Remediating Kalimán: Digital Evolutions of Eugenic Agents

Abstract

Kalimán is a Mexican superhero that has circulated Orientalist eugenic values for over fifty years across Latin America. Although Indian, and wearing traditional Indian subcontinental clothing, distinguishable only by a jewel-encased “K” on his turban, Kalimán is a muscular, blue-eyed, and white character. He was created in 1963 as the main protagonist of a radio series that spawned a comic magazine in 1965, two films in 1972 and 1976, and animations and video games in the early 2010s, in a massive process of remediation that has guaranteed a solid mark in the cultural patrimony of the Americas. Since Kalimán incarnates impulses of punishment and desire over racially contaminated brown and black characters, his undisturbed, easy-to-access, and enduring presence provides evidence of deeply ingrained anti-Asian violence in Latin American popular culture, as well as the urge to develop a critical look at graphic violence traditions which continue to be treasured.