Beyond Super Heroes and Talking Animals: Social Justice in Graphic Novels in Education
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Pepperdine Digital Commons Pepperdine University Pepperdine Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations 2017 Beyond super heroes and talking animals: social justice in graphic novels in education David Greenfield Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd Recommended Citation Greenfield, David, "Beyond super heroes and talking animals: social justice in graphic novels in education" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 898. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/898 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected] , [email protected]. Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology BEYOND SUPER HEROES AND TALKING ANIMALS: SOCIAL JUSTICE IN GRAPHIC NOVELS IN EDUCATION A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies by David Greenfield December, 2017 Linda G. Polin, Ph.D. ‒ Dissertation Chairperson This dissertation, written by David Greenfield under the guidance of a Faculty Committee and approved by its members, has been submitted to and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Doctoral Committee: Linda G. Polin, Ph.D., Chairperson John McManus, Ph.D. Paul Sparks, Ph.D. © Copyright by David Greenfield (2017) All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... vii VITA ............................................................................................................................................ viii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................x Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Statement of Purpose .......................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...........................................................................................................7 Definitions........................................................................................................................... 7 A Brief History of Comic Books and Graphic Novels ....................................................... 9 Graphic Novels in Education and Education Theory ....................................................... 18 Multiliteracies ................................................................................................................... 25 Contemporary Literature About Graphic Novels ............................................................. 28 Topics and Titles ............................................................................................................... 34 Diversity and Social Justice in Graphic Novels ................................................................ 38 Community and Personal Identity in Graphic Novels ...................................................... 43 Exploring Identities in Non-Superhero Graphic Novels ................................................... 48 Icon and African American Identity ................................................................................. 51 A Case Study About Creating Graphic Novels in the Classroom .................................... 53 In the Future ...................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 3: Research Design ...........................................................................................................59 Study Goals ....................................................................................................................... 60 Selection of Key Informants ............................................................................................. 63 Development of the Interview Protocol ............................................................................ 63 Demographics of Key Informants in the Study ................................................................ 65 Study Design ..................................................................................................................... 67 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 4: Data Analysis ...............................................................................................................70 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 70 Common Ground .............................................................................................................. 71 Case Studies ...................................................................................................................... 72 Subject 1............................................................................................................................ 73 Page Subject 2............................................................................................................................ 76 Subject 3............................................................................................................................ 78 Subject 4............................................................................................................................ 82 Subject 5............................................................................................................................ 85 Subject 6............................................................................................................................ 89 Additional Significance of the Data .................................................................................. 94 Chapter 5: Conclusion .................................................................................................................100 The Power of Comics in Learning and Training ............................................................ 100 Comics Now.................................................................................................................... 103 The Future ....................................................................................................................... 107 Final Reflections ............................................................................................................. 110 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................112 APPENDIX A: Participation Request .........................................................................................119 APPENDIX B: IRB Approval .....................................................................................................120 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Matrix of Questions and Responses................................................................................ 64 Table 2. Basic Demographics ....................................................................................................... 66 Table 3. Additional demographic information.............................................................................. 67 Table 4. Codes and Definitions ..................................................................................................... 69 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to acknowledge all his family, friends, teachers, peers, and colleagues whose psychological, emotional, intellectual, and final support helped makes this dissertation possible. To his children, Michal Mazal, and Noam Jacob Benjamin, for their good humor (mostly), creativity and patience, Orit for amazing meals; siblings Barry, Linda, and Laurence for being there, and being cool; my friends Jeff, Renny, Michael, Jill, and Dwight, as well as my research subjects who so freely shared their knowledge and experiences, and so many other friends; teachers and colleagues in education and comics. And especially to my committee, Doctors Linda Polin, Jack McManus, and Paul Sparks for all the encouragement, guidance, patience and great questions, that helped transform me from a student to a peer! I truly stand on the shoulders of giants and I am grateful to you all! vii VITA EDUCATION Pepperdine University GSEP 2017 Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies Pepperdine University GSEP 2007 Master of Arts in Educational Technology University of Judaism 1996 Bachelor of Arts in Jewish History (with honors) PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Consultant Present Self Employed, Los Angeles. CA Graduate Assistant for Special Projects 2017 Emerson College, Los Angeles. CA Instructional Technologist 2014-2015 Musicians Institute, Los Angeles. CA Instructional Technology Analyst 2007-2011 School of Film & Television/College of Fine Arts Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. CA New Media Coordinator