Göbeklİtepe and ecological thinking: human/nature entanglement in Firat Yaşa’s Graphic Novel, Tepe (The Hill)

Abstract

This study examines pre-eminent Turkish cartoonist Fırat Yaşa’s graphic novel Tepe (The Hill), first published in 2016. Set in the prehistoric period in what is now the Göbeklitepe archaeological site in Turkey, the graphic novel revolves around a friendship between a man and a deer. This study offers examples of Turkish graphic novel literature and varied illustrated books as frames of reference to better understand the symbols and cultural practices concerning man/animal relationships that influence the story. It also explores the role that Göbeklitepe plays as a place, period, and architectural style in man/animal encounters, illustrating how the pillars/columns and the carving found there are reinterpreted as motifs for death of all life forms. The novel’s illustrations depicting the entanglement of humans and nature emphasise that no one, not man, animals, or animalistic man, is above being vulnerable. The novel disrupts the visually and verbally human-centred perspective, both by portraying various experiences of different species and by emphasising the uncanny ritualistic performances set in one of the oldest sanctuaries ever to be discovered. As such, this graphic novel is an illustrative example of ecological inquiry via cultural heritage with an emphasis on the evolving relations between man and animals.