ERUA Science Cafés
"Achieving Social Change in ERUA’s Local Communities and Regions"

Concepts of political and social inclusion in comics: the politics of Difference, Environment, Sustainability

 Date/Time: Wednesday, May 27, 2026
10:30–12:30 (CEST) / 09:30–11:30 (WEST) / 11:30–13:30 (EEST)

Format: hybrid event (in-person + online), followed by Q&A and discussion. Each speaker presentation: 12 minutes.

Comics and graphic narratives have evolved far beyond their popular-culture origins to become powerful instruments of critical inquiry, social commentary and civic education. From Joe Sacco’s war journalism to Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of the Iranian revolution, from Art Spiegelman’s Maus to contemporary feminist and queer graphic novels, sequential art has repeatedly proven its capacity to address the most pressing issues of democratic life: authoritarianism, displacement, gender violence, memory and the limits of human rights.

Yet this medium remains less developed in most European curricula. Cultural managers and creative industries administrators are rarely trained to promote comics as part of artistic and scholarly practice. Similarly, there is a gap in comics-related higher education and inclusion in arts-related and digital culture disciplines. At the same time, there is a rising tendency to involve comics and new media arts into everyday communication as a vehicle for creative expression of political issues related to social justice and sustainability.

This Science Café session is part of the “Comics as a Tool for Democracy and Social Inclusion” workshop (ERUA WP5 Social Engagement Event), hosted by the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean (Mytilene, Lesvos), in collaboration with Université Paris 8 and the Kraków Branch of the Polish Cultural Studies Association.

Speakers – Panelists:

1. Anne Chassagnol, Maîtresse de conférences, UR TransCrit, Département d’Études des Pays Anglophones, Université Paris 8 (UP8)
   • High School Politics and Political Insight: Esther’s Notebook (2015–2023) by Riad Sattouf, A Parisian Girl’s View of Daily Life
     Abstract

     The French current affairs magazine L’Obs is famous for dedicating a weekly page to comic strips. For many years, this slot was filled by Claire Bretécher’s iconic character, Agrippine (1988–2009), a Parisian teenager navigating the trials of adolescence. In 2015, Riad Sattouf, the author of the graphic memoir The Arab of the Future (2015–2019) — who had already extensively explored the theme of childhood in his graphic and cinematic works — began documenting the daily life of Esther, from her first year of middle school to her final year of high school. Each week, this schoolgirl, enrolled in a prestigious Parisian school, offered a sharp critique of the elite to which she did not belong.
     In this coming-of-age comic, Sattouf captures the idiosyncratic gestures and idioms of a generation of French adolescents, while also depicting how Esther awakens politically, commenting on major events such as terrorist attacks, presidential elections, or the rise of the far right in France. This presentation aims to demonstrate how, with great wit, this character blurred the boundaries between reality and fiction, the local and the national, the intimate and the political, navigating from childhood to adulthood, and eventually turning the school grounds and her school years into a laboratory for civic and political consciousness.

2. Laura Odasso, Maîtresse de conférences, UFR SEPF – Département de sciences de l’éducation, LIAgE – Laboratoire Interculturalités, Apprentissages, marGes, Expériences, Université Paris 8 (UP8)
   • Projet RIM – Redrawing Migration Routes: Arab Comics Days and Contemporary Mediterranean Im-mobility
     Abstract

     Over the past decade, comics and graphic novels have emerged as important research objects and scientific-pedagogical tools. At the intersection of artistic expression, social engagement, and science-society dialogue, comics provide an accessible and compelling medium for addressing complex and sometimes sensitive social issues. Through the interplay of images, text, colours, and visual composition, they encourage both emotional engagement and critical reflection. Within academia, comics have increasingly been used to disseminate research, support teaching, and communicate complex theoretical ideas in accessible ways, while also becoming a growing field of interdisciplinary inquiry. Drawing on these developments, I am currently organising a two-week series of “diffuse” events exploring how mobility and migration are experienced and represented in contemporary Mediterranean societies (Projet RIM – Redrawing Migration Routes: Arab Comics Days and Contemporary Mediterranean Im-mobility – partner University of Sousse and Institut des Beaux-Arts de Sousse). Combining documentary approaches, an exhibition, with personal testimonies, the project examines how individual and collective experiences are translated into graphic narratives. It contributes to ongoing scholarly debates on the use of comics to explore and understand contemporary social phenomena, while also analysing how personal, professional, and societal experiences shape the linguistic, thematic, and artistic choices of comic authors and the circulation of their works. Particular attention is given to the experiences of students at Université Paris 8 and to the territory of Seine-Saint-Denis thanks to ad hoc workshops held by artists where students attempt to illustrate some excerpts of their current research and learning experiences. More broadly, the project seeks to reconnect process to creative practice, research, and migration-related experiences and learning processes, opening the way for further international and interdisciplinary collaborative work on comics, illustration, and sound-based research methods.

3. Szymon Makuch, AGH University of Krakow; Vice-president, Association of Pop Culture Researchers and Pop Culture Education “Trickster”
   • The borders of freedom of speech – legal conflicts around censorship in comic books
     Abstract

     History of the comic book industry is full of legal conflicts — some of them are typical copyright issues (like illegal adaptations, using trademark without permission etc.), but some of them started big discussions between the copyright idea of fair use (especially in parodies) and freedom of speech (when the work was more politically or socially involved). The main purpose of this presentation is to analyse examples of such conflicts (like the famous Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates etc.) and try to find out how big was their role in the evolution of artistic freedom of speech.

4. Myrto Tselenti, MBA, Project Manager, Greek Film Centre – Hellenic Film Commission team
   • Beyond (Japanese) Traditions: Inclusion in Contemporary Manga
     Abstract

     Although Japanese society is often characterized by conservatism, manga today are among the most inclusive forms of comics. From protagonists with disabilities to heroes of every kind of religion and sexual orientation, Japanese comics present an unusual breadth of diversity and inclusion that goes beyond stereotypes, traditions, and established social expectations. Through specific examples, the unique traits that make manga heroes distinctive, just like each one of us, are brought to light.

5. Soloup (Antonis Nikolopoulos), PhD, Comics and Graphic Novels Creator
   • Immigrant Politics and Social Inclusion. The Case of Babel
     Abstract

     Migration is usually associated with the search for better working conditions, especially when it involves moving to other countries with different economic, cultural, religious, and political frameworks. Such a massive — and to a large extent forced by circumstances — displacement brings dramatic changes to people’s lives, while simultaneously requiring the formation of a new identity. It also demands the creation of a new condition of adaptation, in which people must establish new foundations for a dignified survival, such as national and religious community, family, and friendships.
     This profound need for dignified survival is the subject explored in the graphic novel BABEL, which focuses on the many small stories of coal miners in Belgium during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Despite the harsh working conditions and the existence of significant cultural differences, some managed to attain a sense of dignity in life through mutual understanding, solidarity, and friendship.
     In essence, it is a story that explores the possibilities of a “utopian” (?) Reverse Babel.

6. Yiannis Koukoulas, Assistant Professor, University of the Aegean, Department of Preschool Education and Educational Design
   • “We are the Others”: Reading Images and Healing Traumas
     Abstract

     Aleksandar Zograf’s cry “We are the others”, which demonstrates the community of problems and the required empathy, the absence of which was painful during the war in the former Yugoslavia, is unconsciously the cry of many comic book creators. By creating stories about their traumas and the traumas of their readers, they attempt to heal them and overcome the pain of war, illness, refugees, abandonment. This paper attempts to record some such comics that contribute to the understanding of situations and the acceptance of people who experience tragedies with the aim of healing the wounds. Of what happened and what will happen.

7. Marianna Misiou, Assistant Professor, University of the Aegean, Department of Preschool Education and Educational Design
   • Comics and Inclusion at School: The Case of The Arrival by Shaun Tan
     Abstract

     In this presentation, inclusion is approached as a process of increasing participation and reducing exclusion from the cultures and communities of the school. It will be examined how Shaun Tan’s silent comics The Arrival can be used, through appropriate pedagogical mediation, to approach inclusion, by focusing on scenes of exclusion, acceptance, solidarity, and social participation. The absence of verbal text facilitates students’ participation through observation, description, hypothesis-making, and the exchange of interpretations. The presentation also proposes the use of selected “thinking routines” developed within Harvard’s Project Zero as ways of organizing literary discussion.

8. Lida Tsene, PhD, Teaching Associate, NUA; Founder, Athens Comics Library
   • Comics and Stories as a platform for healing, empowerment and community engagement: The Case of Athens Comics Library
     Abstract

     This presentation explores how comics and storytelling can function as tools for healing, empowerment, and community engagement, through the case of Athens Comics Library. Drawing on participatory programmes with diverse communities, it highlights how visual narratives foster expression, build resilience, and create inclusive spaces for dialogue, learning, and social connection.

9. Ilias Katirtzigianoglou, Comicdom Co-organizer, comics author and publisher
   • LGBTQ Comics
     Abstract

     Abstract coming soon.

Chairs – Moderators:

1. Evi Sampanikou, Professor, Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean (UAEGEAN)
2. Nikoletta Gourgouli, PhD Student, Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean (UAEGEAN)

Find out more about our Speakers

Who Can Attend?

• ERUA & Associated partners
• Researchers and students in cultural studies, media, political science, education and the arts
• Comics creators, curators, festival organisers and enthusiasts
• NGOs and civil society organisations working on inclusion, democracy and sustainability
• Community members interested in visual culture, social justice and the environment

Please make a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy the talk! Everyone is welcome.

 You can later watch the event via YouTube (The event will be recorded providing the opportunity for every interested party to access the content at any given time)

 Date/Time: Wednesday, May 27, 2026
10:30–12:30 (CEST) / 09:30–11:30 (WEST) / 11:30–13:30 (EEST)

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