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The Art of Repeating Oneself : Migratory self-adaptation: media transformation and authorship in Persepolis and The Patience Stone

Mousavi, Nafiseh LU orcid (2021) In Linnaeus University Dissertations 2021(408).
Abstract
This thesis studies the process and products of migratory self-adaptation: the practice of a migrant author recreating their own work in a new medium, and the baggage it brings with itself. Migratory self-adaptation is developed and analyzed in this research through a comparative and processual analysis of two cases of adaptation: Persepolis, a French autobiographical graphic novel written and drawn by Marjane Satrapi, the Franco- Iranian artist and writer, later turned into an animation movie co-written and codirected by Satrapi herself; and The Patience Stone, a novel written in French by Atiq Rahimi, the Franco-Afghan author, which is adapted to a homonymous film in Dari- Persian, co-written and directed by the author.

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This thesis studies the process and products of migratory self-adaptation: the practice of a migrant author recreating their own work in a new medium, and the baggage it brings with itself. Migratory self-adaptation is developed and analyzed in this research through a comparative and processual analysis of two cases of adaptation: Persepolis, a French autobiographical graphic novel written and drawn by Marjane Satrapi, the Franco- Iranian artist and writer, later turned into an animation movie co-written and codirected by Satrapi herself; and The Patience Stone, a novel written in French by Atiq Rahimi, the Franco-Afghan author, which is adapted to a homonymous film in Dari- Persian, co-written and directed by the author.

With their intercultural position, migrant authors face particular challenges of positionality, visibility, inclusion, and survival. Various strategies have been developed to address these challenges and migratory self-adaptation, as is argued and demonstrated throughout this research, brings several of these strategies together. The research argues that the authorship constructed through migratory self-adaptation is multi-directional, transmedial, and transcultural. This multi-dimensional authorship is analyzed through the extended case studies, which include contexts as well as texts and processes alongside the products.

Both works engage with narratives of violence, trauma, and oppression, respectively in Iran and Afghanistan, and address home and host cultures at varying degrees. In their multiple trajectories across media, languages, and geographies, they occupy different positions and offer varied possibilities for interpretation. As this study illustrates, transmedial movements, translational practices, borderworks, and memory acts are various facets of migratory self-adaptation materialized in Persepolis and The Patience Stone.

The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach in theory and methodology and develops a transmedial understanding of migrant authorship and a multi-layered understanding of adaptation. In doing so, it joins the disciplines of intermediality and adaptation studies with literature and cinema of migration and also integrates theories of authorship, translation, border, and memory. By discussing various faces of adaptation in the migratory situation and the interconnection between different cultural mechanisms, this research addresses some of the fundamental questions regarding authoring in migration, including but not restricted to translational communication, cultural difference, dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and survival. (Less)
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author
supervisor
alternative title
Konsten att upprepa sig själv : Migranters självadaption: medietransformation och författarskap i Persepolis och Tålamodets Sten
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
in
Linnaeus University Dissertations
volume
2021
issue
408
pages
180 pages
publisher
Linneaus University Press
ISBN
978-91-89283-49-7
978-91-89283-50-3
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
98580058-add6-4ce5-921b-2f1d78530b44
alternative location
https://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1531085
date added to LUP
2024-01-29 22:49:26
date last changed
2024-02-13 09:39:44
@phdthesis{98580058-add6-4ce5-921b-2f1d78530b44,
  abstract     = {{This thesis studies the process and products of migratory self-adaptation: the practice of a migrant author recreating their own work in a new medium, and the baggage it brings with itself. Migratory self-adaptation is developed and analyzed in this research through a comparative and processual analysis of two cases of adaptation: Persepolis, a French autobiographical graphic novel written and drawn by Marjane Satrapi, the Franco- Iranian artist and writer, later turned into an animation movie co-written and codirected by Satrapi herself; and The Patience Stone, a novel written in French by Atiq Rahimi, the Franco-Afghan author, which is adapted to a homonymous film in Dari- Persian, co-written and directed by the author.<br/><br/>With their intercultural position, migrant authors face particular challenges of positionality, visibility, inclusion, and survival. Various strategies have been developed to address these challenges and migratory self-adaptation, as is argued and demonstrated throughout this research, brings several of these strategies together. The research argues that the authorship constructed through migratory self-adaptation is multi-directional, transmedial, and transcultural. This multi-dimensional authorship is analyzed through the extended case studies, which include contexts as well as texts and processes alongside the products.<br/><br/>Both works engage with narratives of violence, trauma, and oppression, respectively in Iran and Afghanistan, and address home and host cultures at varying degrees. In their multiple trajectories across media, languages, and geographies, they occupy different positions and offer varied possibilities for interpretation. As this study illustrates, transmedial movements, translational practices, borderworks, and memory acts are various facets of migratory self-adaptation materialized in Persepolis and The Patience Stone.<br/><br/>The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach in theory and methodology and develops a transmedial understanding of migrant authorship and a multi-layered understanding of adaptation. In doing so, it joins the disciplines of intermediality and adaptation studies with literature and cinema of migration and also integrates theories of authorship, translation, border, and memory. By discussing various faces of adaptation in the migratory situation and the interconnection between different cultural mechanisms, this research addresses some of the fundamental questions regarding authoring in migration, including but not restricted to translational communication, cultural difference, dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and survival.}},
  author       = {{Mousavi, Nafiseh}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-89283-49-7}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{408}},
  publisher    = {{Linneaus University Press}},
  series       = {{Linnaeus University Dissertations}},
  title        = {{The Art of Repeating Oneself : Migratory self-adaptation: media transformation and authorship in Persepolis and The Patience Stone}},
  url          = {{https://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1531085}},
  volume       = {{2021}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}