Noe’s Comics Nook: I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp

Review

I Escaped a Chinese Interment Camp is the recounting of the true story of Zumrat Dawut, a mother of three in the Xinjiang region of China, who was arrested and sent to a detention facility due to her identity as a Muslim. During her detainment, she experienced assault, torture, attempted “reeducation,” and more. Upon release, she and her family enacted a plan to flee the country and come to the United States – which, they were, luckily successful in doing.

Originally published online by Insider, this is comics journalism at its finest (it did literally win a Pulitzer Prize) and is something we see far too little of nowadays (obligatory RIP The Nib here). Anthony Del Col conducted interviews with Dawut and developed the script, while Fahmida Azim handled drawing the comic – after several artists declined out of fear. A host of additional hands touched this book, from Josh Adams art direction, to Walter Hickey’s editing, Rebecca Good’s coloring, and Taylor Esposito’s lettering. I believe having a strong, diverse set of hands on this story made it as good as it is, and each element shines through.

In this expanded, print edition, readers also get insight into what happened after the comic came out, as well as a bunch of great process work. Don’t underestimate the value of this kind of behind-the-scenes material – it is a great way to help budding comics journalists find their way! In addition, this version includes a teaching guide and suggested online resources for learning more about the Uyghur people and the ongoing conditions on the ground.

Elements of Story

Plot: This comic documents the story of Zumrat Dawut, a mother of three in the Xinjiang region of China, who was brutally assaulted and detained for being Muslim, and her escape from the country.

Characters: Zumrat Dawut; Dawut Family; Anonymous State Agents

Major Settings: Xinjiang, China; Uyghur detention facility; United States

Themes: Genocide; Assault; Trauma; Propaganda; Journalism; Refugees

Lesson Plan Idea Using Common Core Standards (CCS) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9 – Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

Directions: This edition of I Escaped a Chinese Interment Camp includes a great teaching guide already, appropriate for use or adaptation at a range of grade levels and time available. With that in mind, rather than try to reinvent the wheel for a plan for just this book, I want to suggest a larger unit approach.

Using a “theme centered” approach, we focus on internment and genocide. Using both the comic, I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp and the comics available on the Cartoonists for Palestine site (https://cartoonistsforpalestine.org/), this approach encourages students to read about multiple attempts to reduce or eliminate a people and their culture. By reading multiple individual accounts of what this kind of assault is like, students will have the opportunity to discover what is common and what is unique across global genocidal conflicts. 

This approach will be complex, and emotionally challenging. While I have suggested Cartoonists for Palestine, since it is a timely and freely available set of stories, this could be done with a number of other comics, or other media, on any number of ongoing conflicts. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security maintains a list of ongoing genocide alerts (https://www.lemkininstitute.com/active-genocide-alert) and there is likely reporting, in comics form, for every one on that list. 

Once a specific set of conflicts has been identified, and readings selected, the entire class should take time to read these (together, in class, if possible) and then a discussion should follow, both immediately after and a few days later after students have had a chance to process the reading. From there, conduct a full-class brainstorming to identify common themes across the readings, as well as to identify those themes that are unique to a given region. Then, introduce students to the ten stages of genocide (https://www.genocidewatch.com/tenstages) and work through the readings to identify where each story fits into this structure. 

The goal for this assignment is to invite discussion and group education, rather than focusing on individual performance or achievement. I highly recommend sticking to a group approach for this topic.