This process is called “Othering” whereby the world is divided between “us/civilized” and “them/savage,” with those who are different being judged as inferior. The domination of Western capitalism reflects European/American culture as distinctive and liberal in comparison to other cultures. This neoliberal geopolitics, or neo-orientalist approach, has supported capitalistic economic ideologies in the way it has historically emerged. Thompson’s graphic novel presents a political message in the context of social activism that has advanced the rationality of post-9/11 escalatory foreign policy in the Middle East. This phenomenon created a polarized spectrum of power using a binary approach of West versus East.

Consequently, societies have evolved ways of labeling inclusion and exclusion based on the following factors: economic, political, ideological, societal, and cultural domination of another population. The West, fueled by its power, has managed to control the East. For the past century, the political turmoil in the Middle East has been caused to a large extent by Western geopolitical interests in the region (Ehteshami 2007, 123). Ambitious, but always deeply felt, Habibi is a beautifully drawn and moving graphic novel that will get a huge amount of attention.Author: Safa Al-shammary University of GranadaĬraig Thompson’s Habibi (2011) is an American graphic novel based on a romantic fable that is set in an imaginary and modern Middle Eastern country. Set in the place where Christianity and Islam began, it explores the fundamental connection between these religions, and also the relationship between the first and the third world and the increasingly important battle for the earth's resources. At heart Habibi is, like Blankets, a profound love story, but it also functions as a parable about the environment and the state of the world. When he seeks an alternative means of income Dodola is captured by the Sultan and Zam is forced into a quest to try and rescue her. In the meantime however Dodola is forced to prostitute herself to desert traders in order to provide for Zam. As they age their relationship shifts from mother and son, to brother and sister and eventually lovers. They live in isolation in an old boat in the desert. Habibi, based on a Middle Eastern fable, tells the story of Dodola, who escapes being sold into slavery and rescues an abandoned baby she names Zam.

Habibi comic