Analysing Genocide in Graphic Novels through the Lens of Kitsch
Research group Center for Historical Culture
Thursdag 9 May, 14.30-16.00h
Venue: G-building room G2-35, EUR Campus Woudestein
Convener and moderator Maria Grever
If you would like to attend, please let us know by e-mail: adriaansen@eshcc.eur.nl.
Bio
Laurike in ‘t Veld is a lecturer at the History Department, Center for Historical Culture (EUR). Her paper will be based on her recently published monograph The Representation of Genocide in Graphic Novels. Considering the Role of Kitsch (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). See https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030036256
Abstract
The book mobilizes the concept of kitsch to investigate the tensions around the representation of genocide in international graphic novels that focus on the Holocaust and the genocides in Armenia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. It offers a new approach that considers how some of the kitsch strategies employed in these works facilitate an affective interaction with the genocide narrative. These productive strategies include the use of the visual metaphors of the animal and the doll figure and the explicit and excessive depictions of mass violence. The book also analyses where kitsch still produces problems as it critically examines depictions of perpetrators and the visual and verbal representations of sexual violence. Furthermore, it explores how graphic novels employ anti-kitsch strategies to avoid the dangers of excess in dealing with genocide. The Representation of Genocide in Graphic Novels will appeal to those working in comics-graphic novel studies, popular culture studies, and Holocaust and genocide studies.