UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title African Francophone Bandes Dessinées: Graphic Autobiographies and Illustrated Testimonies Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/27t2j8mq Author Bumatay, Michelle Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles African Francophone Bandes Dessinées: Graphic Autobiographies and Illustrated Testimonies A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in French and Francophone Studies by Michelle Lynn Bumatay 2013 © Copyright by Michelle Lynn Bumatay 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION African Francophone Bandes Dessinées: Graphic Autobiographies and Illustrated Testimonies by Michelle Lynn Bumatay Doctor of Philosophy in French and Francophone Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Dominic Thomas, Chair Former French President Charles de Gaulle’s famous claim that Belgian bande dessinée character Tintin was his only international rival speaks to the ubiquity of bandes dessinées in the francophone world while underlining their participation in imperial cultural hegemony. Similarly, in Peau noire, Masques blancs, Frantz Fanon also highlights the popularity of European bandes dessinées in the francophone world and observes the negative psychological impact of such texts on non-European readers who identify with Western explorer characters rather than with the racialized stereotypical images of non-European characters. One major factor for this is that the emergence and development of French and Belgian bandes dessinées took place during the height of European colonialism; bandes dessinées subsequently drew from and participated in a visual culture—such as travel postcards, brochures and keepsakes from colonial expositions, and in particular advertisements for exotic goods such as Banania—that ii helped construct the European imaginary of Africa. Moreover, bandes dessinées published in France and Belgium were exported to the colonial territories with the mission civilisatrice. This dissertation analyzes how contemporary cartoonists seek to disrupt the continued prevalence of colonial iconography in mainstream European bandes dessinées through satire and through experimentation with the limits of this medium. The goal is to demonstrate how such texts combat Western stereotypes of Africa and how they reconfigure European imperialist discourses to generate new modes of thinking about and representing sub-Saharan Africa. Though many sub-Saharan African bandes dessinées are didactic in nature and subject to censorship, there are two genres to which contemporary African cartoonists seem to gravitate: autobiographical bandes dessinées that focus on quotidian life and lived-experiences and journalistic bandes dessinées that foreground postcolonial violence. Chapters one and two center on the first genre in the work of Gabonese cartoonist Pahé and in the Aya de Yopougon series by Ivorian Marguerite Abouet and French Clément Oubrerie. Chapter three shifts focus to an investigation of the long-lasting sociopolitical effects of European colonialism in central Africa in the work of Belgian cartoonist Jean-Philippe Stassen with particular attention paid to his work on the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and its continuing aftermath. iii The dissertation of Michelle Lynn Bumatay is approved. Alain Mabanckou Andrea Loselle Steven Nelson Dominic Thomas, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv To my family and friends for their encouragement. And to Marc for his boundless patience and compassion. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract of the Dissertation ii Dedication Page v List of Figures vii Acknowledgements xii Vita xiv Introduction 1 Sub-Saharan African Bandes Dessinées in Context: Challenging the Colonial Legacy of the Ninth Art and Reconfiguring the Visual Logic of French and Belgian (Post)Colonialism Chapter One 37 Drawing (Upon) Cultural Capital: Satire, Identity, and Self-Representation in the Work of Pahé Chapter Two 103 Aya de Yopougon: Gender and Identity Formation in the Ivory Coast and in France Chapter Three 177 Rwanda and Its Lasting Effects: Jean-Philippe Stassen the BD journaliste Conclusion 250 Bibliography 257 vi LIST OF FIGURES Introduction Figure 1 7 The front cover of Hergé’s Tintin au Congo (1931). Figure 2 10 La vie de Pahé: Paname page 11. Pahé reproduces the cover of Tintin au Congo. Figure 3 10 La vie de Pahé: Paname page 12. A local official in Kinshasa reacts to the stereotypical images of Africans in Tintin au Congo. Figure 3 12 Kannemeyer’s Fear of a Black Planet exhibit 2008, “I love the white middle class…” Figure 4 12 Kannemeyer’s Fear of a Black Planet exhibit 2008, “N is for Nightmare” Chapter One Figure 1.1. 47 La vie de Pahé: Paname page 27. Pahé’s representation of Astérix and Obélix. Figure 1.2. 53 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 3. Pahé recounts meeting Pierre Paquet for the first time. Figure 1.3. 61 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 4. Pahé’s description of his family. Figure 1.4. 72 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 19. Pahé lands at the airport in Paris for the first time. Figure 1.5. 75 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 21. Pahé’s first impressions of France. Figure 1.6. 80 La vie de Pahé: Paname page 35. Pahé is subjected to discrimination at the airport in Paris. Figure 1.7. 89 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 32. Pahé’s first day at a French school. Figure 1.8. 90 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 36. Pahé’s first day at school upon his return to Gabon. vii Figure 1.9. 91 La vie de Pahé: Bitam page 42. Pahé’s use of Astérix and Obélix to represent the concept of “Nos ancêtres, les Gaulois” (“Our ancestors, the Gauls”). Figure 1.10. 97 Dipoula: Mbolo page 3. Opening vignette of Dipoula. Chapter Two Figure 2.1. 127 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 23. Example of Clément Oubrerie’s energetic images. Figure 2.2. 131 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 4, page 23. The mix of the photo-roman style in Aya de Yopougon. Figure 2.3. 133 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, “Le Bonus Ivoirien.” Illustrations for how to wear a pagne. Figure 2.4. 134 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, “Le Bonus Ivoirien.” Instructions for how to shake your hips when you walk. Figure 2.5. 135 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 2, “Le Bonus Ivoirien.” Example from instructions for how to carry a baby on your back. Figure 2.6. 142 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 3, page 100. Detailed splash page of Yopougon. Figure 2.7. 144 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 80. Splash page depicting the Sissoko house. Figure 2.8. 146 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 30. The Sissoko house. Figure 2.9. 148 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 2, page 25. The village palaver tree. Figure 2.10. 149 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 4, page 17. An example of village life. Figure 2.11. 150 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 5, page 19. Detailed depiction of village life. Figure 2.12. 152 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 28. The “hôtel aux mille étoiles.” viii Figure 2.13. 153 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 2, page 42. The Yopougon market. Figure 2.14. 154 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 1. Opening of the Aya de Yopougon series. Figure 2.15. 156 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 2. Aya introduces her family and friends. Figure 2.16. 157 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 1, page 3. Aya introduces herself and Yopougon. Figure 2.17. 159 Cover of Aya de Yopougon, Volume 4. Figure 2.18. 165 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 4, page 97. Innocent tells Aya of his plans to move to France. Figure 2.19. 172 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 4, page 1. Innocent’s plane landing in Paris. Figure 2.20. 173 Aya de Yopougon, Volume 4, page 76. Innocent’s anger at negative stereotypes about Africa. Chapter Three Figure 3.1. 180 Bullwhite, page 52. An example of Stassen’s early work. Figure 3.2. 191 Front cover of Déogratias. Figure 3.3. 193 Déogratias page 55. A traumatized Déogratias incapable of distinguishing the past from the present. Figure 3.4. 195 Déogratias page 20. The classroom scene in which the teacher singles out non-Hutu students. Figure 3.5. 196 Two versions of the school scene from Tintin au Congo, Hergé. The top image is from the original series (1931) and the bottom image is from the re-printed, color version (1946). Figure 3.6. 201 Déogratias page 15. Adjacent panels that juxtapose two moments at the church. ix Figure 3.7. 203 Déogratias page 63. An image of the church from during the genocide. Figure 3.8. 204 Déogratias page 3. The first panel of the book: Déogratias with a vacant expression and worn clothes. Figure 3.9. 206 Déogratias page 29. An example of Stassen’s use of empty space on the page. Figure 3.10. 208 Déogratias page 77. The horrible images Déogratias saw when he returned to Kigali during the genocide. Figure 3.11. 217 Pawa: Chroniques des monts de la lune page 49. A description of James. Figure 3.12. 219 Pawa : Chroniques des monts de la lune page 53. Illustrations of local stereotypes of non- Rwandan populations. Figure 3.13. 227 Cœur des ténèbres page 48. Marlow’s relief in the shade. Figure 3.14. 230 Cœur des ténèbres page 112. Marlow’s impression of being back in Belgium. Figure 3.15. 232 Back cover of Cœur des ténèbres. Figure 3.16. 235 Nous avons tué le Chien Teigneux page 37. The veternarian addresses the children. Figure 3.17. 235 Nous avons tué le Chien Teigneux page 15. Isaura pictured as a kind of saint. Figure 3.18. 237 Nous avons tué le Chien Teigneux page 67. Mangy-Dog singled out by the boys. Figure 3.19.