Decolonial Feminist Comix Methodology (With Handy Illustrations)
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From Inclusion to Transformation: Decolonial Feminist Comix Methodology (With Handy Illustrations) Frances Amelia Howes Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Rhetoric and Writing Katrina M. Powell, Chair Paul Heilker James M. Dubinsky Kelly Belanger Malea Powell June 27, 2014 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: rhetoric, comics, feminism, decolonial, composition Copyright 2014 From Inclusion to Transformation: Decolonial Feminist Comix Methodology (With Handy Illustrations) Frances Amelia Howes ABSTRACT Feminist rhetorics need to move us from inclusion to transformation: instead of “including” more and more marginalized groups into the scholarly status quo, or “including” comics into methods of analysis that we already use, we need to transform our practices themselves. Seeing comics research as an expedition into comics doesn't work. The spatial metaphor is failing because it's analogous to a takeover in the colonial sense. I center the both/and experience of being a producer of comics and analyst of them. Drawing from a critical reading of my own comic, I describe “the disobedient how,” a way of learning from transgressive models. I argue that instead of “collecting” comics, decolonial feminist methodology asks that we “attend” comics through listening, experiencing, and having a relationship with them and their creators. As Shawn Wilson's work suggests, knowledge lies in relationships. I use this concept to guide an analysis of Lynda Barry’s recent comics work as well as her comments during a panel at the Comics: Philosophy and Practice conference. In order for academics to have true knowledge about Barry’s work, we must have a right relationship to her and to it, which requires decolonizing our relationship to texts and taking Barry’s comics seriously as sources of theory. Next, I argue for scholars to pay closer attention to Alison Bechdel’s comics beyond their engagement with her memoir, Fun Home. I describe her participation in queer rhetoric through a close reading of her comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For and her public discussion of her composing practices. Finally, I perform a retrospective of the history of my own comic book, Oh Shit, I’m in Grad School, drawing on (and developing documentation for) personal archives. Acknowledgments I would first like to thank my dissertation chair, Katrina Powell, for her guidance, insight, and support throughout this process. She was an essential advocate for my experimental approach, and I would not have been able to write this dissertation if she had not had my back. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee: Paul Heilker, James Dubinsky, Kelly Belanger, and Malea Powell, for their work on my behalf and their enthusiasm about my project. Sheila Bock published portions of Chapter 1 in the journal Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion, and I would like to thank her and the anonymous reviewers of the journal for their feedback. Garrett Avila-Nichols and Becca Hayes invited me to participate in a Queer Caucus-sponsored roundtable at the CCCC conference in 2014, which motivated me to develop much of the theoretical work in Chapter 2 of this manuscript. Attending the Adventure School for Ladies was a transformational experience for me as a comics creator and a scholar. Thank you to Anne Elizabeth Moore, Rae Swanson, and Nicole Boyett for organizing and teaching the school. Thanks also to my classmates in the class of 2012, Mara Williams, Katari Sporrong, Liz M. Rush, Tyler Cohen, Krystal DiFronzo, and Julia Gootzeit for taking me seriously as an artist even though I literally didn't know the first thing about art school. I am grateful to my Tumblr followers for their support of me as a person as well iii as their enthusiasm for my project itself, which I posted about frequently. Rather than thanking you individually, I trust you know who you are, including those of you who have chosen to remain anonymous. I would also like to thank my students of the past two years: the Honey Badgers, the Other Guys, the Pajama Sloths, Awesome Class, the Dire Wolves, the Panda Cows, and the Flash Gordons. I spoke to them frequently about my own writing process, and their hard work made my teaching assistantship a light burden. Julie Hollek was my “thesis buddy” for much of this process, and I always appreciated her late night chat sessions. While the content of our research is very different (she is an astronomer who studies metal-poor stars), the emotional work of graduate school has been a similar experience for both of us. At a critical moment in my writing process, Doug Walls provided me with very helpful advice about how to finish a dissertation: “write a bunch of shit and be done.” I repeated this to myself over and over during the home stretch, and look: I'm done! Scott and Becky Coppock have been great friends to both me and my partner for the past three years. It's hard to put into words how much their friendship means to me, so I'll just say: what's the point of literacy if you can't thank your D&D group in writing? Thank you to my parents, Jack Howes and Kathy Rogers, for their love, trust, and technical support. I have really cool parents. Finally, thank you to my partner of twelve years, Amy Payne, who has seen me through it all and believed in me every step of the way. You are my brave paladin hero and I love you. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................iii Table of Contents..............................................................................................................v List of Illustrations............................................................................................................vi Introduction........................................................................................................................1 Research Questions......................................................................................................3 Chapter Outline..............................................................................................................4 Chapter 1: Oh Shit I’m in Grad School Goes INSIDE THE DISSERTATION....................7 Rogue Dreams.............................................................................................................11 Sexism, Comic Books, and Other Topics That Make You Fun at Parties...................15 Feminist Comics Criticism: An Autobiography.............................................................19 Contemplation, Strategic and Otherwise.....................................................................28 What Decoloniality Brings to the Feminist Rhetorical Study of Comics......................38 Conclusion...................................................................................................................43 Chapter 2: Decolonial Feminist Rhetorical Methodologies, Queer Asymmetry, and Writing Studies.................................................................................................................45 Decolonial and Killjoy Interventions.............................................................................53 Against Exorcism, or, Ghost Methodologies...............................................................61 Queer Asymmetry........................................................................................................64 Chapter 3: Five Moments in the Relationship That Is Knowledge (About Lynda Barry and Her Comics)..............................................................................................................75 Moment One: Who Is Lynda Barry?............................................................................76 Moment Two: Why Is Lynda Barry?.............................................................................79 Moment Three: Where Is Lynda Barry?......................................................................82 Moment Four: Where Is Franny Howes?....................................................................93 Moment Five: Where Are You?....................................................................................98 Chapter 4: Watch Books and Bodies Come Together: the Embodied Counterpublic Rhetoric of Alison Bechdel...............................................................................................99 Chapter 5: Uncollectible (The Oh Shit I'm in Grad School Graduation Special, With Collector's Checklist).....................................................................................................125 The Checklist.............................................................................................................131 Inking, Forking, Coloring............................................................................................141 Collectibility and Value...............................................................................................145 The Fictive Self..........................................................................................................148 Conclusion.................................................................................................................155 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................159 Implications................................................................................................................160