This is the course homepage for WRD/ENG 401: Comics and Conflict in Israel/Palestine Spring 2016. All course materials (with the exception of electronic reserves and Canvas discussion forums) can be found here. This site will be the most updated place to check the daily reading schedule, course assignments, etc. To access the class reserves and discussion forums, you must first log-in to Canvas.

Course Description:
Though Israel/Palestine, peace, conflict, and the Middle East appear frequently in the daily news, people often don’t understand what all the fuss is about, and why the conflict(s) appear so seemingly unsolvable. This course will offer a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the many conflicts within and between Israeli and Palestinian societies by looking at them through the lens of graphic narratives. We’ll read a number of graphic novels/autobiographies/journalistic texts including but not limited to Sarah Glidden’s How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, Harvey Pekar’s and J.T. Waldman’s Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me, Joe Sacco’s famous serial Palestine, as well as a variety of other texts to see how words and images have shaped and limited the ways the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts and potential solutions to them are represented. We’ll analyze key concepts: homeland, settlements, Zionism, diaspora, occupied territories, refugees, citizenship, and cease-fire, from Israeli, Palestinian, and other perspectives to better understand how they shape narratives about memory, history, and identity, both national and individual. Since the graphic genre is a relatively new literary development, we will pay careful attention to how it offers new affordances and limitations for representing these complex relationships. As this will be a writing intensive course, we will explore these issues as a means of sharpening your critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Students may have additional opportunities to interact with authors/artists through Skype-facilitated guest lectures.