ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the unique experiences of precariousness in the lives of Roma youth who grew up in state-run orphanages in the Czech Republic, through the visual investigation of two comics, Stronger Than Some (Ašta Šmé & Pokorný 2016) and Don't be a Gadjo! (Ašta Šmé & Loubat 2016). The analysis looks specifically at the challenges faced by Roma in the Czech Republic, and the attendant cultural and existential vulnerability that one can witness in those individuals growing up separated from cultural identity, family, and community. The access point of the analysis is through the visual, focusing on page composition and comics’ visual cues depicting both the internal and external encounters with vulnerability and trauma, as experienced by two young Roma: Honza and Michal, who both grew up in “Children's Homes.” The visual-spatial use of emptiness and solitude is explored in depth to both articulate a sense of loss and explore the psychological implications of childhood trauma as a continuing narrative. The use of comics form is also examined as a means to move beyond trauma through the fracturing, reproducing, and reprocessing of one's own personal narratives.
