Comics as a tool for migrant-researchers: re-shaping epistemology in migration studies through a critical-creative praxis

This thesis explores how autographic comics can contribute to reshaping epistemological approaches in migration studies through a critical-creative praxis. We situate the use of comics as a research practice within broader reflections on epistemology and positionality. Drawing on autoethnographic methods and feminist standpoint theory, we advocate for methodologies that foreground emic, situated and embodied knowledge in migration studies. We analyze three autographic comics to illustrate how specific comic affordances can enable the representations of migrants’ lived experiences. Alongside an exploratory qualitative research process, we reflect on the practical aspects of producing autographic comics within academia to identify both the opportunities and challenges inherent to this emerging research practice.