War Comics and the Colonial Gaze: Theorizing the Visual in International Relations

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/desafios/a.15266

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Published: Jul 1, 2025
Issue: Vol. 37 No. 2 (2025): Elecciones Subnacionales
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Keywords: comics postcolonialism aesthetic analysis visual approaches international security

Main Article Content

Authors

  Enzo Lenine
Universidade Federal da Bahia
  J. Lucas Cunha
Universidade Federal da Bahia

Abstract

How do comics, with their visual elements, (re)produce colonial perspectives on international conflicts? The aesthetic turn in International Relations is based on the premise that visual artifacts — such as images, films, videos, comics, and performances — shape international politics, as well as our understanding of international phenomena and our reactions to them. In this field, comics emerge as an important analytical site where international phenomena and public opinion intertwine, either because they represent events and situations through the combination of image and text; or because they (re)produce biases and prejudices in their structure, some of which are based on colonial perspectives. In this article, we seek to provide theoretical paths to understand the meanings of the visual and its connections with the international from a postcolonial perspective. In addition, we conduct a brief case study on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, using the comics Palestine, by Joe Sacco, and the methodological contributions of compositional interpretation. The theoretical contributions presented in the article demonstrate that even counter-hegemonic narratives reproduce the colonial gaze through visual representations by denying the agency of subaltern individuals; fossilizing their image around a Westernized conception of what the authentic subaltern is; and advocating for a Western redemption similar to evangelizing missions.

Author Biographies

Enzo Lenine, Universidade Federal da Bahia

Doctor en Ciencia Política, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil). Maestria en Ciencia Política, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil). Licenciado en Relaciones Internacionales, Universidade de Brasília (Brasil). Actualmente es profesor permanente de la Universidad Federal de la Bahia, en Salvador, Brasil. Tiene más de 40 artículos publicados en distintas revistas nacionales e internacionales. 

Artículos publicados en los últimos 2 años:

LENINE, Enzo. Curiosidade Feminista nas Relações Internacionais: Olhares, Vozes e Reflexões para Além do Cânone. DADOS-REVISTA DE CIENCIAS SOCIAIS, v. 67, p. e20220120, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo; LYRA, M. P. O. . International Relations? nomological machines: the neo-neo synthesis?s tale of law-like explanations. COLOMBIA INTERNACIONAL, v. 117, p. 113-137, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo; GRIZENTI, E. ; BIA, A. ; CARDOSO, B. O. . Process tracing na Ciência Política e nas Relações Internacionais brasileiras:. Carta Internacional, v. 18, p. e1365, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo. Das palavras aos números: formação científica e metodológica da Ciência Política no século XX. REVISTA DEBATES (UFRGS), v. 18, p. 98-117, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo. Da constituição e da causalidade na pesquisa feminista nas Relações Internacionais. CADERNOS PAGU, v. 70, p. e247002, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo. Empoderar pelos dados: uma abordagem feminista interseccional para navegar na era da informação. Gênero, v. 24, p. 366-371, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo. Explanatory Games in International Relations. Chinese Journal of International Politics, v. 17, p. 404-424, 2024.

BARREIROS, B. C. ; LENINE, Enzo . Dossiê: Metodologias nas Ciências Sociais: Debates e práticas para além dos cismas metodológicos. PRELÚDIOS: REVISTA DO PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIAS SOCIAIS DA UFBA, v. 12, p. 1-6, 2024.

LENINE, Enzo. O mosaico dos feminismos africanos: uma abordagem historiográfica de eras políticas. HISTÓRIA (SÃO PAULO), v. 42, p. e2023014, 2023.

LENINE, Enzo. Da reedição de designing social inquiry à edição dos novos debates metodológicos. TEORIA & PESQUISA (ON LINE), v. 32, p. e023024, 2023.

LENINE, Enzo; RODRIGUEZ, M. . Positivismo reconsiderado: Para além dos estereótipos anti-positivistas nas Relações Internacionais. AGENDA POLÍTICA, v. 11, p. 241-265, 2023

LENINE, Enzo; MACHADO, R. D. . Das causas na Ciência Política: uma intervenção filosófica necessária. Cuadernos De Filosofia Latinoamericana, v. 44, p. 1-34, 2023.

LENINE, Enzo. Metafísica y ontología feministas en las Relaciones Internacionales. Foro Internacional, p. 59-97, 2023.

J. Lucas Cunha, Universidade Federal da Bahia

Pregrado en Historia. Investigador junior en el proyecto “Quadrinhos de guerra: representações neocoloniais na geopolítica dos conflitos contemporâneos" bajo los auspicios del profesor Enzo Lenine.

How to Cite
Lenine, E., & Cunha, J. L. (2025). War Comics and the Colonial Gaze: Theorizing the Visual in International Relations. Desafíos, 37(2). https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/desafios/a.15266
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