Comics and telling research stories: Let’s make zines!

The purpose of this workshop is to open up a methodological discussion about the role of the visual arts in qualitative research writ large, and ethnography specifically, and then to practice using the affordances of comic art to work with our data. This workshop begins with an overview of arts-based and comics-based ethnographic research. You should bring with you any chunks of powerful, juicy data as well as any artifacts or important visual representations from your fieldwork (or elsewhere) that you would feel comfortable using for collage purposes (meaning: if you do not want to cut it up please make a copy). Together we will identify, transform and open up important moments from our research into tiny jewel-box illustrated stories—from which we will make zines--to analyze and share resonant meaning in our work. Participants will complete one zine of their own for distribution, trading or library-building, or as an analytic tool for future writing.

Host or Publisher CCEF - JCWS