Spatio-topia, Space and Sensation in Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza

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altralangvol6issue1
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Published: Jun 30, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52919/altralang.v6i1.436
Keywords:
Spatio-topia, spatio-topical system, space, sensation, spatialized history, graphic narrative

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Tahani BEKAKRA
University of Ouargla Kasdi Merbah, Algeria
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5726-7537
Halima BENZOUKH
University of Ouargla Kasdi Merbah, Algeria
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9838-0747

Abstract

The present paper explores the potency of the spatio-topical system of Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza in (re)tracing the historical events that happened and still happen in the war zone of Gaza without being reductive to the importance of the testimonial culture that is based on listening to and engaging with the different recounts of the Gazan survivors from the 1956 Khan Younis and Rafah killings and the present horrible moments of destruction, dispersion and oppression. For this purpose, this paper embraces Thierry Groensteen’s concept of ‘spatio-topia’ that denotes the systematic distribution of the space on the graphic page in order to give the graphic aesthetic, the driving force of reading. Therefore, graphic spatio-topia configures the conceptual form of the story world that allows the reader to participate spatially and sensationally in Sacco’s journalistic investigations through its different tools like the panel and its frame with their spatio-topical parameters of the form, the seize and its site. The systematic operativity of the graphic spatio-topical elements of Footnotes in Gaza promotes a flexible and a meaningful flow of the graphic narrative and transports the reader to the graphic space where he develops a spatialized history and a dense web of sensations like belief and pain.

Article Details

How to Cite
BEKAKRA, T., & BENZOUKH, H. (2024). Spatio-topia, Space and Sensation in Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza. ALTRALANG Journal, 6(1), 388-398. https://doi.org/10.52919/altralang.v6i1.436
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Vol 6 No 1 (2024): ALTRALANG Journal Volume: 6 Issue: 1 / June 2024
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Articles

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Author Biographies

Tahani BEKAKRA, University of Ouargla Kasdi Merbah, Algeria

Tahani Bekakra has been teaching at Larbi Ben Mhidi University (Oum el Bouaghi, Algeria) since 2018. She obtained her MA degree in English literature and criticism from the University of Yarmouk (Irbid, Jordan) in 2018. Bekakra T. is currently a PhD student at Kasdi Merbah University (Ouargla, Algeria). Her research interests are in postcolonial criticism, and comics’ and cultural studies.

Halima BENZOUKH, University of Ouargla Kasdi Merbah, Algeria

Halima Benzoukh is a Full Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching at Kasdi Merbah University- Ouargla-Algeria. She has lectured on didactics, educational methodology, educational psychology, literature, civilisation, stylistics and English basic skills, and supervised a number of dissertations and theses in applied linguistics and literature. Prof. Benzoukh has published a number of articles and has participated in many national and international conferences. She served as the head of the scientific committee at the Department of Letters and English Language-KMUO from 2019 to 2022. Her research interests include applied linguistics, stylistics, literature, sociolinguistics and TEFL.

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