Writing
Off-Color, Off-Center:
Decolonizing (in) Steven Universe
In Representation in Steven Universe, edited by Leah Richards and John R. Ziegler. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 197-218.
Image: Screenshot taken by author from SU S1 E40, “On the Run”
In this chapter, I explore how Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe both deconstructs a colonial paradigm and fails to fully enact a decolonial praxis. On the one hand, this show demonstrates how a colonial matrix of power works to oppress its citizens through both physical and psychological violence, revealing how the Diamonds’ supposedly ideal colonial culture is inherently damaging to Gems of every kind. On the other hand, the show only focuses on how Gem colonization affects Gems, ignoring how a colonial legacy would shape the lives of the humans who were colonized. While deconstructing the violence of colonialism is certainly important, the show fails to center the experiences of colonized subjects and, therefore, to truly engage in radical decolonization.
Future Visions:
Queer Utopia in Steven Universe
In Queer Futurities, edited by Angel Daniel Matos & Jon Wargo, special issue of Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, vol. 2, iss. 1, June 2019.
Image: Screenshot taken by author from SU S1 E37, “Alone Together”
In this special issue examining queer futurity in children’s and youth media, my article examines how the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe creates space for children to engage in the project of building queer futures. I use Marah Gubar’s kinship model of childhood to argue for a child who acts alongside adults in the present to imagine a brighter, queerer future. As Steven works with his adult guardians, creating outposts of a queer utopia in the present, he demonstrates a queer child activism that positions children not as the reason for the future but as co-authors of it. Ultimately, I suggest that perhaps we need a little more “kid stuff” in order to build a queerer future.
You can read the article here.
FAN
(A Keywords Entry)
In Keywords for Children’s Literature and Education, edited by Lissa Paul & Philip Nel, special issue of Brock Education, vol. 27, no. 1, Apr. 2018.
Image: the cover image from Rainbow Rowell’s 2013 YA novel Fangirl, from https://www.rainbowrowell.com/fangirl.
Building on Raymond Williams’ “keywords” concept of exploring the history and contentious usage of important cultural terms and expanding Lissa Paul and Philip Nel’s Keywords for Children’s Literature (NYU Press, 2011), this special issue includes essays that explore the complex meanings of keywords important to both children’s literature and children’s education. My entry on the term “Fan” demonstrates the connections between the idea of a fan and the idea of a child, examines the role of fans and fandom culture in contemporary children’s media, and posits the potential benefits of incorporating fandom practices in the classroom. In tracing some of the intersections between Fandom Studies and Children’s Literature, I showcase the ways in which “fan” as a keyword can illuminate both problems and potential solutions in children’s media and education.
You can read the essay here.