Comics Telling Refugee Stories

Abstract

This chapter considers how comics have asserted their presence as a vehicle for advocacy and representation in the context of the contemporary 'refugee crisis'. It adopts a survey approach in order to recognize both patterns and differences. Such a sweeping glance will inevitably lead to omissions, and even those comics mentioned will arguably not be afforded the full attention they deserve. Yet, taking into account a greater number of examples is necessary in order to answer the question underpinning this chapter: if such a category is a tenable proposition, what constitutes 'refugee comics'?The first concern raised by this categorization relates to the political dimensions of language, and the need for careful attention to expressions and terminology. The ongoing global 'crisis' of forced migration and displacement of people is undeniably a crisis for nation-states politically, in terms of infrastructural support, social and public services, and so on. The commonplace framing of the consequences thereof as a humanitarian crisis presents a necessary call to action, then, but tends to obscure specific

Sugar, Spice, and the Not So Nice

“…1 The graphic narratives addressed in this chapter "span a factual-fictional continuum" (Mickwitz, 2020b, 279). The corpus is a sample of recent Danish, Italian, Canadian and US "refugee comics" (Rifkind;Mickwitz, 2020a;2020b). Three of these works were created by women authors and one by men.…”

“…Refugee comics and crisis comics in general participate in this ethical solicitation. As Chute (2016), Davies and Rifkind, Mickwitz (2020a;2020b) and Polak (2017) argue, the form of comics, based on fragmentation, multiple points of view and gutters, makes them especially apt to illustrate atrocity, trauma and memory. In Ethics in the Gutter, Polak suggests that comics "fictionalized treatments seek to comment on representational ethics, the ethics of spectatorship, and how point of view creates pathways for identification" (1).…”

Reading Comics with Aby Warburg: Collaging Memories

“…3) (2004, p. 20). The supposedly objective photograph-already layered with some subjectivity through the presence of the drawing hand-acquires emotional import while enacting the distance that enables the protagonist's insights (see, for instance, Mickwitz 2016 andCook 2012). Correspondingly, in a later sequence of portraits, Marco reflects on the relationship between the artist and his work (2004, p. 46).…”

Türkleri̇n 89 Göçünün Di̇ji̇tal Çi̇zgi̇ Romani: “Geri̇ye Kalanlar”

“…Göç, göç eğitimi ve göçmenlikle ilgili yapılmış ve yayınlanmış birçok çizgi roman çalışması ile literatürde karşılaşılmaktadır (Boatright, 2011;Serrano, 2021;Mckinney, 2021;Kauranen & Löytty 2020;Soloup, 2019;Petronio, 2017;Gedgaudaite, 2020;Mc-Nicol, 2018;Singer, 2020;Bigelow & Singer, 2021;Appleton, 2019;Nappi & Stanczyk, 2015;Davies 2019;Howell, 2016;Mickwitz, 2020;Choi, 2021;Davies 2020;Danzac, 2011;Kugler, 2018). Bu yayınların konu olarak Türk-Yunan mübadelesi, Suriyeli mülteciler, Meksikalı göçmenler, Cezayir-Fransız göç durumları, göçmen hikâyelerinin çizgi romanlaştırılması gibi birçok farklı açıdan ortaya çıkmaktadır.…”

“…1989 göçünü yaşayanların anıları ve tarihi gerçekler üzerinden geliştirilen bu çizgi roman çalışmasına benzer bazı çalışmaların özellikle yabancı literatürde yer aldığı görülmektedir (Boatright, 2011;Serrano, 2021;Mckinney, 2021;Kauranen & Löytty 2020;Soloup, 2019;Petronio, 2017;Gedgaudaite, 2020;McNicol, 2018;Singer, 2020;Bigelow & Singer, 2021;Appleton, 2019;Nappi & Stanczyk, 2015;Davies 2019;Howell, 2016;Mickwitz, 2020;Choi, 2021;Davies 2020;Danzac, 2011;Kugler, 2018). Özellikle 1922 yılında gerçekleşen Türk-Yunan mübadelesini çizgi romanlaştıran Soloup yapılan bu çalışma ile benzer manada bir çizgi roman ortaya koymuştur.…”