In the Ruins of Zine Pedagogy: a Narrative Study of Teaching with Zines Karin H
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2011 In the ruins of zine pedagogy: a narrative study of teaching with zines Karin H. deGravelles Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation deGravelles, Karin H., "In the ruins of zine pedagogy: a narrative study of teaching with zines" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1247. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1247 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. IN THE RUINS OF ZINE PEDAGOGY: A NARRATIVE STUDY OF TEACHING WITH ZINES A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Educational Theory, Policy, and Practice by Karin H. deGravelles B.A., Reed College, 2003 M.A., Louisiana State University, 2009 May 2011 For Rainier and Emmett ii Acknowledgements I am so very grateful to my committee members for their support and thoughtful critiques throughout this project, as well as their willingness to let me figure out where it needed to go. Dr. Irvin Peckham’s generous encouragement of my writing and teaching has truly been a highlight of my experience at LSU. Dr. Susan Weinstein’s exciting literacy courses and research fueled my interest in writing practices like zines and in community organizations that sponsor youth writing; her outstanding guidance has made this a better project and me a calmer student. Dr. Petra Hendry’s challenging courses and engaged scholarship have pushed me to be a more thorough and thoughtful researcher. Dr. Jacqueline Bach’s mentorship, careful readings, patience, trust, and generosity with her time have been invaluable at every stage of this project, from its first imaginings to final revisions after the defense. Thanks to lb, Doug Blandy, Lucy Morehouse, M. Carrol Tama, Michel Valdes, A.M. O’Malley, and Angela Asbell for the time, energy, and life they’ve put into this research. I am inspired by the work that they do, and grateful for the opportunity to have spent this time learning about and from their experiences. My writing groups have added so much to this dissertation in so many ways. Talking out different pieces with Kristi Richard Melancon in the last few months of our daily writing together and with Sybil Durand in our weekly meetings this year got me through many stuck places. Thanks also to June Newman Graham, Marianne Fry, Jie Yu, Bruce Parker, Hillary Procknow, Jessica Ketcham Weber, Cara Jones, Sukanya iii Gupta, Penelope Dane, Greg Molchan, and Alison Graham Bertolini, whose comments have helped immeasurably, whose willingness to share their own work has both enriched my thinking and helped me keep perspective, and whose friendship and company have made this much more fun. I am also grateful to Anna Hirsch, whose zine pedagogy was my first formal introduction to zines and who inspired the questions that motivated this project. And to Dr. Kristen Hogan, whose feminist literary public spheres course offered me new tools for thinking about writing and who offered attentive comments on the very first writing I did on the topic of zines and publics. I am especially grateful to Neale for his incredible patience and support over seven years of graduate school, and particularly his help in the last few days, weeks, and months. And to all of our wonderful family, whose love and encouragement I value above all. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iii List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... viii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ix Chapter One: Introduction........................................................................................................ 1 Zines and Zine Pedagogy ..................................................................................................... 2 Research Questions................................................................................................................ 5 Narratives................................................................................................................................ 6 Promise, Failure, Ruins ................................................................................................... 7 Public Sphere .................................................................................................................. 10 Potential Contribution......................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Outline.................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter Two: Literature Review............................................................................................ 14 Theorizing the Public Sphere ............................................................................................. 15 Teaching Public Writing ..................................................................................................... 20 Zine Pedagogy...................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter Three: Research Design............................................................................................ 40 Why Narrative? .................................................................................................................... 41 Data ........................................................................................................................................ 44 Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................ 48 Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 50 Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 52 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 55 Chapter Four: Zines .................................................................................................................. 56 The (Counter)Publics of Zines ........................................................................................... 59 Histories .......................................................................................................................... 61 Definitions and Context ................................................................................................ 70 Politics.............................................................................................................................. 73 Revolution Girl Style: Girl Zines, (Counter)publics, and Literacy ............................... 77 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 79 Chapter Five: Teacher/Zinesters............................................................................................. 81 Teacher/Zinester Profiles ................................................................................................... 82 lb ....................................................................................................................................... 82 Doug Blandy................................................................................................................... 85 Lucy Morehouse............................................................................................................. 87 v M. Carrol Tama .............................................................................................................. 88 Michel Valdes ................................................................................................................. 90 A.M. O’Malley ................................................................................................................ 91 Angela Asbell ................................................................................................................. 94 Zine Stories ........................................................................................................................... 95 Chapter Six: Making Space..................................................................................................... 98 Zines as a “Radical Space”.................................................................................................. 99 Zine Space and Page Space............................................................................................... 108 Creating Space through Zine Pedagogy........................................................................