Talks
Translating Tintin in Four Strips
Recorded at Storm Books and Candy in Brooklyn, NY on April 20, 2025
Tintin travelled to the ‘Middle East’ (both real and imagined) more than any other geography over the course of Herge's The Adventures of Tintin. In four comic strips, I examine how these tales were not only repeatedly translated into Arabic, but how Tintin tried to become Arab. These panels provide insight into sites of cultural translation, transformation, and violence. This talk was based on the the article "'Translating' Tintin Six Strips" form Issue #8 of Journal Safar.
Translation as Trojan Horse / Translation as Conversation
Recorded at ICI Berlin in Berlin, Germany on July 7, 2017
What does it mean to “image” the Middle East—and who gets to do it? In this keynote talk, I draw on children’s comics to reflect on how Arabic translation of comics from the West both shaped stereotypes of Arabs (Trojan Horse) and provided a site to contest those stereotypes (Conversation). Delivered at the ICI Berlin’s symposium Imaging a Middle East as an expanded version of a similar talk.
Making Death Visible: Lebanese Comics on War
Recorded at the American University of Beirut’s first “Symposium on Arab Comics” in Beirut, Lebanon on November 16, 2015
How to do you capture the invisible feeling of grief in a visual medium? In this talk, I trace how Arab artists from children’s comics to underground zines have rendered the experience of regional conflicts, particularly in Lebanon. The talk reflects on how grief, martyrdom, and resistance have been depicted throughout the art form in the 20th and 21st Centuries, revealing the complex role illustrators play in shaping collective memory across the Arab world.
Translation as a Trojan Horse / Translation as Conversation
Recorded at the Nuqat “Copy + Paste Syndrome” Conference in Kuwait on November 14, 2015
In this presentation, I explore translation not as a neutral act, but as a layered, often political gesture. Drawing from Arab children’s comics that adapted Western stories like Tintin and Superman, I show how translators, editors, and bootleggers used their pens as tools of quiet resistance and creative reimagining.
Other Selected Talks
Visiting Artist Lecture: Mickey without the Y – Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), Minneapolis – September 15, 2021
Invented Geographies: How Were Borders in the Middle East Drawn? – Afikra, New York City – March 12, 2017
Arab Comics Symposium: Translation as Trojan Horse / Translation as Conversation – Brown University, Providence – February 26, 2015
Part of a day-long symposium held alongside the exhibition Arab Comics: 90 Years of Popular Visual Culture. Speakers included Michael Allan, Lina Ghaibeh, Fouad Mezher, Fdz Bx, Mona Damluji, Bashara Doumani, Elias Muhanna, and Anna Mudd.“Welcome to the 20th Century”: Orientalism in Comics – Wheaton College, Massachusetts – September 2014
Translation as Trojan Horse / Translation as Conversation – University of California, Berkeley – April 18, 2013
Following Tintin’s Footsteps: Reconciling Hergé’s Orient with Arab Comics – DePauw University, Indiana – April 3, 2012
Following Tintin’s Footsteps: Reconciling Hergé’s Orient with Arab Comics – Institut Français du Proche-Orient, Beirut – November 23, 2011
With discussant Caecilia PieriFollowing Tintin’s Footsteps: Reconciling Hergé’s Orient with Arab Comics – Sharjah International Book Fair, UAE – November 18, 2011
Intro to Orientalism in Comics – University of California, Berkeley – September 13, 2011