Negotiating Belonging: Racial Borders and the Migrant Voice in Mira Jacob’s Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Betül Ateşci Koçak

Abstract


This article examines Mira Jacob’s Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations as a contemporary migrant narrative that negotiates racial belonging in post-9/11 America through visual minimalism, fragmented dialogue, and intergenerational exchange. In this graphic memoir, Jacob shares the daily conversations she has with her son, which form the point of departure for the work. Situating the memoir within the socio-political climate shaped by intensified surveillance, racial profiling, and populist rhetoric, the study explores how everyday family conversations become sites where identity, fear, and belonging are continuously negotiated. The narration mostly follows Jacob’s dialogues with her young biracial son, Z, as well as with family, friends, and partners. These moments of dialogue, filled with humour, frustration, and doubt, offer insight into how racialized individuals search for belonging in a society that often excludes or misrepresents them.


Keywords


graphic memoir, racial belonging, identity, post-9/11,

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2026.50.2.31-43
Date of publication: 2026-07-10 10:35:59
Date of submission: 2025-12-30 23:42:32


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