My primary research interests center on graphic memoirs written by women. My dissertation project Graphic Intimacies: Identity, Humor, and Trauma in Autobiographical Comics by Women of Color examines works of comics art about the lived experience of the comics’ creator.
I didn’t come to VCU knowing I wanted to study comics. In fact, my path to studying comics is a rather winding one. I actually started off intending to study in the digital humanities.
At one meeting with the director of my program, I brought up my interest in studying comics. I was surprised at my own enthusiasm for the subject. It felt great to articulate this interest to another person who immediately understood the potential; studying comics began to feel real. I wrote my first paper on representations of fashion in comics in 2013 and presented it at the University of Florida’s academic comic conference. That conference allowed me to meet many other comics scholars who were all at various points in their academic careers. My personal focus on autobiographical comics stemmed from meeting a lot of comics artists who choose to create diary comics. A lot of these artists happened to be women, so I thought that this was an interesting facet to investigate.
I am incredibly lucky. VCU is an excellent place to study comics; our library houses a large comics art collection, and the librarians are all incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Access is an incredibly important aspect of studying comics. Make friends with your librarians! I have found that cartoonists are usually very kind and will generally respond to most questions related to their work. Most importantly, find other like-minded scholars.
I didn’t come to VCU knowing I wanted to study comics. In fact, my path to studying comics is a rather winding one. I actually started off intending to study in the digital humanities.
At one meeting with the director of my program, I brought up my interest in studying comics. I was surprised at my own enthusiasm for the subject. It felt great to articulate this interest to another person who immediately understood the potential; studying comics began to feel real. I wrote my first paper on representations of fashion in comics in 2013 and presented it at the University of Florida’s academic comic conference. That conference allowed me to meet many other comics scholars who were all at various points in their academic careers. My personal focus on autobiographical comics stemmed from meeting a lot of comics artists who choose to create diary comics. A lot of these artists happened to be women, so I thought that this was an interesting facet to investigate.
I am incredibly lucky. VCU is an excellent place to study comics; our library houses a large comics art collection, and the librarians are all incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Access is an incredibly important aspect of studying comics. Make friends with your librarians! I have found that cartoonists are usually very kind and will generally respond to most questions related to their work. Most importantly, find other like-minded scholars.
