Oregon Cartoon Institute + World Affairs Council Receive Arab Language Cartoonists@Black Hat Books/Oct. 31, 3:00 PM

On Oct 31st, at 3:00 PM, Oregon Cartoon Institute joins World Affairs Council of Oregon in welcoming a group of Arab language political cartoonists who are touring the country as part of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Project.

The visiting artists include:

Mr. Belkacem Lamine Mohamed Dahmane, from Algeria
Mr. Ahmed Khaleel Hadi Al Obaidi, from Iraq
Ms. Safaa Abuaathra, from Palestinian Territories
Mr. Suliman Mohammed M. Alanazi, from Saudi Arabia
Ms. Nadia Dhab Bouraoui, Mr. Hamdi Mazoudi, from Tunisia

The objectives of their tour:

“Examine the role played by political cartoonists in the United States and their influence on public opinion and government policy
Explore constitutionally guaranteed press freedoms in the United States, and the accompanying principles of editorial expression
Review and become familiar with cartoonist training in the United States
Illustrate the effective use of humor and how it supports civic activism and contributes to a dynamic and pluralistic political system”

Oregon Cartoon Institute is very interested in the role cartooning plays in promoting and maintaining the exchange of ideas essential to a democracy. Oregon’s contributions to American political cartooning include longtime cartoonist at The Oregonian, Jack Ohman (now at the Sacramento Bee), who won the Pultizer in 2016, and Matt Wuerker, who graduated from Lewis & Clark in ’79, and won the Pulitzer in 2012. They both follow the first American born political cartoonist to achieve nationwide fame, Homer Davenport (1867-1912), from Silverton, Oregon.

The award winning graphic journalism of Oregon cartoonist Joe Sacco inspired Art Spiegelman to say “In a world where Photoshop has outed the photograph as a liar, one can now allow artists to return to their original function – as reporters.”

When (Oregon born and raised) Bill Plympton says to audiences “Cartoons are powerful. They can change the way people think.”, he speaks with authority. Before he was an Oscar nominated animator, he was a political cartoonist for ten years.

To honor the visit from the International Visitor Leadership Project delegation of Arab language political cartoonists, Oregon Cartoon Institute has compiled a list of Oregon artists who interfaced with Arab culture/politics at some point in their careers.

HOMER DAVENPORT

1906
Oregon cartoonist Homer Davenport (1867-1912) travels to Syria to purchase Arabian horses

1909
My Quest of the Arabian Horse
Nonfiction book
By Oregon cartoonist (and horse breeder) Homer Davenport

JOE SACCO

1996
Palestine
Graphic journalism documenting a 1991-1992 visit to the Occupied Territories
By Portland cartoonist Joe Sacco
Winner, 1996 American Book Award

2009
Footnotes On Gaza
Graphic journalism documents Sacco’s investigative reporting about two massacres which took place in Gaza in 1956
By Portland cartoonist Joe Sacco
Winner, 2010 Eisner Award

PSU

1959
Middle East Studies Center opens at Portland State University
“The first federally supported undergraduate program for Arabic language and Middle East area studies in the nation.”

DIANA ABU JABA

2012
Birds Of Paradise
Novel
By Portland author Diana Abu Jabar, whose father is from Jordan
Winner, 2012 Arab American Book Award

PENNY ALLEN

2013
EN RETARD POUR L’ENTERREMENT DE MA MERE
French language experimental documentary, made in Algeria
By Portland filmmaker Penny Allen.

JAMES LONGLEY

2006
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
Documentary made in Baghdad
by Eugene, Oregon filmmaker James Longley
Nominated for 2007 Academy Award

JAMES BLUE

1962
LES OLIVIERS DE LA JUSTICE
French & Arab language narrative film made in Algiers
Directed by Portland filmmaker James Blue (1930-1980)
Winner, 1962 Critics Prize at Cannes Film Festival

Here’s a brief trailer for LES OLIVIERS DE LA JUSTICE.

Here’s the entire film, uploaded by Archives Numériques du Cinéma Algérien.

Portland historian Carl Abbott joins David Chelsea, Sheldon Renan, Patrick Rosenkranz, Dennis Nyback and Anne Richardson, all veterans of Oregon Cartoon Institute’s 2016 UNDERGROUND USA symposium, to welcome the World Affairs Council delegation on Oct. 31st, 2017.  Thank you to Fred Nemo, the owner of Black Hat Books, for his hospitality!

(Ed. note, after the fact: We were lucky to have graphic journalist Joe Sacco join us as well.)

Black Hat Books, at 2831 NE MLK Blvd in Portland, will be open for business throughout the event. I am curious to see who stops in to buy a book, and ends up joining a conversation about the role of the free press in a democracy!

 

Writing the West: Rich Wandschneider, Richard Etulain at Black Hat Books/Oct 12, 7:00 PM

On Thursday Oct 12, at 7:00 PM, long time friend of Oregon Cartoon Institute, Rich Wandschneider, comes to Black Hat Books to discuss fiction vs non fiction, imagination vs memory, oral histories vs written ones, when it comes to understanding the West.

Rich Wandschneider is the director of the Alvin M. and Betty Josephy Library of Western History and Culture, located within the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph, Oregon.

Rich will discuss Daniel J. Sharfstein’s new book “Thunder In The Mountains: Chief Joseph, O. O. Howard, and the Nez Perce War” with armchair Howard historian, Anne Richardson. Rich and Anne have been discussing the complexity of the Nez Perce War narrative, on and off, for nearly 20 years.

“Those who know little about General Howard, other than that he was a founder of Howard University, will be especially interested in following his story to the end.”—Henry Louis Gates, Harvard University

Howard, the enigma. In the past, historians handled the one armed general’s multiple identities by not acknowledging them. In Merrill Beal’s “I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War”,  we read about Howard’s years as head of the Freedman’s Bureau in a footnote. In Alvin B. Josephy’s “The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest”, we never read about them at all.  We never learn why he was in the West.

Howard went West as a man in exile. His idealistic activism at the Freedman’s Bureau had come with a cost: political enemies.  Two congressional hearings (charges dismissed) left his career in ruins. He accepted re-assignment to the Department of the Columbia where he followed orders to force the Nez Perce off land he knew they owned. Sharfstein frames Howard’s and Joseph’s relationship, usually seen as one of mutual incomprehension, as a contest of political wills.

Howard’s back story complicates our understanding of the West. Where is the simple chessboard of cowboys vs Indians?

Joining us for the evening to help sort this out will be a longtime Oregon literary historian.

Richard W. Etulain is a prize-winning historian specializing in the history of the American West. He has been honored as president of both the Western Literature and Western History Associations. His most recent book is about Ernest Haycox, a Portland writer who grew up alongside a brand new art form: the Western.

Who writes the West? Rich Wandschneider, Richard Etulain, Anne Richardson, and Fred Nemo, the owner of Black Hat Books, will pool their thoughts on October 12, at 7:00 PM.

Thank you, Fred Nemo, for providing a home for this conversation.

Please join us!

What: Rich Wandschneider, Anne Richardson, Richard Etulain & Fred Nemo discuss fiction vs non fiction, imagination vs memory, oral histories vs written ones, when it comes to understanding the West.

Where: Black Hat Books, 2831 NE MLK Bvld

When: Oct 12, 7:00 PM

Admission: Free

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This evening with Rich Wandschneider and Richard Etulain is the first in a series of Writing The West conversations. The second event, in January 2018, will zero in on one specific book in Oregon literary history, C. E. S. Wood’s 1901 A Book Of Tales, with guest speaker Tim Barnes.