By: Jason Turbeville on June 21, 2018
When I first opened up Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang, I was surprised to see a graphic novel. I love graphic novels, I have been reading them for most of my life. The one thing about graphic novels is they are a quick read but they convey so much through the artistic medium. In…
By: Jennifer Williamson on June 21, 2018
Therefore, visual ethnography…does not claim to reproduce an objective or truthful account of reality, but should offer versions of ethnographers’ experiences of reality that are as loyal as possible to the context, the embodied, sensory, and affective experiences, and the negotiations and intersubjectivities through which the knowledge was produced.[1] Sarah Pink’s explanation of visual ethnography…
By: Jay Forseth on June 21, 2018
Now that was different! But, I liked it. Yang’s Boxers and Saints made me think from two different and new perspectives of the Chinese people in regards to foreign Christian missionaries “invading” their homeland. Little peasant boy Bao and his village felt abused and plundered by Westerners, while odd girl Vibiana is taken in by Christian…
By: Shawn Hart on June 21, 2018
Anime(Wikipedia): a style of hand-drawn and computer animation originating in, and commonly associated with Japan Manga(Wikipedia): comics created in Japan, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. Hentai(Wikipedia): a form of manga and anime pornography Henna (Wikipedia): can refer to the temporary body art resulting from the staining of the…
By: Chris Pritchett on June 21, 2018
Yang’s Boxers and Saints is an engaging way to introduce our cohort to the Boxer Rebellion that took place in China in at the turn of the twentieth century. To be candid, my knowledge of the Boxer Rebellion is virtually now limited to Yang’s perspective. There is much for me to learn of this part…
By: Trisha Welstad on June 21, 2018
When looking at the cover of Boxers & Saints, one might think they are a two-part story of one person but upon closer inspection and, especially after diving into the text, the reader learns Boxers & Saints are two different people’s perspective to the same story of China at the turn of the twentieth century.…
By: Greg on June 21, 2018
Yang’s books Boxers and Saints[1], were both captivating and heart retching at the same time. I am not an avid graphic novel reader so I entered into these books a little leery of what to expect. I was surprised how engaging these books were and how if began a discussion in my circles in ways…
By: Jim Sabella on June 21, 2018
As you travel on the backroads in the eastern parts of Europe you will often see a small chapel right in the middle of the field. The chapels are made of stone and brick maybe 4 feet by 4 feet by 7 feet high, usually in the form of a grotto. Many of them are…
By: Mark Petersen on June 21, 2018
Gene Luen Yang’s two-part graphic novel series, Boxers & Saints, was an unconventional way to introduce our cohort to the Boxer Rebellion, the turn-of-the-(20th)-century resistance by Chinese against foreign rule in China. Uncovering a more nuanced history is a good remedy for those of us who are trapped by our cultural blinders. Up to now,…
By: Mary Walker on June 21, 2018
With these thoughts churning in my head, I recalled my life in China, my family and all those people I knew, and at that moment I longed to tell the world our stories and how the Chinese really felt. My urge to write returned.[1] Grandmother, Mother, Jung (with ribbons in hair) and siblings. Jung Chang…
By: Dave Watermulder on June 20, 2018
In a recent LA Times article, Charles C Camosy, a professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University asks the question, was “the Star Wars Rebel Alliance freedom fighters or terrorists?”[1]After all, the “rebels” were a group of people who “were willing to kill innocent people to advance a political agenda.”[2] As an ethicist, Camosy…
By: Stu Cocanougher on June 20, 2018
What is worship? I have seen a lot of things which are called “worship,” that are less than inspirational. A visit to a large Church in America might expose you to a carefully prepared performance by talented soloists, backed by professional musicians who are paid to play at their “church gig” every Sunday. Some…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on June 20, 2018
What an amazing story of China’s history seen through the lens of multi-generational women. The trials and hardships they experienced were intense, as they were often traded, oppressed, and marginalized like objects. The resiliency of each woman was impressive and inspirational as they survived torture, war, cultural oppression, and abusive relationships while taking care of…
By: Dan Kreiss on June 20, 2018
The second Boxer Rebellion in China as the century turned from the 19thto the 20th(by Western reckoning) was a response to the evident imperialism of European nations and the exploitation of a people and the resources of a long isolated region. Sadly, frequently complicit in this were missionaries and other representatives of the Christian church.…
By: Lynda Gittens on June 20, 2018
Author Juno Chang, in her book Wild Swans, she shares her family story. She reveals a great love story although torn with problems yet overthrown with love. Who doesn’t like a good love story? Her grandmother was given to General Xua as a cumberbine. This was not acceptable to her, but she had…
By: Mary Walker on June 20, 2018
Here is the web address for my Prezi, “The Road to Finishing Well” https://prezi.com/p/tvqokz_ojf3t/
By: Katy Drage Lines on June 20, 2018
“Let me become a cat or a dog, but not a woman”[1] Throughout the narrative telling of twentieth-century Chinese history, we observe the move from traditional society to idealistic Communism, on to the Cultural Revolution—a power-centric second iteration of Communism, and the messy outcomes of years of distrust and revenge. Jung Chang’s Wild Swans: Three…
By: Mike on June 20, 2018
Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers and Saints is a gruesome story told in a graphic-novel format based around the Boxer Rebellion in China. Yang offers two opposing fictional perspectives via a visual medium in a comic-book style presentation. One perspective, Boxers is anti-Christian that displays the “Boxers,” skilled in martial arts, driving out the Colonial devils…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on June 19, 2018
Reading Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang was an interesting introduction to the Boxer Rebellion that I was not previously familiar with. I enjoyed the lighter version of reading and found it a very creative medium to communicate such a horrific story. Wesley Yang (a different Yang 🙂 ) summarized it well by stating,…
By: Kristin Hamilton on June 19, 2018
There is no way to capture the sadness, disgust, awe, and prophetic fear I felt when I read Jung Chang’s Wild Swans. This is what rolled through me when I tried: “We are so much better, so much more civilized;” Western eyes roll in disgust; Atrocities through three generations; But don’t we have our…
