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Postcolonial Anarchographics : Re-drawing History in the Trantraal Brothers' Crossroads

Laursen, Ole LU (2017) In SubStance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism 46(2). p.129-146
Abstract
Focusing on visual and textual representations of squatting and women's resistances against apartheid in the comic book series Crossroads (2014-2016), this article examines how graphic history may enable a more nuanced understanding of anarchic resistances in the postcolonial context. A six-part comic series created by historian Koni Benson in collaboration with political cartoonists the Trantraal Brothers (André and Nathan) and Ashley Marais, and published by Cape Town's Isotrope Comics, Crossroads tells the story of women's organized resistance to the apartheid state in the Crossroads township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Based on oral testimony from more than sixty women, Crossroads incorporates original archival press clippings,... (More)
Focusing on visual and textual representations of squatting and women's resistances against apartheid in the comic book series Crossroads (2014-2016), this article examines how graphic history may enable a more nuanced understanding of anarchic resistances in the postcolonial context. A six-part comic series created by historian Koni Benson in collaboration with political cartoonists the Trantraal Brothers (André and Nathan) and Ashley Marais, and published by Cape Town's Isotrope Comics, Crossroads tells the story of women's organized resistance to the apartheid state in the Crossroads township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Based on oral testimony from more than sixty women, Crossroads incorporates original archival press clippings, posters, photography, documentary clips, and drawings to illustrate how "women's protest were organized collectively, beyond party politics and separately from men, to confront state power with demands for the distribution of resources for basic survival" (Benson "Graphic Novel Histories" 200). In other words, Crossroads illuminates the intersectionality of a range of anti-apartheid struggles and the ways in which these manifested themselves through non-parliamentarian praxes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
anarchism, comics, social movement, anti-apartheid struggle
in
SubStance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism
volume
46
issue
2
pages
17 pages
publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
ISSN
1527-2095
DOI
10.1353/sub.2017.0022
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
36acf4af-454e-4e70-a2de-1b6abe91641b
date added to LUP
2023-10-05 15:49:58
date last changed
2023-10-09 11:14:24
@article{36acf4af-454e-4e70-a2de-1b6abe91641b,
  abstract     = {{Focusing on visual and textual representations of squatting and women's resistances against apartheid in the comic book series Crossroads (2014-2016), this article examines how graphic history may enable a more nuanced understanding of anarchic resistances in the postcolonial context. A six-part comic series created by historian Koni Benson in collaboration with political cartoonists the Trantraal Brothers (André and Nathan) and Ashley Marais, and published by Cape Town's Isotrope Comics, Crossroads tells the story of women's organized resistance to the apartheid state in the Crossroads township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Based on oral testimony from more than sixty women, Crossroads incorporates original archival press clippings, posters, photography, documentary clips, and drawings to illustrate how "women's protest were organized collectively, beyond party politics and separately from men, to confront state power with demands for the distribution of resources for basic survival" (Benson "Graphic Novel Histories" 200). In other words, Crossroads illuminates the intersectionality of a range of anti-apartheid struggles and the ways in which these manifested themselves through non-parliamentarian praxes.}},
  author       = {{Laursen, Ole}},
  issn         = {{1527-2095}},
  keywords     = {{anarchism; comics; social movement; anti-apartheid struggle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{129--146}},
  publisher    = {{Johns Hopkins University Press}},
  series       = {{SubStance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism}},
  title        = {{Postcolonial Anarchographics : Re-drawing History in the Trantraal Brothers' Crossroads}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sub.2017.0022}},
  doi          = {{10.1353/sub.2017.0022}},
  volume       = {{46}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}