Book Review: (Re)Thinking Orientalism: Using Graphic Narratives to Teach Critical Visual Literacy

The terrorist attack in Paris against the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, on January 15, 2015, led to a global debate about the tension between freedom of press and communication ethics. In mainstream media, advocates for the right to offend were pitted against those who cautioned against offensive stereotyping and the harm it does to communities. Unfortunately, there was very little middle ground, due largely to a lack of discussion about two crucial points. First, there was an absence of a historical context that explained the image ecology Charlie Hebdo was operating in, one in which there are disproportionate power relations in how cultural identity is mediated. Secondly, very little was said about the potential role of media literacy to act as an intervening tool to explore differing cultural perspectives of speech and representation. Though Rachel Bailey Jones ’ book, (Re)Thinking Orientalism was completed before the attack, its timely release right after offers media literacy educators a handy guidebook for how to navigate many of the issues raised by the Charlie Hebdo massacre. (Re)Thinking Orientalism’s primary aim is to offer a pedagogical model for using graphic narratives in the classroom to explore and contest what Jones calls a dominant “visual Orientalist ” discourse in Western media. Graphic narratives are fiction and nonfiction stories told in comic form, and can range from graphic novels to comic journalism. The book also examines news media, photography, comic books an