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A Whisper in the Wind graphic novel cover and episode.

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A Whisper in the Wind (comic)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Author: Templeton Kronecker (Omeed Jahangiri)

Illustrators: Templeton Kronecker and Y.Yu

Collaborator: Y.Yu (Yong Yu)

  *Episode Page Here

 Introduction [YY]

           A Whisper in the Wind is a historical fiction graphic novel that is set in the early 2000s of Johannesburg, South Africa, but surrounds the Dutch colonization of the Africans in the 1600s. It is influenced by The Legend of the Greek Soldier which is integrated into the foundation of the story plot. The narrative begins with a father who strays from the ideals of his political group and is killed as a result. The rest of the story revolves around the father’s two sons who each represent a different conflicting belief. This graphic novel comments upon the endless cycle of discrimination and prejudice that develops when there is differences in races or physical appearance.

 Setting [OJ]

Johannesburg, South Africa post-apartheid (early 2000s). Upper middle-class/high class white gated community vs. slums filled with Black Africans. Contrary to what most would believe, there are still racial, economic, political, and social tensions within the now unified country of South Africa.

 Plot [OJ]

The story begins as a flashback recounting Maico’s life during the apartheid and his efforts in helping the African National Congress end apartheid and inequality. However because of this, members of his own political party murder him for what they label as treason for helping the Africans.

            Guus, the older of Maicos’s two sons, is a troublemaker who was born before Apartheid was ended. Like many other boys in his community, he is part of the Afrikaner nationalistic organization, the Kommandokorps, and is taught to only tolerate other Afrikaners or whites. On the other hand, Aurter is the younger of Maico’s two sons and was born after the apartheid. Having attended a racially diverse school and a best friend who is African, Aurter is tolerant and supportive of Africans and all other races. However, he still experiences discrimination from other African boys as he is constantly bullied and teased. The story follows the daily lives of both of these boys, illustrating the political, social, and economic inequalities that are still existing within their South African city.

            The readers learn that the country’s problems did not simply end when Nelson Mandela raised his fist, but are still continuing strongly up to today. Readers observe that in South Africa, the whites can be seen as the weak minority to the overpowering Black African majority who marginalize the whites within the cities. Ultimately, with the death of Aurter during the middle of a gang fight between Guus’s gang and a rival African gang, the reader learns that the voice of the righteous are ignored and bashed when two extreme beliefs clash together. As a result, there is perpetual conflict and growing inequalities.

 Characters [OJ]

Maico van de Laak: The “Greek soldier” and father to Aurter and Guus. An Afrikaner politician for the Afrikaner National Party serving as a huge activist during the Apartheid period who sides with the African National Congress to end it. Ends up being killed by his own party for his righteous cause and efforts towards equality.

Guus van de Laak: Maico’s 19 year old son who, like other boys within his community, is a part of the Kommandokorps, which is an Afrikaner nationalistic organization. Growing up during the Apartheid and learning within the Kommandokorps, Guus becomes the stereotypical Afrikaner young adult who highly discriminates the Africans in South Africa. These ideals also stem from him wanting to prove that he isn’t an unfaithful traitor to his race like his father was.

Aurter van de Laak: Maico’s 8 year old son and Guus’s younger brother who is a very intelligent and peaceful child that grows up after the apartheid. His tolerance towards other races stems from growing up post-apartheid and attending a racially diverse school where he meets his best friend, Kanu, an African boy who comes from the unprivileged and poor slums of Johannesburg. Being bullied and teased by other Africans, Aurter learns and experiences that his race are also victims of the national racism and discrimination that one would think only happens towards the black Africans.

 Themes and Social Critique [YY]

           A Whisper in the Wind tells the story of a society which is separated by racial, socioeconomic, political, and social dispute. Based upon the real life colonialism by the Dutch and English upon the Black African majority in the mid-1600s, the graphic novel illustrates a never ending issue of inequality between two groups. The end of the apartheid era is supposed to end discrimination and prejudice, but it seems nothing has changed. Due to the history of the white Afrikaner colonizing the city of Johannesburg with the intention of enslaving the native Africans, there is constant tension between the two communities. The white Afrikaners are still able to hold most of the power and land in the country. Because of this, the Africans have no power or say in how to make a change in the city and they must continue living in poverty. The Africans are unable prevent their economic and social situation because of their lack of political power, but the Afrikaners seem to ignore this fact as they continue to look down upon their race and blame them for their own conditions.  

           When Maico, an Afrikaner politician for the Afrikaner National Party, is betrayed by his own party for trying to help the Africans, it shows the consequences of straying from the social norm. Maico had disrupted the political, social, and racial balance that had existed for so long and so he was seen as a traitor. While the Afrikaners looked down upon the Blacks, they also were scared of them. The Africans outnumbered the whites and could easily overthrow them. In the back of their minds, the Afrikaners were afraid of what the Blacks would do in return for their treatment in the past and the present because they knew deep down that what they were doing was wrong. Instead of mending the relationship, the Afrikaners chose to keep a division between them and force the Blacks to stay in poor conditions so they could not gain power. This is a clear example of internal colonialism as physical and psychological forces are employed to separate a groups.

           With the end of Maico comes a new generation which is represented by his two sons. The oldest son Guus represents the old world where boys are taught to only tolerate other Afrikaners or whites and conditioned to discriminate the Africans. He cannot help but have a prejudice towards the Blacks, which is further fueled by his need to prove that he is not a traitor like his father. Maico’s youngest son Aurter on the other hand, represents the new world. Growing up in post-apartheid and attending a racially diverse school allows him to develop a tolerance towards other races. Through his experience of both classes, Aurter represents the possibility of unity between the two groups.

           Despite the obvious imbalance in power, the Africans are discovered not to be completely blameless or helpless. Blacks take advantage of the policies of affirmative action and black economic empowerment. The Africans are able to get back some power from the Afrikaners by taking jobs away from them and somewhat improving life for themselves. Also, in the city and countryside, the Africans are not afraid to physically lash out their frustrations and attack the whites. Discrimination becomes a two way street and presents the reader a situation where it is difficult to choose the true victim. The Blacks feel hopeless and are forced to become the violent, dangerous savages that the Afrikaners saw them as. But as the Afrikaners continue to separate themselves from them and so does the endless cycle of discrimination and prejudice. In the end, Aurter is killed in a fight between Guus’s gang and a rival African gang. His death shows the hopelessness of peace when there exists two clashing extremes in belief. With that, the reader sees that political, racial, and economic inequalities are perpetual conflicts.

Influences [OJ]

           The foundation of the story comes from the legend of the Greek soldier, which is a lesser known myth. A Greek soldier from World War II was captured and killed by fellow Greeks upon his return after the war for his differing political beliefs. He was never able to return to his fiancé, thus causing him to travel to nearby cities where he lived where he seduces and impregnates young women and virgins. After the children are born, the women receive a note from the man who impregnating them stating he came back from the dead to have children who could avenge his death.

            Within the narrative the father, Maico van de Laak, serves as the “Greek Soldier” and he is killed by members of his own political party for his toleration of differing political views. He has two sons who he hopes can carry on his legacy, but only one tends to be moving towards that path, as the other supports the radical Afrikaner political group.  There is this legacy of the Greek Soldier trying to avenge his death and in the story there is the same legacy of trying to fix the broken pieces and lasting fragmentation that the end of the apartheid did not do.

            As a counter-narrative in the story, the myth addresses how in times of crisis, men must live fearful times as a differing political or religious belief can ultimately cause their death by what a majority believes. The myth also serves as a way to illustrate the lasting effects of political repercussions on a highly fragmented nation as described in the previous paragraph.

            Within the myth there is this concept of children who are born in violence.  The Greek soldier is using the children that he fathers as an act of vengeance and ultimately he is inducing the birth of violent children. Within the setting of South Africa, these “violent children” are those born during or before the apartheid period. They carry the values of segregation and discrimination that are passed down with each generation either in Afrikaner communities of African communities. This idea is especially exemplified within the story through Guus, who is born during the apartheid and supports/carries its values. Every new generation of Afrikaner and African children learn the legacy or pain and suffering of their ancestors from the opposite race.  Thus, the violence and negative values built upon racism and colonialism are recycled with every passing generation in South Africa. This explains why although the apartheid is over, there are still mounting tensions between the diverse populations in South Africa. However, those born out of violence serve as the hope for the future. These generations are more willing to form their own values and opinions, in which tolerance and equality are sprouted. This idea is exemplified through characters such as Aurter and Kanu who are born after the apartheid and are interracial best friends. These characters serve as the inhibitors of the recycling of violence and negative values.

            Another influence to the story is Dreams in Time of War by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. In this story by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, everyday life is very bland and regular in which the true aspects of life in a certain region can be told first handedly by an inhabitant themselves. In the story the reader is able to envision the effects of British colonial rule on the changing environment and indigenous inhabitants of the country. However, through these everyday accounts, the reader is able to learn that daily life wasn’t filled with war and violence that one would assume from the title or of the place-time.  Thiong’o recounts his experiences of boys being boys, family work, or just going to the local doctor.  No extreme assumptions are made and the reader is able to use their experience from the grammar of everyday life they read in the story to understand how life truly was in such a setting. Within A Whisper in the Wind, there’s an attempt to create a similar narrative recounting the daily lives of the two main characters to allow the reader to sort out the struggles and joys of everyday life within the setting of the story. The reader can thus learn that although the setting is placed post-apartheid, there are still daily struggles between the diverse populations in South Africa through conflicts in the storyline, whether it be a fight between an Afrikaner and African at school, or an African labor protest. The reader can also learn about the other counter narrative within the story, Afrikaner/white victimhood, through daily events such as the murder of an Afrikaner farmer, or inability for Afrikaners to have sufficient access to economic benefits due to African economic empowerment.

  Visual and Literary References [OJ]

Within the story, the areas in which the white Afrikaners live are well kept, visually appealing, and symbolic of modern gated communities. These Afrikaners dress in the highest fashion, appearing well groomed and always at their best when in public. The children tend to be dressed well, never appearing dirty from playing during the day for fear of repercussions. However the troublemakers tend to wear gang clothing and sport swastikas or the triskelion of the AWB resembling neo-Nazi thugs.

            On the other hand, the blacks tend to appear extremely poor and malnourished dressed in dusty old cloths, rags, and ripped shoes or sandals. The occasional wealthy black citizen is well dressed, of course, and the traditional Zulu elders or medicine-men appear in traditional garb. Many of these black Africans live in tightly packed shacks that form slums which contain high rates of disease and crime.

            Walls along streets are covered with murals of liberation and hardships during apartheid and graffiti. City infrastructure is poor in most areas and there are many stray animals in these poor areas. There are small pockets of nature within neighborhoods, but for the most part, buildings are packed and crowded together. Paintings, murals, literature, and traditional music make up most of the culture within the city. Examples of such are viewed along vendor stalls, heard while passing neighborhoods, or seen when riding through the city.

            Although the setting is post-apartheid, the portrayal of daily life within the city is still highly segregated and fragmented. Afrikaner boys like Guus tend to hang out with other Afrikaners in only Afrikaner neighborhoods or businesses in which other races are rarely seen or permitted access. For most Afrikaner boys daily life is pretty regular, including activities such as going to school, being involved in extracurricular activities such as soccer or rugby, or hanging out at the local ice cream shop with Afrikaner girls. However for the boys is Afrikaner gangs, they serve as guards for the Afrikaner communities by ridding those who don’t belong; non-Afrikaners. On the other hand African boys are only able to go to school if they can afford it and most end up having to drop out to help their families put food on the table. These boys work hard labor such as agricultural or mechanical work in which they serve Afrikaners. These African boys also only stick in their own neighborhoods and don’t hesitate to question somebody who doesn’t belong there. Thus, what’s illustrated in these accounts of daily life is the continuing segregation and discrimination, rather than tolerance and acceptance of civil rights, that one would think ending the apartheid would cause.

            Boys like Aurter tend to represent the hope for a better future in terms of relations between diverse races within South Africa. Growing up alongside one of his best friends, an African boy of the same age named Kanu, Aurter has gained respect from a lot of Africans in the neighborhood that Kanu is from. Aurter prefers hanging out there with Kanu after school and helps Kanu with chores, builds neighborhood shacks, or just kicks around a soccer ball with the other boys of the neighborhood. However, the African boys who have the same mindset of Guus tend to give Aurter a lot of trouble, in which Aurter comes home with new scrapes and bruises every day. However, Aurter never fights back, knowing the importance of his good standing with many other Black Africans within the neighborhood.

            Thus there are daily occurrences of discrimination not only of Afrikaners towards blacks, but also blacks towards Afrikaners. The Afrikaners only make up a minority of the population within the city and country as a whole, surrounded by an overwhelming African majority. It’s not rare that an Afrikaner of the lower class is attacked or murdered by Africans in a city, but it is more apparent in the countryside. Although a majority of the Africans are poor, they have taken advantage of policies of affirmative action and black economic empowerment that came from the end of apartheid, allowing them to take the jobs and limit the power of many Afrikaners. As a result, daily life also accounts the victimization of white Afrikaners as they struggle to find sufficient and respectable jobs, as well as protect themselves from bitter Black Africans that are not afraid to attack Afrikaners.

 Graphic Novel Episode Summary and Analysis [YY]

Kronecker released a short one page “episode” call the Beginning to give a sneak peak of A Whisper in the Wind. The episode focused on the background story of the two main character’s father Maico. With a simple drawing style and descriptive narration, the short installment tells of how Maico is killed by his own political party for going against their beliefs. One scene that stands out the most is when Maico returns home to his two sons, Guus and Aurter, who have conflicting opinions on what their father is doing to end inequality. While Aurter welcomes his father home, Guus verbally states his displeasure. The two sons represent the division in their current generation and their varying tolerance of different races. Later, an Afrikaner shows up at Maico’s door and takes him away. Instead of masking the identity of the stranger, Kronecker wants to make sure the viewer knows who the culprit is to make the statement that there is no bond when one betrays the group. The episode ends with Maico being found hung outside the city. His own political party had taken the time to take him outside the city and use a form of execution that was thought to be only fit for lowly Africans. This shows once one is considered a traitor to the group’s beliefs, even if it was for the greater good, there is no forgiveness. It is quite interesting that through this form of execution, Maico is represented as equals with the Africans; something in which he ultimately believed in and fought for.

 References [YY]

"Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

"Apartheid." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Cline, Damon. "Post-apartheid South Africa Still Struggling." The Augusta Chronicle. N.p., 22

Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Nigel, Worden, The making of modern South Africa: Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid, 3rd

ed. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2000) p. 3.

          Thiongʼo, Ngugi Wa. Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir. New York: Pantheon,

2010. Print.

          Womack, Craig S. Drowning in Fire. Tucson: U of Arizona, 2001. Print.

York, Geoffrey. "Two Decades after Apartheid Ended, Racial Tensions Rattling South

                        Africa." The Globe and Mail. N.p., 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

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Sketchbook 11 Counter-Narrative Sketch

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BDS movement, Kufiyyat, Haifa, and Nabka Day images. (in order)

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Sketchbook 11

1.       Kufiyyat: Traditional headdresses worn by Arab men to protect their eyes, nose, mouth, and heads from dust, sand storms, the sun and to protect their identities.

      Nabka Day: For the Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that preceded and followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

      Haifa: Largest city in North Israel and a major port city.

      BDS Campaign: A global campaign attempting to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with the stated goals of the movement: the end of Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian land, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and respect for the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

                                                        2. A political issue that has been extremel;y conrovbersial in the recent decade in Iran has been the issue of its Nuclear Program. The program itself “was part of a broader attempt to become more self-reliant in arms and technology in the 1980s” (Chubin). However, the program may also be a product of the revolutions “need for legitimacy and Iranian nationalism’s quest for respect and international status” (Chubin). The outside world fears that Iran may be using the program to develop Nuclear arms. However, a large focus of the program is to promise energy independence and create scientific progress and development.

3. The persistance of the Nuclear Program under foreign pressure is depicted by the Iranian regime as an assertion of Iranian rights against foreign arrogance. As a foreigner its very easy to see the program as a threat, but as an Iranian, it’s also obvious that the program is benign, rather than malicious. The program symbolizes a hope for a return to scientific progress and development that has been highly suppressed by Islamic regimes and independence from foreign energy. With mounting conflicts in the Middle East in the past decade it’s obvious why the program is a huge issue. Iran’s relations with Israel is opposite to that of the US, which is why the program is seen as a threat for US allies in the Middle East.

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Sketchbook 9 and 10 one page comic

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Sketchbook 9 and 10

1.                 I once again entered the lab twenty minutes late, under the intimated stares of my lab technicians. My name is Joseph Keppachah and I was born and raised in poverty among six siblings on a Navajo Reservation. However, at the age of fourteen, I’m on the verge of creating a drug that would allow a patient to gain immortality. No more diseases, viruses, or fear of death from old age. You see, I may seem like a normal teen boy, but not even Einstein and Newton combined have the intelligence that I do. I was taken from my family when I was discovered by the government as a prodigy and have been living on a top secret government compound ever since. That was three years ago. I think the year is now 2052.

 2.                 Joseph Keppachah is a poor young Navajo Indian boy from a reservation in Arizona. Joseph doesn’t own many possessions but believes that he only holds one, which is the dearest to him. It’s a normal old college-ruled mead writing journal with an illustration of the flight of Daedalus and Icarus on the cover. The journal contains all the algorithms, pharmaceuticals, and secret information that goes into the drug. Joseph is always carrying it in his right arm and never lets it out of his sight.

 3.                 Joseph woke up to the compounds alarm blaring in a smoke filled sterilization room. As he looked around, he saw broken test tubes, papers scattered everywhere. The room was a complete train wreck. He immediately grabbed around for his journal but it was nowhere to be found. He thought to himself, “What just happened and how long have I been out?” None of his technicians, nor security personnel were anywhere to be found so he tried to find a way out. At the end of the corridor was a ray of light, which was probably how whoever caused this entered the compound. When he reached it, he peered outside, blinded by sunlight which he hasn’t seen for three years. Immediately a gun was pressed against his head by a cloaked figure. “You shouldn’t have flow too close to the sun,” the figure announced.

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SKetchbook 8: One panel graphic- Migrant in Dubai

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Sketchbook 8

        An example of a present day technology used in the film would be drones. Drones allow the pilot to carry out attacks without actually having to physically be in the drone or at the location where the attack is occurring. Thus creating a type of modern warfare in which the pilot does not have to physically see or be near his enemies to attack them. An obvious socioeconomic example from the film would be present day migrant workers. Many industries love such employees because they work very hard and accept low wages. The only problem is that there are so many and citizens within cities don’t want their populations being overrun by them. An ecological example from the film that could connect with many areas in the southwest and California during the present day would be the need for water/droughts. With increasing temperatures and change in the climate, droughts are popping up in many regions in the Southwest and there is a need for water, thus leading to pumping or canaling water from foreign sources or from other regions as seen in the film.

A very interesting present-day border city that is advancing very quickly would be Dubai. A very interesting technology is the web restrictions they’ve created that blacklist certain sites because as a Muslim country, the UAE is still conservative. It will help eradicate and extreme beliefs or western influences that would undermine the city’s Islamic foundation, thus separating foreigners from sites or beliefs that are acceptable in their own respectable societies. Dubai has very strict fiscal policies and sound government policies, topping it in socioeconomic development in the world. The city is rapidly advancing and growing as a very luxurious city. The availability of oil in the UAE is very important to future of the city. It would be a great place for a migrant worker to advance in the social ladder, however the standard of living is so high and the market is so competitive, that a poor migrant worker, like myself, would have a hard time living comfortably and finding easy work. 

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Dubai metro-pole and border city. 

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Drones, Migrant labor, Drought --- Sleep Dealer

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Sketchbook 7 one panel graphic

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Sketchbook 7

Indians in Kenya: Thousands of Indians settled in Kenya/Southeast Africa to work on the Uganda railway as indentured servants, while many others settled a merchants to expand their trade.

Mau Mau: Kikuyu dominated rebels that held a military conflict, or revolution, against the British army in Kenya.

  One deep structure that Thiong’o is establishing is colonialism. In this case it’s the settling of Indians into Kenya that occurred because the British held control of both Kenya and India with their empire around the same time. “Tea leaves were introduced in Limura in 1903, but to me, looking at the vast greenery in front of me, it looked as if the tea bushes had been part of this landscape from the beginning of time” (Thiong’o, 53). This is an ecological manifestation as the foreign settlers have deforested and planted large plots of tea plots for picking and sale. So much of it, that it seems like it’s a domestic plant as explained in the narrative.

“We progressed to more challenging designs and engineering: making toy biciycles, cars, trucks, buses with all the parts….but we also learned to make useful tools” (Thiong’o, 52). This passage serves as a counter-narrative because through the eyes of Europeans, Africans were seen as uncivilized savages who had no sense of knowledge. Thiong’o is providing information about how children were making complex tools and toys at a very young age, establishing how this master narrative of Africans is false and highly dehumanizing. In reality, they were just as civilized, but only held a less lavish and different form of civilization as Africans traditionalized with the village system.

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Mau Maus

Indians in Kenya

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Sketchbook 6 One Panel Graphic

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Sketchbook 6

Hitchiti: An indigenous tribe, who were honest and industrious, that resided in a town on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River in the Western part of Georgia.

Creek Indian Removal: Part of 19th century US Indian Removal Act, Creeks were relocated from around Alabama/Georgia, Tennessee area to Indian Territory in Oklahoma on the trail of tears.

“Uncle don’t let on like he’s mad, but he’s mad, but he is mad, madder than a bee with its stinger pulled….Meanwhile, Uncle quietly bends over the floorboard and scrapes, never looking up, dreaming of the dust patch that still holds him…” (Womack, 8).

Womack is clearly conveying the sense of oppression and racist hierarchal structure of whites over Native Americans in daily life. Although time has passed, Native Americans are still seen as savages, being forced to do the dirty work purposely caused by the white man to assert dominance. However, there is so much control and oppression that it’s almost useless and a waste of energy for any sort of retaliation or protest. The Native American continues to listen and be controlled. The only thing keeping them calm is their ties to culture, family, and homeland. They have lost almost everything due this reason, where almost all reservations have families living in great poverty.

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Hitchiti Tribe and Indian Removal