Studies in European Comics and Graphic Novels 8 - Postcolonialism and Migration in French Comics

Postcolonialism and migration are major themes in contemporary French comics and have roots in the Algerian War (1954–62), anti-racist struggle, and mass migration to France. This volume studies comics from the formal dismantling of the French colonial empire in 1962 up to the present. French cartoonists of ethnic minority and immigrant heritage are a major focus, including Zeina Abirached (Lebanon), Yvan Alagbé (Benin), Baru (Italy), Enki Bilal (former Yugoslavia), Farid Boudjellal (Algeria and Armenia), José Jover (Spain), Larbi Mechkour (Algeria), and Roland Monpierre (Guadeloupe). The author analyses comics representing a gamut of perspectives on immigration and postcolonial ethnic minorities, ranging from staunch defense to violent rejection. Individual chapters are dedicated to specific artists, artistic collectives, comics, or themes, including an anti-racist comic strip serialised in Charlie Hebdo, undocumented migrants in comics, and racism in far-right comics.