Bandes dessinées et migrations : une cartographie visuelle

This course focuses on movements, migrations and crossings, desired or forced seen through a graphic narrative lens.  In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud states that “to define comics, we must first do a little aesthetic surgery and separate form from content.” As such, we will discuss the way in which graphic artists (illustrators, colorists and scriptwriters) narrate and draw displacements and migrations, taking a close look at the text-image relationships. We will examine how, in order to establish a cartography of human movements and imagine new spaces of functioning, these artists use images, spaces, colors and narration. Situated in the Franco-sphere, the texts studied are graphic narratives by authors such as Clément Baloup, Zeina Abirached, Tehem, Jessica Oublié, and Bessora to name only a few; focusing on movements to and from Africa, Asia, the overseas departments of Reunion and Guadeloupe, as well as from the Mediterranean basin.

The course will be discussion-based. Students will work in pairs and groups, discussing and analyzing the works studied. It includes: presentations, writing activities, comics workshop, journaling and a final project.