Building a Comics and Social Justice Curriculum

FAIN: AC-284523-22

San Diego State University Foundation (San Diego, CA 92182-1931)
Elizabeth Ann Pollard (Project Director: May 2021 to present)
Pamela A. Jackson (Co Project Director: December 2021 to present)

A two-year project to develop 10 new courses and a certificate program in comic studies.

Scholars who study comics and graphic novels have long recognized their power to perpetuate harmful stereotypes; but also, more recently, their capacity to challenge injustice. Through engagement with issues like racial discrimination, gender inequality, sexual identity, and immigration, the ever-changing medium of comics is a change-maker. Humanists are well-positioned to trace that change and, through scholarship and teaching, make meaning of its power. Comics@SDSU seeks $150,000 for a two-year initiative to 1) develop ten new courses that will deepen and expand our humanistic comics curriculum, 2) use these courses to populate a proposed certificate in Comic Studies, and 3) support workshops that bring scholars to campus to energize comic studies at our Hispanic Serving Institution. The humanistic approach to the study of comics that we will cultivate through workshops, courses and a certificate program will empower thousands of students to visualize and manifest a more just future.

Media Coverage

Comic books and anti-racism: SDSU lecture explores social issues media from the 1950s (Media Coverage)
Publication: San Diego Union Tribune
Date: 2/5/2023
Abstract: Coverage of Qiana Whitted's public lecture entitled "Captions and Corpses: How to Read an EC Comic"
URL: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnists/story/2023-02-05/sunday-social-justice-public-lecture-on-role-of-ec-comics-in-addressing-social-issues

Comics make way into SDSU curriculum (Media Coverage)
Publication: Daily Aztec
Date: 8/30/2022
Abstract: Article describes the new slate of comics classes being developed at SDSU and the panel at Comic-Con 2022 at which the grant work and new courses/certificate were described.
URL: https://thedailyaztec.com/110908/artsandculture/comics-make-way-into-sdsu-curriculum/

Carolyn Cocca Explores the New Age of Women Superheroes in Comics (Media Coverage)
Publication: SDSU NewsCenter
Date: 3/29/2023
Abstract: Interview with visiting scholar Carolyn Cocca.
URL: https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=79144

Associated Products

“The Transformational Power of a Comics and Social Justice Curriculum" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “The Transformational Power of a Comics and Social Justice Curriculum"
Author: Elizabeth Pollard
Author: Pamela Jackson
Author: Gregory Daddis
Author: Jess Whatcott
Abstract: Dedicated comics-studies programs are few and far between; even more rare, a slate of comics courses that explores the power of comics to engage with social justice issues! This roundtable describes the process of building a complete comics and social justice curriculum from the ground up… a curriculum that explores the power of comics over time to grapple with tough social issues and comics’ unique ability to promote empathy. Put simply, the ever-changing medium of comics is a change-maker and our program intends to harness that transformational power! Upon SDSU’s foundation of already-existing courses focused on comics and history, comics and sequential media, and graphic histories, faculty are preparing courses across the curriculum on such topics as ChicanX comics, Native Americans in comics, African-Americans in comics, Visual Rhetoric of Comics, Comics for Teachers, Religion in/of Comics, and more! In the course of our discussion, we’ll share our process (including the curriculum mapping process), library/collections support, our public-facing deliverables and dissemination plan, and examples of two of the courses we’re developing.
Date: 07/23/2022
Conference Name: San Diego Comic Con

“Building a Comics Curriculum that Inspires Change” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Building a Comics Curriculum that Inspires Change”
Author: Elizabeth Pollard
Author: Pamela Jackson
Abstract: Scholars who study comics and graphic novels have long recognized their perpetuation of harmful stereotypes; but also, more recently, comics’ capacity to challenge injustice. Through comics’ engagement with issues like racial discrimination, gender inequality, sexual identity, immigration, and climate justice, the ever-changing medium is itself a change-maker. Institutions can take advantage of that disruptive power of comics to address principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. To that end, our institution is halfway through a grant-funded undertaking to 1) develop ten new courses that will deepen and expand our comics curriculum (especially with regard to social justice issues) and 2) use these courses to create a certificate in Comic Studies at our Hispanic- and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. This paper provides an interim report on our initiative, anticipating that the successes we’ve managed and the challenges we’ve faced (some resolved, others outstanding) will offer a blueprint for other institutions looking to jumpstart their own comics curriculum. We’ll describe our multi-stage process of curriculum building - from needs/resources assessment (existing courses, faculty, and library resources) to course development concurrent with curriculum design. We’ll share some highlights of the five new courses developed in AY 2022/23 (addressing such issues as LGBT+ and African-American representation, Chicanx identity, Cold War fears, and Comics Rhetoric) and a sneak peek at courses we’ll be developing in Year Two. Attendees at our session will leave with access to syllabi and lesson plans for at least seven comics and social justice-inflected classes, our provisional degree-learning outcomes matrix for a comics certificate, and ideas about implementing a similar comics curriculum at their own institution. Such an approach to the study of comics, and a curriculum that uses comics to engage social justice issues, stands to
Date: 04/21/2023
Conference Name: International Comic Arts Forum

Building a Comics and Social Justice Curriculum (NEH) (Web Resource)
Title: Building a Comics and Social Justice Curriculum (NEH)
Author: Elizabeth Pollard
Author: Pamela Jackson
Abstract: This website captures and disseminates the course materials developed under the grant and the certificate (process of development).
Year: 2023
Primary URL: http://comics.sdsu.edu/grants/neh-hsi

Assessing Social Justice in Cold War Comics (Blog Post)
Title: Assessing Social Justice in Cold War Comics
Author: Gregory Daddis
Abstract: Describes Daddis's development of his course "Comics and Cold War America," especially an assignment he created for the course.
Date: 11/3/2022
Primary URL: https://comics-blog.sdsu.edu/category/gregory-daddis/
Blog Title: Assessing Social Justice in Cold War Comics
Website: Comics@SDSU Blog

The Rhetoric of Comics (Blog Post)
Title: The Rhetoric of Comics
Author: Ben Jenkins
Abstract: Jenkins describes the development of his Rhetoric of Comics course.
Date: 1/23/2023
Primary URL: https://comics-blog.sdsu.edu/the-rhetoric-of-comics/
Blog Title: The Rhetoric of Comics
Website: Comics@SDSU Blog

Social Justice and the Teaching of Comics at San Diego State University: A Case History Focused on “I/Eyegasm 21st Century Comics, Photography, Cinema, and Cultural Studies (Blog Post)
Title: Social Justice and the Teaching of Comics at San Diego State University: A Case History Focused on “I/Eyegasm 21st Century Comics, Photography, Cinema, and Cultural Studies
Author: William Nericcio
Abstract: Nericcio describes developing using ChicanX comics in the classroom.
Date: 1/13/2023
Primary URL: https://comics-blog.sdsu.edu/social-justice-and-the-teaching-of-comics-at-san-diego-state-university-a-case-history-focused-on-i-eyegasm-21st-century-comics-photography-cinema-and-cultural-studies/
Blog Title: Social Justice and the Teaching of Comics at San Diego State University: A Case History Focused on “I/Eyegasm 21st Century Comics, Photography, Cinema, and Cultural Studies
Website: Comics@SDSU Blog

C-SPAN - Lectures in History - Comics in Cold War America (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: C-SPAN - Lectures in History - Comics in Cold War America
Writer: Gregory Daddis
Abstract: Gregory Daddis of San Diego State University teaches a class on comics during the Cold War
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.c-span.org/video/?522543-1/comics-cold-war-america
Access Model: open access
Format: Web

One for the Comic Books - A Curriculum Transformed (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: One for the Comic Books - A Curriculum Transformed
Author: Elizabeth Pollard
Author: Pamela Jackson
Author: Michael Dominguez
Author: Kishauna Soljour
Author: Grace Dearborn
Abstract: At SDCC 2022, SDSU’s newly-minted Center for Comics Studies offered a roundtable discussion that touted “The Transformational Power of a Comics and Social Justice Curriculum.” Two years (and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities) later, we reflect on our promised transformation. Each panelist brings a unique perspective to the conversation. Beth Pollard describes the approval process for SDSU’s Comics Studies Certificate, both the challenges the Certificate faced and how we navigated them. Pamela Jackson explains the pivotal role of the library in supporting course development and student research in comics. Two comics course developers will share their experiences creating their social justice inflected courses, one on climate justice (“Avenging the Universe,” Kishauna Soljour) and another on representations of race in comics (“Comics and Race,” Michael Dominguez). Grace Dearborn (B.A. History, 2024) will reflect on the impact of the curriculum on her research as an undergraduate student. Attendees will leave the session with concrete ideas about how to develop comics curricula at their own institutions as well as access to nearly forty innovative lesson plans from the ten courses we launched across the past two years and from our “Sketchbooks for Teaching Comics and Social Justice” initiative.
Date: 07/28/2024
Primary URL: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rXD3z8KSibtwrdUhkai-T4bxBlkA06y1pvX9g2D7iLk/edit?usp=sharing
Conference Name: San Diego Comic-Con

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