The course aims to promote a critical knowledge on Gender Equality and Human Rights taking as a case study the situation of the Palestinian refugee population from a gender perspective; to question the roles assigned to people according to their gender and culturally sanctioned; to know real experiences in the construction of social comics; and to develop the skills of the participants in the global structuring of the comic.

To this end, the course will include the participation of cartoonist Susanna Martín, who, through a streaming session, will reflect on comics as a profession, make an introduction to the current context of social and journalistic comics, as well as an analysis of pages of her creations. Besides, the main tool to be used during the course will be the comic book 'Gaza Amal: Comics of brave women in the Gaza Strip', made by Susanna Martín, the bilingual version of which is now published in Spanish-Valencian here.

The Gaza Amal comic strip was born as a tool for social awareness and seeks to dismantle cultural and gender stereotypes about Palestinian women and bring the reality of Palestinian refugee women from Gaza closer to Valencian society through the stories of its four protagonists. The aim is to generate a critical awareness of human rights, gender and cultural stereotypes and the importance of empowering women who, both in comedy and in real life, have to deal with different daily situations they face as women and refugees from Palestine. This graphic work is characterised by its avoidance of stereotyped female characters, with little prominence and weight in the stories, who reproduce socially assigned gender roles, on the one hand, and on the other, offer a more realistic vision based on the dignity and resilience of women. The author will approach the creative process in her participation in the course.

The training, which will take place between 1 and 12 June 2020, has been adapted to a distance-learning format so that it can be developed through the Universitat de València's virtual classroom during the state of alert caused by the COVID-19. 

This course is part of 'Gaza Amal: The comic as a tool for social transformation and visibility of Palestinian refugee women', a project developed by UNRWA Valencia thanks to the financial support of Valencia City Council, and through which it aims to promote among young people a critical awareness of Gender Equality and Human Rights. Free registration can be done here. 

UNRWA VALENCIAN COMMUNITY, WHO ARE THEY?

UNRWA is the United Nations Agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 with the mandate to provide assistance and protection to the refugee population of Palestine, more than 5.6 million people today. UNRWA's mission is to assist and protect the Palestinian refugee population in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in search of a just solution to their plight. The Agency works in education, health, protection, social services, infrastructure and camp improvement (58), microfinance, and humanitarian and emergency assistance, both in times of conflict and relative calm. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states, public and private institutions and citizens. UNRWA Spain, and therefore its Delegation in the Valencian Community, is the first National Committee that UNRWA constituted in the world in 2005.

SUSANNA MARTIN, WHO IS IT?

As a child, she learned to read and draw with the comics that were around the house. Since then, she didn't stop creating comics although she started professionally in comics in 2009. She has a degree in History and a degree in Illustration and Wall Art. She is co-author of Alice in a Real World and Sansamba with Isabel Franc, and author of the graphic novel Smiles of Bombay. She coordinated the comic book anthology Enjambre. She illustrates and draws comics for different publishers and media such as Pikara Magazine, El Salto, Diagonal, M21, El País, Página 12, Diari Ara, eldiario.es, Xabiroi, Balazin, Tretzevents, Abadía de Montserrat Publications, Metrópolis, Elkar, Bellaterra, Libros del KO, Dibbuks, Astiberri, Andana, Norma Editorial and Bruguera. Between 2016 and 2017 it publishes several social comics: Gaza Amal. Comics of brave women in the Gaza Strip, Tipi-tapa and the collective comic book A gift for Kushbu. Stories that cross borders. In 2018 she participates in two more works, Viajes dibujados de Altaïr Magazine with the story Siempre con vos ("Always with you”), Drawing Nicaragua, and in Viñetas de tortas y bollos. Lesbian comics from both sides of the border.

In 2019 she drew the second volume of Anna Dédalus detective. La paradoja de Fermi with a script by Miguel Á. Giner Bou and published two graphic novels: Annemarie, with María Castrejón, and Residencia de Estudiantes as the complete author. She is currently working on two comics for UNRWA Spain about Palestinian refugee women from the West Bank and Lebanon. She is part of the Comic Authors collective.