Comics Activism: An Interview with Comics Artist Kate Evans

This is an interview with comics artist Kate Evans, author of Red Rosa (2015) and Threads: From the Refugee Experience (2017), as well as a number of other comics, about her recent work, which operates at the intersection of several of the most exciting genre developments in comics in recent years. In the interview Evans reflects on recent shifts in comics journalism, as well as other trends in the field such as the rise of graphic memoir, through examples taken from Evans’s own work as well as that of Joe Sacco, Lynda Barry, Alison Bechdel and others

A "novel" reading therapy programme for reading difficulties after a subarachnoid haemorrhage

Background: Although several treatments for acquired reading difficulties exist, few studies have explored the effectiveness of treatment for mild reading difficulties and treatment for reading difficulties associated with cognitive impairment. Aims: This study explored the effectiveness of an individual strategy-based reading treatment of 11 sessions given to a female participant (IW) who had mild reading difficulties following a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). The impact of treatment on reading ability, confidence and emotions associated with reading were investigated. Methods & Procedures: Treatment focussed on the use of strategies to support IW’s memory when reading books, the use of a checklist to select appropriate reading materials, and increasing IW’s confidence in discussing the book she was reading with others. A person-centred approach and personally relevant materials were used throughout the treatment. Reading ability was assessed using the Gray Oral Reading Tests (GORT-4; Lee Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001), and IW’s perspective was obtained using the Reading Confidence and Emotions Questionnaire (RCEQ; see Cocks et al., 2010. Pre-treatment, post-treatment and maintenance (7 weeks post) assessments were undertaken, with an additional exit interview at the final time point. Outcomes & Results: Gains were noted in reading rate, accuracy, comprehension, and confidence, with parallel increased pleasure gained from reading and reduced negative emotions and frustration. Self-reported gains included conversing with others about material read, verbal communication, and re-engagement with the identity of being a reader. Conclusions: Strategy-based treatment resulted in positive gains in reading for pleasure, conversation, and identity, for an individual with mild chronic reading difficulties. Participant self-report and interview reveal the true value of this treatment for the individual. The positive results suggest that further research is warranted that investigates the effectiveness of strategy-based reading therapy approaches for others with acquired reading difficulties

‘Graphic Medicine’ as a Mental Health Information Resource: Insights from Comics Producers

Recent literature suggests that a growing number of comics are being published on health-related topics, including aspects of mental health and social care (Williams 2012; Czerwiec et al 2015) and that comics are increasingly being used in higher education settings as information resources. This article offers insights from comics creators and disseminators and explores the wider context of comics production and distribution (with a focus on 'Graphic Medicine' or health-related comics) as part of a larger examination of the interface between these documents and potential academic audiences. Original data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants actively involved in comics creation and production. Elements of domain analysis (Hjørland 2002) were used to obtain insights into attitudes to the creation, dissemination and use of mental health-related comics. Though potentially useful comics material is being produced in the mental health domain, significant challenges remain for producers in enabling their work to be accessed within higher education settings. This paper suggests that comics producers need to make a concerted effort to reach academia, and academia - including information professionals - need to embrace new types of material to enhance teaching

Drawing-writing culture: the truth-fiction spectrum of an ethno-graphic novel on the Sri Lankan civil war and migration

With our focus on an “ethno‐graphic novel” on the Sri Lankan civil war and the forcible displacement and migration of Tamil survivors, we make two main propositions while reflecting on the “graphic narrative turn” that has emerged in anthropology in recent years. First, we inscribe drawing into the “writing of cultures” where words have held a superior status in ethnographic representations. Rather than seeing drawings as perceptive tools for recording scenes in fieldwork alone, we extend them to a representational practice where they can have a deep, intricate, and equivalent entanglement with words to create synchronous affective intensities among a larger audience. Our second proposal follows Jean Rouch on cinéma vérité to interrogate assumptions about truth and fiction as portrayed by film representations. We propose a theory and practice for graphic novel production that we have termed vérités graphiques (literally, graphic realities). This describes the collaborative and interactive engagement with people's contributions and views, and their distillation and fictionalization through the ethno‐graphic form. We diverge from cinéma vérité, however, by highlighting a truth‐fiction spectrum that further challenges the presumed objectivity of what is seen, experienced, co‐created, and revealed

A profetisa que amava Bruce Lee: Oriente e Ocidente na perspectiva de Persépolis

In this article it is examined the work Persepolis, animation movie which summarizes the four volumes of the homonymous work launched in the form of comics in France, between 2000 and 2003. Narrated by the author Marjane Satrapi, it portraits the 15 years following the events of 1979 in Iran, from her personal perspective. Belonging to a left-wing social group, westernized according to the Iranian standards, she saw its utopias die as the Islamic Revolution won. However, during an auto exile in Vienna in her teen ages, she realized that the vaunted western liberty also charged its price. Considering Persepolis narrative literally as a look into perspective, it is debated the political and social aspects of the relationship east / west in a particular relation with the work of Edward Said.Neste artigo analisamos a obra Persépolis, longa metragem de animação que sintetiza os quatro volumes da obra homônima lançada na forma de história em quadrinhos na França, entre os anos de 2000 e 2003. Narrado pela autora Marjane Satrapi, conta os quinze anos sucessivos aos acontecimentos de 1979 no Irã, a partir de sua perspectiva pessoal. Pertencente a um grupo social de esquerda e ocidentalizado segundo o padrão iraniano, viu morrer as utopias deste segmento com a vitória da Revolução Islâmica. No entanto, num autoexílio em Viena, em plena adolescência, percebeu que a apregoada liberdade ocidental também cobrava o seu preço. Tomando a narrativa de Persépolis como um olhar literalmente em perspectiva, colocamos em debate aspectos políticos e sociais da relação Oriente/Ocidente, dialogando, particularmente, com a obra de Edward Said.Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (FCC/UNESP)FAFICH/UFMGUniversidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (FCC/UNESP

A Film of Ones Own: The Animated Self-Portraits of Young Contemporary Female Animators

This article analyses animated self-portraits created by contemporary young and emerging women in animation, and elucidates significant differences between this new generation of women animators and previous ones. Through their animated self-portraits, the earlier animatrices explored their own identity as women and artists, developing new discourses and models for a subgenre that existed from the early days of cinema animation. But the animated female self-portrayal of the new generation comes closer to documentary and has more universal concerns, appealing to a wider audience and reaching theatrical distribution; Marjane Satrapi’s feature-length animation film Persepolis (2007) exemplifies this and is a focus of the article.Lorenzo Hernández, MC. (2010). A Film of Ones Own: The Animated Self-Portraits of Young Contemporary Female Animators. Animation. 5(1):73-90. doi:10.1177/1746847709358638S739051Satrapi, M. ( 2008) ‘ Persepolis: A State of Mind’, Literal. Latin American Voices, February: 44-7

Literature, Human Rights and the Cold War

Despite the ambitions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, the establishment of global justice and freedom made little progress over the following four decades. One of the results was a significant strand of Cold War literature that documented the brutalising effects of industrialisation, totalitarianism and superpower interventionism and that advocated for those who, still marginalised by class, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, felt excluded from the UDHR's conception of a common humanity. Taking up many of these themes, this essay analyses human rights literature from around the world, including examples of autobiographical testimony, political fiction, postcolonial poetry, dystopian drama and postmodernist fiction

The Influence of Manga on the Graphic Novel

This material has been published in The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel edited by Jan Baetens, Hugo Frey, Stephen E. Tabachnick. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University PressProviding a range of cogent examples, this chapter describes the influences of the Manga genre of comics strip on the Graphic Novel genre, over the last 35 years, considering the functions of domestication, foreignisation and transmedia on readers, markets and forms