Chicanonautica: Ciberbandid@je in Paris

by Ernest Hogan

And suddenly, some of my art appears in Paris, in the Sorbonne, yet. It triggers flashbacks to that time in Oaxaca when I stumbled through explaining what the enfer a quesadilla was to some Sorbonne girls who had unwashed, uncombed travel hair, but that’s another story . . .

It starts with my getting a message from Colton “Cuca” Campbell, a student from my “Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style” class, and fellow contributor to Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow. He explained it in his Instagram announcement better than I could:

I presented my work at the Sorbonne yesterday for the 16th International Conference of the Image. I won an emerging scholar award from @commongroundresearchnetworks which allowed me to be able to travel and present here in Paris, and moderate some really incredible panels.

The work that I am doing on the concept of "Ciberbandid@je" is still very preliminary. In reaction to the rise of authoritarian violence in America, I responded as best as I could in my position as a scholar and a Chicano. Below is the abstract for the conference.

Xicanx people are indigenous to Aztlán, an internal colony with irredentist claims to the southwest territories of The United States of America. Under the Trump Administration, state sponsored terror in the form of digital psyops, surveillance, disappearances, and immigration raids threaten a protracted insurgency that desperately needs a way to protect its collective identity. The Güey Fawkes Mask is used to both protect the identities of the hacker collective Anonymous, as well as unify them under a single symbol. There needs to be a Xicanx version, more brown, less blush. This mask can unite Xicanx people in protest, rasquache constructed, with images indiscernible in basic form from the racist mannequins that dance across the red, white, blue, silver, and digital screens. Built as resistance, this research develops El Pachuco’s cyber camouflage: a Güey Fawkes Mask. The Mask of the Ciberbandid@. This symbol informs a decolonial pedagogical model while also being a practical tool for protest.

 

I asked a number of Xicanx artists for their own personal understandings of what the mask may look like, and I must thank everyone that contributed to the project SO FAR. Keep up with my work to see all the Ciberbandid@s!

In no order, muchisimas gracias to my compas, comrades, elders, and Ciberbandid@s all, that remain firm in our resistance.

Yup, I was one of those Xicanx artists, and I came up with my version of the mask, and a wanted poster. It felt good to work on my drawing chops. And it looks like we’re going to be needing some cartooning in the service of the resistance–pretty damn soon. Thank you, Cuca!

We’re talking about putting more of my art on display, but that also is another story . . .

Ernest Hogan is going over his notes for his class, thinking about the place of fantastic fiction in dangerous times.