Political scientists have lots of tools at their disposal to help students understand the richness and complexity of political events, policies and issues. We have text books written by our expert colleagues, we have academic publications in journals that delve into the issues by applying accepted methodology and critical thought, we have excellent government reports and lots of opportunity to learn through symposia and conferences... and we have... the political cartoon.
I think that sometimes that people discount the capacity of a well-drawn cartoon to capture in one panel the breadth and depth of a political event. Cartoons are often scattered throughout textbooks and one might assume that they are there for comic relief (i.e. for relief from reading a 600 page textbook) but they have much more value than a simple scattering of humour throughout the serious pages of description and analysis. Political cartoons have the capacity to tell a story and to clarify very difficult concepts. They can also reveal the unspoken truths about our political culture.
There is one important caveat to this: political cartoons require a certain kind of literacy. In an article entitled, "Young people's reading of a political cartoon and the concept of multimodal literacy, authors Elisabeth El Refaie and Kathrin Hrschelmann argue that: "newspaper cartoons are a good example of multimodal texts" which means that they combine both words and symbols. And, "[w]hile some people believe that this makes cartoons easier to understand than purely verbal text, there is growing evidence that reading cartoons is, in fact, a highly complex process that requires people to draw on a whole range of different literacies."
The fact is political cartoonists assume that their audience is familiar with international and domestic political culture. Moreover they make reference to central ideas in political studies, like nationalism, power and identity politics and they assume you will "get it." Sometimes you have to understand the nature of institutions like the House of Commons or the Senate or the workings of the electoral system. And, on top of all that, you generally have to know the politicians who are the butt of the joke. Cartoonists often exaggerate features, like big noses, or big ears or they drop in familiar symbols, like flags or cultural icons in order to put emphasis on particular characteristics so that people or nationalities are easily recognizable.
I am writing all this because there were lots of potential issues to write about this week. But what can I say about Alison Redford's decision to resign? I could have just gone into the vault of the 76 columns I've written for the Citizen and pulled out the many where I lament the loss of trust between politicians and the electorate or the ones where I have asked how it is possible for smart people to make such poor decisions. But if you look up a few political cartoons it does not seem necessary to raise those issues again. In Wednesday's Citizen (go ahead and check the recycling) you'll see Greg Perry's cartoon of Alison Redford (Perry focuses on the chin, cheek bones and that familiar hair-do). He's got her starring in a production of "The Incredible Shrinking Caucus" and the "show" is rated GU for "getting ugly." Such a great cartoon tells us in one panel that Redford's own caucus has had enough of her leadership. She will resign tomorrow.
And what can I say about the weak political rhetoric that Canada and the US will "sanction" Russia for its illegal move into Crimea? Probably nothing as accurate as the cartoon that appeared in the Globe and Mail by Brian Gable in which two Canadian truckers are making a U-turn at the Russian border. The Russian soldiers are saying, "Trade sanctions...They're playing hardball." The punch line is that the truck is delivering maple syrup. Or Gary Clement's cartoon in the National Post in which President Obama looks forlorn sitting at his desk with Jay Carney holding up a phone receiver. A voice at the other end says, "Nyah, nyah, nya, nay, nyah" and Carney is saying, "Russia on line one again, sir."
Sometimes a picture tells a thousand words and a political cartoon can tell a thousand truths.
