Socio-semiotics and the history of 'working-class comics and cartoons' in Sweden

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingChapterScientificpeer-review

Abstract

In the following, I will first relate how certain graphic works of autofiction have come to be accepted as contributions to the tradition of working-class literature in Sweden. Then I will exemplify how some of these works could be analysed from a socio-semiotic point of view, drawing some inspiration from Bruce Campbell’s studies of the political use of comics in Mexico. Lastly, I will sketch the outlines of a Swedish history of cartooning aimed at a working-class audience, and repose the following question, which I regard to be socio-semiotic in essence: Are simple artistic means and deskilling a visual marker of grassroot authenticity, and is it even a decisive semiotic choice for cartoonists who want to be associated with working-class autofiction, leftist politics and labour history?
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationScandinavian Comics and Comics Research
Subtitle of host publicationContexts, Politics and Practises
EditorsGunnar Krantz, Magnus Nilsson, Oskar Aspman, Tina-Marie Whitman
Place of PublicationBerlin
PublisherDe Gruyter
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 2025
MoE publication typeA3 Part of a book or another research book

Keywords

  • Comics
  • Graphic novels
  • Autofiction
  • Labour history
  • Sweden
  • Socio-semiotics
  • Sociology of the Arts

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