which
encouraged me to write articles on the subject for such magazines as Roots and Youth in
society. As a consequence of my past experiences and these articles this research project took shape and I make no apology for the fact that feelings and experiences have entered into
the research process.
The pre-occupying concern of
this research is to
investigate
the degree of equality in
presentations of white, black, Asian and Oriental groups in comics and magazines for
children. The central aim is to locate any unjustifiable differences in the presentations.
Each of the Chapters in this study attempts to deal with a specific area, related to racism and
collectively they
attempt
to supply evidence to support an argument that presentation of
black group characters is mostly concerned with negative portrayals.
The opening chapter commences with a declaration of aims and objectives and proceeds
with a discussion of the nature of racism followed by theoretical approaches and the general
methodology available for analysing comic texts. A standard content analysis is adopted in
order to extract the necessary figures involved in the distribution of imagery across the
ethnic groups presented
in the comic literature. Without this preliminary exercise another
important objective of the study would be impossible, that is, to interpret the figures in a
more refined, qualitative manner in the hope that some of the subtle details of stereotyping
will emerge. Chapter Two reviews the historical development of comics and magazines and
the influence of this development on racial imagery. Chapter Three concentrates on the
construction of appropriate headings under which to place ethnic groups appearing in the
comics in order that they might be analysed by the use of
checklists
which draw on the
common usage of
stereotypes, present established checklists, and other literature for
children.
Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven focus on the analysis of a number of specific aspects commencing with areas where black Asian
and
Oriental characters are included and
excluded. Chapter Five takes issue with the presentation of principal characters, while
chapter Six investigates the reality or otherwise of a number of racial myths. Chapter
Seven concerns itself with the distribution and nature of verbal and non-verbal contacts
between ethnic groups and Chapter Eight consists of a number of case studies using the
original visual comic material in an attempt to illustrate the nature of the racism within the
comic sample.
The final chapter is a review of the findings from the comics and magazines brought together
and conclusions drawn from the data to see if there are a significant number of unfair
differences in the presentations of white, black, Asian and Oriental groups. After a brief
summary of the major findings the final chapter discusses some of the conclusions and tries
to interpret these conclusions within a wide theoretical framework.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Comic books, strips, etc. -- Great Britain, Asians -- Comic books, strips, etc., Blacks -- Comic books, strips, etc., Whites -- Comic books, strips, etc., Racism in literature, Race awareness in children -- Great Britain
Official Date:	July 1998
Dates:	Date Event July 1998 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (Economic and Social Research Council)
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Goulbourne, Harry ; Leicester, Mal
Extent:	vi, 308, [33]; i, 284, [3] leaves
Language:	eng

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