Landing in Place
Landing in Place
- August 27, 2026
- New graphic novel by UC Irvine anthropologist Sherine Hamdy explores identity and belonging
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In her newest work, Landing in Place: A Graphic Novel (Penguin Random House), UC Irvine anthropology professor Sherine Hamdy takes readers on a journey of self-discovery from Long Island to Cairo through the story of Anisa, a recent high school graduate who’s grappling with questions about identity, family and following her dreams. Illustrated by Myra El Mir, Landing in Place is Hamdy’s second graphic novel and first collaboration with El Mir. Below, Hamdy shares what inspired the story, why comics offer a unique medium for exploring complex themes, and what she hopes readers take away from Anisa’s journey.
-Join Hamdy at the Laguna Beach Library on Sept. 10 for a reading and discussion of her latest work.-
Q: Landing in Place explores questions of identity, belonging, family expectation, and artistic self-discovery through Anisa’s journey. What initially motivated you to tell this story in graphic novel form, and what questions were you hoping to better understand through Anisa’s experiences?
A: Comics are a great way to show the complexity and hybridity of life – like the juxtaposition between people’s inner thoughts and what they’re actually saying out loud, or how places look vs. how people want them to appear. I wanted to write for both immigrant audiences with hybrid identities and for those without those experiences to help bridge our understanding of one another.
Q: Anisa’s struggle between pursuing medicine and pursuing art reflects tensions many students feel between personal passion and cultural or familial expectations. Through your research, storytelling, and collaboration with illustrator Myra El Mir, what did you discover about how young people navigate those competing pressures—and why did a graphic novel feel like the right medium to convey those emotions?
A: I think in general we have conflicted discourses about higher education – there’s always been the expectation that going to college will afford you a higher paying career down the road (even as that is starting to break down with our new socio-economic realities). But there’s also the discourse about pursuing your own passion, finding what you’re good at, or following your dreams – something that some will feel more supported doing than others. I wanted a realistic depiction of a college kid struggling through those conflicting messages. I also hoped to bring attention to the wider point that people in power, those who are benefiting from the status quo, really don’t want a bunch of critical thinkers out there who are pursuing their passions and revealing truths about inequalities or injustices in the world.
Q: The book addresses issues that resonate far beyond one family’s story, including immigrant identity, mental health, faith, academic pressure, and finding community. Why do you think these conversations are especially important right now, particularly for college students and young adults trying to define themselves?
A: College students dealing with immigrant identity, mental health issues and family dynamics are what I see every day in my classrooms. I would have loved to have seen such representation in my own youth so I didn’t feel so alone.
Q: Cairo becomes an important space for Anisa’s transformation and self-understanding. How did you approach portraying place, culture, and intergenerational relationships in ways that challenge stereotypes or offer readers a more nuanced understanding of Egyptian and Muslim American experiences?
A: Anisa reflects many of my own personal experiences with Cairo and Egypt more generally, but I wanted to tell a more universal story about immigration, diaspora, and memory. Anisa realizes she’s in an “immigrant time warp” because the Egypt her parents instill in her doesn’t really exist anymore, and in some ways she has more traditional views about Egypt than her cousins living in Cairo do.
Q: After readers finish Landing in Place, what future conversations, reflections, or actions do you hope the book inspires—whether in families, classrooms, or among young people who may see parts of themselves in Anisa’s story?
A: Well, I hope they would have identified with a young character trying to figure stuff out on her own – I hope Muslim readers feel seen and understood, and I hope non-Muslim readers have a better understanding of the Muslim faith and the damage that anti-Islam mobilization in the US has on all of us. One reader told me that after reading my book, she felt that she had been “duped by US media” to have very negative attitudes about Islam – so that was heartening for me to hear.
pictured: Sherine Hamdy with her book cover, Landing in Place
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