Representations of Violence and Exile in Leila Abdelrazaq’ Baddawi
abstract
Leila Abdelrazaq’s graphic memoir Baddawi (2015), an example of postmemory and testimonial writing, reconstructs her father’s childhood and teenage memories in the eponymous refugee camp in Lebanon. This chapter analyzes the graphic representations of violence and exile in Abdelrazaq’s work and the possibilities of illustrating both through a non-naturalistic approach. Through visual and thematic analysis, this chapter attempts to answer whether Abdelrazaq is finally able to meet the ethical challenge of representing violence and Palestinian refugee identity in a comic suitable for all audiences.
Keywords: Systemic violence • Ethics • Exile • Testimonial narrative • Palestine • Symbolic violence • Graphic memoir