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"Je suis music" - I am music

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With disco tunes bumping their way outta the speaker, bottleneck beers sliding across the bar, and leisure suited hips swinging beat to beat, the opening of the graphic novel Aya: Life in Yop City seems set to translocate the disco days of the 1970s straight from Studio 54 to the Ivory Coast of Africa. *insert dramatic pause here please*  But it's not so, my friends, not so. Keep reading!
(Abouet & Oubrerie 20)

There are a lot of reasons that we Western readers can jump right into this collected three issue narrative about Aya and the people of Yapougon with nary a concern that we'll be tripped up in one of those dreaded moments of cultural ignorance—ideas 'lost in translation' as the cool kids say. Let's take a quick headcount of some of those reasons:
  • Translated
    • From French to English
      • Contains glossary for Abidjanaise French slang
  • Map
    • Opens with a map containing only the continental outline of Africa and a thin line cutting out the country Ivory Coast
      • Ivory Coast is even written in translation as opposed to Côte d'Ivoir
  • Preface
    • Explains the golden period of the 70s in Côte d'Ivoir (time setting for Aya)
    • Situates this within international history to explain factors which brought about its end 
  • Characters
    • Names each character and illustrates their family ties
  • Ivorian Bonus (paratextual apparatus)
    • Aforementioned glossary
    • Aya's explanation of the how pregnancy, birth, and childcare is handled communally
    • Aya's discussion of mental health, coping mechanisms, and the caretaking roles of the family/neighborhood/community
    • Marguerite Abouet's personal note about immigrating to Paris, France at the age of twelve and her sessions with a psychologist there
    • Recipes of local dishes explained by characters from the graphic novel
    • Explanation of what a pagne is and it's unspoken meanings
      • Guided instruction for wearing a pagne in two different ways
    • Instruction on how to "roll [your] tassaba" and catch a lover, both walking and dancing (Abouet)
    • Guided instruction on how to use your pagne to carry your baby on your back
  • Interview with Marguerite Abouet by Angela Ajayi
Wow! I gotta admit that is an awful lot of extra effort on the part of the author, artist, and publisher. And it is all for our (entitled egocentric) Western benefit, right? And it's not limited to just the paratextual elements. Much of the dialogue over-explains things that a Côte d'Ivoir audience would understand immediately. An early example in the graphic novel happens when Aya, Adjoua, and Bintou are discussing their hopes and dreams. Aya makes a joke about ending up in the "C" series: "Combs, clothes, and chasing men" (Abouet 30). So as not to lose this cute comment in translation, Abouet includes an annotation at the bottom of the page which explains that high school students are split into sections of academic interest which are called series (30). A local would have gotten this joke right off the bat.
(Abouet & Oubrerie 30)

But it's not just through the text that Abouet and Oubrerie make their graphic novel accessible to a Western audience. The color schemes and patterns play a huge part in helping Westerners reimagine this African country; they mediate the stark negativity of the ramifications of colonialism, civil war, and child slavery. The colors are warm, vibrant, and—panel by panel—help to set the tone, identify characters, and provide emotional nuances that we outsiders might miss. In his book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud states that "when used well, color in comics can ... amount to far more than the sum of its parts" (192). That is certainly the case in Aya.

There is so much thought and consideration put into Aya for the sake of a Western readership. Now, the question is: why?

I think we can come up with a few answers. First, money. That feels miserly, so let's flip it. Readers. Every graphic novel author/artist wants to attract readers which in turn makes money and spreads their story/message. Abouet and Oubrerie did not need to include all the extra information in Aya, did not need to approve its translation to English, did not need to include explanations both visually and textually if they were working only for an Ivorian or French audience. But they did! Because they want us! Me! You! We matter to these two talented creators. 

What about the reverse? It is my firm opinion that readers have an obligation to grab hold of moments of cultural ignorance and pull them down from the ether, connect them to meaning that WE search for, so that we can find entryways into unfamiliar cultures. The more we know about each other, the more that we can care for each other. And save the world. Obviously.

Works Cited
Abouet, Marguerite. Aya: Life in Yop City. Illustrated by Clément Oubrerie. Drawn & Quarterly, 2017.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Harper Collins, 1993.


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