The Social Genres of Comics

Impact and Innovation of Comics in Social Sciences

Veronica Moretti, Francesco Della Puppa

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9783031991844
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031991851
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Art General
• Index: Social Sciences

This book analyzes social research and genres of comics from cross-cultural perspectives. It disentangles the impact of comics in understanding social, cultural and political issues and considers the challenges they may raise from an ethical point of view. In nine case studies focused on topics such as migration, science and technology innovation, urban sociology and criminology, the book aims to answer the following questions: How can the comic medium help understand research’s narratives? To what extent can comics can be incorporated within traditional social research steps? What body of knowledge is being created by research-based comics? How can they represent social class without eliminating it or reproducing its stereotypes and how they deconstruct, without removing the “color line” the cultural difference or the naturalization of gender corporality? What are the barriers (theoretical and methodological) that researchers might encounter using comics to communicate sensitive topics? What are the main ethical considerations researchers must consider? While, at first glance, comics-based research seems to be tied mostly to Sociology, Anthropology and Geography, it also is relevant to a host of other disciplines including cultural studies, feminist studies, environmental studies, disability studies, science and technology studies, critical race studies, queer studies and animal studies. This book will also facilitate international and interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers with an interest in exploring the utility and limitations of the graphic medium.

Table of contents

• Sociology of the Arts
• The Social Genres of Comics
• Foreword
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Notes on Contributors
• 1. Social Research and Genres in Comics: An Introduction
• 2. Engaging the Publics: Co-Creating Comics to Foster Public Engagement in Research and Innovation
• 3. Playing with Gender and Sexuality in Comics and Zines
• 4. When Comics Meet Health: Graphic Medicine
• 5. Illustrating Labour: The Role of Graphic Social Science in Labour Sociology
• 6. Comics in Migration, Migration in Comics: Methodological Reflections and Theoretical Perspectives Emerging from the Analysis of Two Case Studies
• 7. Criminology in the Frame: Graphic Narratives and the Study of Crime
• 8. Seeing the Unseen: Illustrating Climate Change Through Graphic Journalism
• 9. Comics as a Lens for Urban Research? Challenges and Potential of a Representational and Analytical Tool
• 10. Conclusion