Arab Comics: Creation, Circulation, and Reception
La bande dessinée arabe : création, circulation et réception
Abstract
This study day aims to fill a notable academic gap: despite the growing body of comics produced from or about the Arab world — particularly in the wake of the Arab uprisings of the 2000s — this corpus remains largely absent from French-speaking academic research. The event seeks to establish a first scholarly overview of this production by bringing together researchers from various disciplines, along with artists, publishers, and archivists, around four thematic axes: the conditions of creation in Arab countries and their diasporas, representations of Arab political and social realities, the transnational dynamics of works' circulation, and finally their reception and patrimonialization.
Announcement
Study Day organised by the Institut de Recherches et d’Études sur les Mondes Arabes et Musulmans (IREMAM)
30 November 2026, at the médiathèque of the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme (Aix-en-Provence)
Argument
Long relegated to the margins of the humanities and social sciences, comics have undergone growing academic legitimation in France and internationally over the past several decades. From pioneering semiological studies to the most recent approaches drawing on art history, literature, sociology, philosophy, and cultural studies, the comics medium is now recognised as a fully-fledged object of inquiry, capable of rendering the complexity of the social and political world.
Despite this enthusiasm, comics produced from and/or about the Arab world remain largely absent from the French-speaking academic landscape. This gap is all the more paradoxical given that the production of comics related to Arab societies – whether created locally or in diaspora communities, in Arabic or in other languages – has continued to intensify since the 2000s, particularly in the wake of the Arab uprisings, wars, population displacements, and the profound transformations traversing these societies. From graphic narratives born of the Arab Springs to collectives formed across the Maghreb and the Mashreq, from autobiographical comics to those that represent, document, imagine, or reinvent reality, this rich and diverse body of texts calls for critical readings attentive to its contexts of production, dissemination, and reception.
Organised by the Institut de Recherches et d’Études sur les Mondes Arabes et Musulmans (IREMAM), this study day poses the following question: how does Arab comics production – in the diversity of its forms, sites of production, and audiences – configure a space of meaning around the dynamics of these societies, and what approaches allow us to account for it? By bringing together researchers from a range of disciplines (literature, art history, linguistics, translation studies, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, political science, etc.) as well as artists, publishers, and archivists, this study day aims to establish a first scholarly panorama of this production and to identify the stakes it raises for research on the Arab and Muslim worlds. Proposals may fall within one of the following thematic axes, without this list being exhaustive:
Axis 1. Creating from the Arab World: Artists, Industries, and Sociopolitical Stakes
This axis examines the material, (non-)institutional, and symbolic conditions of comics creation in and from Arab countries, as well as from diaspora communities in France, Europe, and elsewhere. It seeks to explore how artists are trained, how generations and artistic traditions succeed and dialogue with one another, what constraints (censorship, market forces, availability of techniques and materials) weigh on creation, and how comics position themselves as an artistic practice in contexts often marked by political urgency. Topics may include:
- The history of comics in Arab countries: periodization, generations of artists, training institutions;
- The economics of comics market: publishing houses, magazines and fanzines, economic models, self-publishing and digital production;
- Censorship, self-censorship, resistance to hegemonic narratives, and strategies of circumvention in graphic production;
- Comics as a form of political engagement: activism, awareness-raising, and testimony;
- Genres and forms: graphic documentary, autobiography, fiction, historical comics, and webcomics.
Axis 2. Representations of the Arab World in Comics
This axis focuses on content and representations, questioning how comics render visible the historical, political, and social realities of the Arab worlds. It invites a critical reading of the imaginaries mobilized and a reflection on the relationship between drawn form and reality, examining in particular:
- Representations of wars, displacements, and migrations: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, etc.;
- Representations of revolutions, resistance, and social movements;
- Graphic discourses on gender, the body, and sexuality;
- Representations of identities and self-narratives.
Axis 3. Circulations: Authors, Works, and Influences in Motion
This axis explores the transnational dynamics that characterize the production of comics related to the Arab worlds. Between cross-influences, author mobility, and the travels of works, Arab comics are fundamentally a circulating object whose trajectories reveal contemporary geopolitical and cultural configurations. Among these aspects, one may analyse:
- Reciprocal artistic influences between Arab comics and Francophone, Anglophone, Japanese, or other traditions;
- Exiled and diasporic authors: hybrid identities, languages of creation, imaginaries of exile, linguistic and cultural diversity in Arab countries;
- Transnational professional networks and artistic collaborations;
- Transnational publishing: co-editions, co-productions, international fairs;
- Translation as a vector of circulation: linguistic, cultural, and political stakes in the translation of Arab comics.
Axis 4. Audiences, Reception, and Heri-/Matrimonialisation
This axis examines how Arab comics are received, preserved, and valorized, both in Arab societies and abroad. It also considers the progressive inscription of this corpus within scholarly institutions, libraries, and other types of institutions:
- The sociology of Arab comics readerships: readers, communities, reading practices;
- Critical and media reception: press, blogs, social networks, festivals;
- Preservation and valorization: an overview of the roles of libraries, archives, and specialized collections in France and the Arab world;
- Arab comics in education: curricula, pedagogical uses;
- The stakes of academic legitimation: Arab comics in area studies and cultural studies.
Submission Guidelines
Papers (30 minutes) may be presented in French or English. Proposals, written in French or English (500 words maximum), must include:
- A provisional title with the targeted thematic axis;
- A presentation of the corpus, research question, and methodology;
- A short bio-bibliography of the author (150 words maximum).
Proposals should be sent to: MariaLuisa Langella (maria-luisa.LANGELLA@univ-amu.fr); Susanne Abou Ghaida (ska00ster@gmail.com); Ammar Kandeel (ammar.kandeel@gmail.com).
Submission deadline: 30 September 2026.
Notification to authors: 5 October 2026.
Date and venue: 30 November 2026, at the médiathèque of the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme (Aix-en-Provence), in hybrid format.
Funding
Travel expenses for accepted contributors will be covered by IREMAM. Accommodation costs will be the responsibility of participants’ own research teams.
Organizing Committee
- MariaLuisa Langella (Iremam);
- Susanne Abou Ghaida (Iremam);
- Ammar Kandeel (Iremam)
- Annamaria Bianco (Iremam).
Selected Bibliography
Berthou, Benoît, Éditer la bande dessinée, Paris, Éditions du Cercle de la Librairie, 2016.
Chatta, Racha, Esquisser la révolte: La bande dessinée à l’heure des féminismes arabes, Toulouse, Lorelei, 2026.
De Blasio, Emanuela, “Comics in the Arab world. Birth and spread of a new literary genre”, Anaquel de Estudios Árabes, n° 31, juillet 2020, p. 117-125.
Douglas, Allen, Malti-Douglas, Fedwa, Arab Comic Strips: Politics of an Emerging Mass Culture, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1994.
Ghaibeh, Lina, Gabrieli, Simona (dir.), Nouvelle génération : la bande dessinée arabe aujourd’hui, Marseille/Beyrouth, Alifbata/AUB, 2018.
Ghaibeh, Lina, Khoury, Georges, “Arab Comics Collectives as Catalysts of Change: Establishing a New Generation of Creators”, Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, n° 22, mars 2026, https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-12242103.
Groensteen, Thierry, Système de la bande dessinée, Presses Universitaires de France, 1999.
Gueydan-Turek, Alexandra, « Le Renouveau de la bande dessinée maghrébine contemporaine », Nouvelles Études Francophones, n° 34, 2019, p. 45-59.
Hamdy, Sherine, “Introduction: Comics, Gender, and Politics in the Arab World and Turkey”, Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, n°22, mars 2026, https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-12242127.
Høigilt, Jacob, Comics in contemporary Arab culture: Politics, language and resistance, Londres, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.
Khoury, Georges (Jad), If Shehrazad Drew: Critical Writings on Arab Comics, Beyrouth, AUB Press, 2023.
Mehta, Binita, Mukherji, Pia (dir.), Postcolonial Comics: Texts, Events, Identities, Londres, Routledge, 2015.
Merhej, Léna (dir.), 50 artistes de caricature et de bande dessinée arabes, Marseille/Beyrout, Alifbata/Tosh Fesh, 2018.
Migo, Kerbaj, Mazen, Ghorayeb, Laure (dir.), La nouvelle bande dessinée arabe, Arles/Beyrouth/Alger, Actes Sud BD/L’Orient du jour/Barzakh, 2018.
Ochi, Khaled, Mohsni, Arij, « La bande dessinée dans les manuels scolaires Tunisiens: étude de son rôle dans l’apprentissage linguistico-culturel/Comics in Tunisian School Textbooks: Study of its role in linguistic and cultural learning », Traduction et Langues, n° 22, vol. 2, 2023, p. 101-126.
Robert, Pascal (dir.), La fabrique de la bande dessinée: Perspectives sociologiques et sociosémiotique sur la bande dessinée, Paris, Hermann, 2023.
Stein, Daniel, Denson, Shane, Meyer, Christina (dir.), Transnational Perspectives on Graphic Narratives. Comics at the Crossroads, Bloomsburg Publishing, 2013.
Places
- Médiathèque de la Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme
Aix-en-Provence, France (92700)
Event attendance modalities
Hybrid event (on site and online)
Keywords
- bande dessinée, monde arabe, création, circulation, réception
Contact(s)
- Ammar Kandeel
courriel : ammar [dot] kandeel [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Arab Comics: Creation, Circulation, and Reception », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, https://doi.org/10.58079/16exc
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