<i>Turkish Kaleidoscope</i>

Abstract What are the advantages and drawbacks of presenting ethnographic data in the form of graphic fiction? Ethnography generally narrativizes, providing structure, chronological order, and a conclusion. In contrast, fiction narrates and avoids constructing discourse as objective truth by refusing to tell a single story, often using multiple voices and multiple vehicles of expression. The 2021 graphic fiction book Turkish Kaleidoscope is based on oral history interviews and tells the stories of people caught up in a violent civil war in Turkey in the 1970s. This article discusses the production of this graphic novel in contrast to a more conventional analytical article on factionalism based on the same data. The article argues that a graphic approach allows the inclusion of a fuller spectrum of the variables that provide a context for factionalism, such as the role of masculinity and women’s participation in political life. Unlike an analytical reading that privileges variables central to the argument, a graphic approach is decentered and thus deeply intersectional in that it brings all these variables into conversation with each other. By juxtaposing voices and telling a story that does not impose a conclusion, it allows a more complicated understanding to emerge in the reader.