Drawing resistance - Swedish cartoonists and their relation to politics, power and the art of making others laugh

Abstract

This essay analyzes conversations between the author and three Swedish cartoonists concerning ideas of politics, art and comics. The cartoonists are Elin Lucassi, Amalia Alvarez and Emanuel Garnheim. The aim is to examine how political cartoons can be constructed within a frame of feminist and political activism. Do the cartoonists view cartoons as a method for political change and in which way is this idea then formulated with the cartoonists? What ideas are being negotiated within the discourse of cartoons concerning its relationship to art as activism? What forms of feminist resistances can laughter create in a political struggle that is presented through cartoons? With discourse theory, feminist theory and political philosophy, some answers to these questions are searched for. The result shows that they all considers themselves as acting within an activism framework and that they do so by drawing cartoons concerning certain issues. Humor seems to act as a special ingredient when conveying difficult political matters and the cartoonists relationship to notions of art is a complicated one. And so, the result indicates an intricate affair concerning the cartoonist own ideas around their artistic and activistic practices.