포스트휴먼 어린이의 디스/어빌리티: 『엘 데포』의 슈퍼히어로 되기

Abstract

This study examines the discourse of the posthuman child in El Deafo (2014) by Cece Bell, the first graphic novel ever to receive a Newbery Honor. In this autobiographical graphic memoir, the girl with hearing loss, Cece, is depicted as an anthropomorphic rabbit who imagines herself becoming the superhero El Deafo with the aid of her school hearing device, the Phonic Ear. As a graphic novel, El Deafo not only visualizes and foregrounds the rabbit-girl’s hearing dis/ability as a reconfiguration of disability and ability, but also constructs a child superhero who appropriates the genre and powers of the DC Trinity—Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The analysis ultimately argues that Cece’s becoming El Deafo exemplifies the “posthuman child,” a relational and hybrid subject e/merging through entanglements with animals, technologies, environments, and (non-)human others.