1. Patrick G. Richey, Ph.D.
Middle Tennessee State University

2.  Nevins & Weitenkampf (1975)
 Humor
 Truth
 Moral Lesson
 Medhurst & DeSousa (1981) – Multiple Messages
 Muller, Ozcan, & Seiziv (2009) - Visual and textual
layers
 Common Research Themes
 Israeli/Palestine
 Danish Cartoon Controversy
 Iraq/Afghanistan Wars

3.  It is a response to the European and American
colonization of native places and populations.
 It fixes itself in neither time nor space.
 It is a fluid and dynamic process that is a response to
colonialism and can sometimes fit into preexisting
categories, but often cannot.
 It does not fix itself within geographical borders, but
rather by shared cultural experiences.
 Finally post-colonialism is a cognitive &
communicative phenomenon.

4.  Saddam era prison
 2003 Invasion
 Abuses
 Scandal
 International Outcry

5.  Research Question: Can political cartoons about the
Abu Ghraib Scandal be read differently through a
iconic and postcolonial position?
 Aimed at Western Audience
 Multiple Middle Eastern News Sources
 Collected Data From the Incident until August 2012
 12 Cartoons Sampled
 Native Arab Speakers helped translate Arabic
 Deep Textual Analysis
 Iconographic Images
 Cultural Nuances

6. Al-Arab News May 2,
Al-Hayat May 2, 2004
2004

7. Al-Quds December 10,
2005

8. Al-Jazeera May 31, 2004 May 12, 2004 Al-Ittihad

9.  Manifest
 Not an isolated incident
 Anti-United States
 Objectification
 Latent
 Cultural Nuances
 Colonial Past
 Arab Street

10.  Muhammed Film & Cartoons
 Arab Spring

11. Questions &
Suggestions