The Martyr: A Graphic Comic Novel

The Martyr traces the story of Omar, a young Kenyan man and a talented sculptor who joins the Al-Shabaab after being innocently arrested in a police swoop and locked up for two years. This project will interrogate radicalization and extremism from an East African perspective, looking at the historical context and the role of the State, State security security agencies, the role of religious leaders and contribution by political leaders, and the meddling of the international community in violent extremism in East Africa. Comics and cartoons have in recent years, been recognized as effective and potent tools for social and political mobilization. In Africa, there has been a growing culture of comic books and comic strips in newspapers and publications since the 1960s. This project seeks to integrate comics as tools of art that cannot only be inculcated in socio-political discourses, but incorporated in education curricula, policies and programs to explore the psychosocial needs of individuals and communities within the current capital-driven world order, and to inspire a rethinking of our long-term responses to radicalization and terrorism.