Comics by Middle Eastern Genderqueer and Women Artists

Abstract

This chapter presents a discussion of the works of women and genderqueer comic artists from the Middle East and its diaspora and categorizes them into the following sections: (1) graphic memoirs, (2) graphic fiction, and (3) explicitly feminist messaging. Many of the works written in the style of graphic memoirs focus on the social destruction wrought by militarism and warfare, particularly as experienced and narrated from the perspective of children. The fictional graphic works discussed are also informed by the political context of lives in the Middle East and the diaspora and deal with themes of political repression, Orientalism, and cultural misunderstanding. Our final section turns to the use of comics to spread feminist awareness, aimed at both introducing feminist theories and at shifting behaviors and perceptions around gender-based violence and oppression. The chapter demonstrates that comics from the region have allowed for an opening up of expressive culture by centering the voices of women. Whether explicitly feminist or implicitly so, these stories have captured perspectives otherwise confined to the margins.