Wars, Recoveries, Politics in Graphic Novels

Wars destroy human beings on the material, corporeal and psychological levels by forging premature unnatural deaths, losses and irretrievable destruction of what is formerly stable, familiar and beloved. Now living safely away from the first-hand experiences of war, how can we tell or study war stories in a way that do justice both to the victims and to the survivors, who are still traumatized by real events and by the burden of haunting memories? How can we teach a war in the past that was technically over, yet, still resonate in many ways with other social crises of our time? Does telling war stories equate to the way in which wars were experienced first hand? Then, how do representation and storytelling in art forms mediate the situation of possible reoccuring violence? Led by these questions, this course will examine a particular medium–graphic novel–which carries with itself the richness of visual, narrative and linguistic components. We will question how this particular medium along with the genre of war navigate the proximity and distance to violence and war memories We will discuss visual and narrative techniques, topics, and critical aspects that arise from experiences and memories of wars as well as post-war trauma in four main graphic novels from different historical contexts and geographical locations. Students will not only engage with the aesthetic aspect of graphic novels but will also have to participate in discussing political contexts, and ways in which we can address wars in relation to politics and ethics. Students will learn critical vocabularies that are often used to analyze graphic novels and comics while also engaging in critical theory and discussions around aesthetic and politics of this medium.

Satisfies General Education Requirements:

• Group-Satisfying: Arts and Letters
• Multicultural Courses: Identity, Pluralism, and Tolerance (IP)