University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies Gender and Women's Studies 2020 SIMULTANEOUS INTERSECTIONALITY IN THE COMICS OF CATEL AND SABRINA JONES: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S LIFE STORIES Jeorg Ellen Hornsby University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8166-3361 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.251 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Hornsby, Jeorg Ellen, "SIMULTANEOUS INTERSECTIONALITY IN THE COMICS OF CATEL AND SABRINA JONES: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S LIFE STORIES" (2020). Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies. 4. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gws_etds/4 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Gender and Women's Studies at UKnowledge. 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Jeorg Ellen Hornsby, Student Dr. Ellen Riggle, Major Professor Dr. Karen Tice, Director of Graduate Studies SIMULTANEOUS INTERSECTIONALITY IN THE COMICS OF CATEL AND SABRINA JONES: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S LIFE STORIES ________________________________________ DISSERTATION ________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Jeorg Ellen Hornsby Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Ellen Riggle, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Professor of Political Science Lexington, Kentucky 2020 Copyright © Jeorg Ellen Hornsby 2020 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8166-3361 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION SIMULTANEOUS INTERSECTIONALITY IN THE COMICS OF CATEL AND SABRINA JONES: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S LIFE STORIES The project examines how the theories of simultaneity and intersectionality are useful in analyzing the lived experiences of the authors and their subjects. Specifically, this dissertation analyzes how French comic artist Catel and American comics artist Sabrina Jones use the medium of comics to recount their autobiographical stories within and alongside their biographical stories of Benoîte Groult and Margaret Sanger, respectively. KEYWORDS: Intersectionality, Simultaneity, Women’s Narrative, Comics, Graphic Novels Jeorg Ellen Hornsby (Name of Student) 4/9/2020 Date SIMULTANEOUS INTERSECTIONALITY IN THE COMICS OF CATEL AND SABRINA JONES: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S LIFE STORIES By Jeorg Ellen Hornsby Dr. Ellen Riggle Director of Dissertation Dr. Karen Tice Director of Graduate Studies 4/9/2020 Date DEDICATION To my baby bear ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am incredibly thankful for the time and patience people have offered me while writing this dissertation. I am grateful to the University of Kentucky for the funding and opportunity to finish this project. I especially want to acknowledge and thank my advisor, Dr. Ellen Riggle, who took a chance and offered to work with me. Ellen has supported me and this project through her intellectual engagement, guiding questions, and moral support, which has enabled me to finish this project, and also shown me the kind of scholar I hope to be in the future and mentor I wish to be for my students. I would also like to thank the other committee members, Dr. Cristina Alcalde, Dr. Akiko Takenaka, Dr. Damaris Hill, and Dr. Deborah Chung, for their invaluable input, questions, and suggestions along the way. They have each pushed my work and made me a better scholar. Dissertations are also written with the support of a community of colleagues (who are also friends). I recognize the importance of my colleague’s support over the years: Dr. Suzanne Pucci has offered wisdom and support through the entire process of writing this dissertation; Dr. Jacqueline Couti has listened, questioned, and engaged with my scholarship; Dr. Leon Sachs has always asked questions at just the right moment and offered me the opportunity to discuss my scholarship in an open forum; Dr. Jeffrey Peters, who encouraged me to finally pursue my PhD, has provided invaluable guidance, support, and unwavering friendship over coffee; and Ashley Ruderman, who has gone through this process with me every step of the way while working on her own dissertation, has made me feel less alone in a lonely process, and I will forever be grateful. iii I have countless friends who have shared cups of coffee, texts, drinks, and much needed encouragement while I wrote this dissertation. Alice provided much laughter and commiseration through her unwavering friendship; Lindsy and Molly always provided voices that ring clear and true and I am thankful for their honesty and constant support. Love and support are often first learned in families, and mine has provided the foundation to this project. To all the strong women in my family who have modeled inner strength, sheer grit and perseverance, love, and respect, I thank you. I am thankful to: my granny, who has long since passed was a beacon of a woman’s independence and strength, I know she would be proud of my work; my sister who always makes sure that I know she loves me and supports me; my parents (Linda and Joe) who have never failed to love, support me when I waiver, or guide me when I needed help, I am the luckiest woman ever to have them for parents. Lastly, I am thankful to have the love and support of my daughter; she is my baby, my bear, my siren, my Lorelei, my Lola, my love, and above all else, she is my constant. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Catel (1964-) ....................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Sabrina Jones (1960-) ......................................................................................... 6 1.4 Comics as Simultaneous Narratives ................................................................... 7 1.5 Intersectionality and Simultaneity ...................................................................... 8 1.6 Challenges of Feminist Histories ...................................................................... 16 1.7 Narrative Theory as Method ............................................................................. 16 1.8 In Sum ............................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 2. Theories of Simultaneity and Intersectionality—or Towards a Simultaneous Intersectionality .......................................................................................... 20 2.1 Intersectionality ................................................................................................ 20 2.2 Simultaneity....................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Simultaneous Intersectionality .......................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 3. Analytics/Method ...................................................................................... 36 3.1 Terms and Definitions ....................................................................................... 36 3.2 Gender and Narrative ....................................................................................... 39 3.3 Comics or Graphic Narratives.......................................................................... 42 3.4 Auto/Biography and Narrative ........................................................................