Content area
Full Text
Philippe Delisle, Bande dessinée franco-belge et imaginaire colonial: Des Années 1930 aux années 1980 ['Franco-Belgian bande dessinée and the Colonial Imaginary: From 1930 t0 the 1980s'] (Paris: Karthala, 2008). 196 pp. ISBN 987-2-8111- 0083-4 (18.05, p/b)
Philippe Delisle's Bande dessinée franco-belge et imaginaire colonial considers historically the corpus of Belgian and French bandes dessinées from the early 1930s to the late 1980s representing aspects of colonialism. Delisle's work is clearly structured throughout. He divides his decade-spanning study into four distinct categories, examining the depiction from the 1930s to late 1950s of colonial spaces and native peoples, before considering the ideological representation of colonial expansion as a necessary 'mission civilisatrice' ['civilising mission'] and, finally, the re-emergence in the 1980s of Belgian and French strips portraying imperialism.
In his short introduction, Delisle notes that his study is based on the analysis of approximately sixty primary texts depicting facets of colonialism, and further states the two principal issues (see below) to be considered by this methodological study. The difference in relevance and import to current ongoing post-colonial research of the Franco-Belgian bande dessinée between these two issues highlights aptly the dual nature of Delisle's work in terms of its instructiveness and value.
The author's first aim - 'A travers l'ensemble relativement important et homogène de bandes dessinées franco-belges que nous avons réuni, nous entendons cerner un imaginaire colonial populaire' ['Via the relatively large and homogeneous body of French-Belgian bandes dessinées that we have amassed, we aim to grasp a popular colonial construct'] (9) - and the way he pursues it, perhaps betray the occasional lack of familiarity with the existing research concerning the colonial drawn strip, and leads Delisle to spend an unfortunately significant proportion...