Comics in Migration, Migration in Comics. Methodological Reflections and Theoretical Perspectives Emerging from the Analysis of Two Case Studies

Comics about migrations have been shaped across languages, cultures, and time by the diverse socio-political stances and today migration comic research and migration studies by comic are developing research and methodological fields. The language of comics is characterized by its ability to convey movements, mobilities, and transformations across time and space. As such, it represents a medium particularly well-suited to narrating migration. Through the skilful use of images, colors, and a combination of text and visuals, comics can express emotions and atmospheres while connecting phenomena distant in time and space – something that text alone often struggles to achieve with equivalent immediacy and effectiveness. Drawing, in this sense, transcends boundaries, enabling the construction of realities and memories that span nations. Furthermore, it is important to note that many comic book authors are themselves migrants or come from migratory family backgrounds. This explains why this medium frequently centers on narratives of human mobility and its social implications. In what follows, in this we will reflect on how comics narrate migration. The chapter gives a bibliographic overview of comic works that ‘depict international migration through panels and speech bubble’, then it focus on two examples of socio-anthropological storytelling in comics. Finally, it proposes a section of reflection on the strengths and limitations of the visual and graphic dimension of comics in social research on migration phenomena, particularly when compared to more ‘traditional’ narrative approaches.