No main field.
The course can normally be included as a part of a general degree at basic level.
On this course, students gain and deepen theoretical and practical knowledge of comics journalism and documentary comics as genres within graphic visual storytelling and its cultural contexts. It aims to provide and apply methods for analysis of individual comics and comics-corpora as a source for academic research. At the same time, students learn how to plan, prepare, and execute journalistic and documentary comics of their own. The course will be taught in English.
The course is divided into three parts:
1. Introduction to narrative structure and visualisation, and the basics of comics journalism / documentary comics. (8 hp)
2. Comics culture and publishing in different countries and their implications for comics journalism / documentary. Continuation on comics journalism / documentary. (8 hp)
3. Individual documentary / journalistic project that must contain pictorial sequential storytelling (topic chosen in dialogue with supervisor). (10 hp) and written report, connecting project to comics theory (pictorial storytelling), cultural theory. (6 hp)
Knowledge and Understanding
After finishing the course students should be able to:
- Describe and reflect on documentary and journalistic genres in comics (1)
- Describe and reflect on cultural dependencies and options in comics journalism (2)
- Place comics in relation to other forms of visual narration (3)
- Describe and discuss the production of a comic, from idea and concept through to published product (4)
Skills and Abilities
After finishing the course students should be able to:
- Show development of their own visual storytelling abilities (5)
- Develop and produce (script and/or draw, text/illustrate) visual narratives that are usable as journalistic / documentary comics (6)
Power of Judgement and Behaviour
After finishing the course students should be able to:
- Assess critically developments in the area of journalistic/documentary comics (7)
- Reflect on the limitations and possibilities of the journalistic / documentary genres (8)
- Critically assess and analyse their own and others' work orally and in writing (9)
The course depends on the students' participation. Teaching forms used during the course are lectures, seminars, workshops, group work and individual projects under supervision. (It is hoped that study visits will also be arranged.)
Grading is done in recognition of achievements related to the issues on the above list:
In part 1, issues 1 and 3 are graded by assessment of work results of comics and drawing exercises (drawing: 2 HP; sequences: 2 HP) written reflections on comics journalism (2 HP) and written reflections (2 HP).
In part 2, issues 2, 4 and 8 are graded on the production of drawings and comics (2 HP), a written assignment (academic paper 4 HP), and active participation in text-seminars (2 HP).
In part 3 the issue 5, 6, 8 through execution and presentation (even in exhibition-context) of individual artistic project (work in progress as well as finished project) (10 HP)
The issues 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 through written critical reflection on project development or acad. paper on specific comics issue (6 HP).
The gradings of the three parts of the course sum up the achievements regarding the issues covered.
Bonner, Frances: "Recording Reality: Documentary Film and Television" in Stuart Hall et all, 2013; 60-119.
Chute, Hillary L. (2016). Disaster drawn: visual witness, comics, and documentary form. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Groensteen, Thierry: The System of Comics. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Keeble, Richard Lance; John Tulloch, Florian Zollmann (eds): Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. Peter Lang. --> individual chapters
Miller, Ann: Reading Bande Dessinée. University of Chicago Press. --> excerpts / individual chapters
Comics-examples:
Sacco, Joe: Palestine (Fantagraphics); The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo (Drawn & Quarterly); Footnotes in Gaza (Jonathan Cape).
Delisle, Guy: Pyongyang: A journey in North Korea; Burma Chronicles; Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City; Hostage (all Drawn and Quarterly)
Glidden, Sarah (2016): Rolling Blackouts. Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Drawn and Quarterly.
Guibert, Emmanuel., Lefevre, Didier, Lemercier, Frédéric. & Siegel, Alexis (2009): The photographer. First Second.
Una (2015): Becoming Unbecoming. Myriad Editions.
Gloeckner, Phoebe (2015): The diary of a teenage girl: an account in words and pictures. North Atlantic Books.
Richard McGuire (2014): Here. Hamish Hamilton / Penguin.
Weyhe, Birgit (2016): Madgermanes. avant-verlag.
Flix: Da war mal was. Carlsen.
Up to 500 pages of short texts, book chapters, comics and other graphic visual material may be added, and will be supplied via the course's itslearning-page or the university library.
In addition, up to 300 pages of webcomics may be added.
The University provides students who participate in or who have completed a course with the opportunity to make known their experiences and viewpoints with regards to
the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarize the results of course evaluations as well as informing participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures initiated in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).