This School is organized into 5 sessions, lasting a minimum of 20 hours (synchronous sessions - 15 hours - and individual work and asynchronous monitoring). Participants must have internet access.

To obtain the 3 ECTS the students must do the presentation of a final project.

Class 1 - Graphic Narrative and Reflexivity
1) Introduction:
   a. The use of graphic narrative in Social Sciences.
   b. Drawing and autoethnography.
2) Practical Workshop: Self-reflection
   a. Introduction to graphic narrative: graphic freedom and one's own voice. Dialogue between image and text.
       Analysis of examples of comics with thematic, technical and expressive diversity.
   b. Comic Book Tools I:
       - Understanding of script, scale, story-board and final art;
       - Text balloons;
       - The vignette or lack thereof.
   c. Development of an idea: Exchange of ideas about self-reflection and research processes.
   d. Exercise: Create a graphic narrative about the chosen topic. Folded A4 “Fanzine” format.
       Free technique.

Class 2: Memory and Representation
1) Introduction:
   a. Graphic narrative and fieldwork.
   b. Representation and illustration.
2) Practical Workshop: Memory
  a. Comics and memory: How to report reality? Objective and subjective memory; limits of representation; historical record and oral testimony; clipping and fiction. Analysis of examples of documentary, autobiographical and docu-fictional graphic narrative.
   b. Comic Book II Tools:
       - Onomatopoeia;
       - Character;
       - Typographic fonts and readability; The text as a character.
   c. Discussion of ideas about fieldwork, interviews, historical recreations or oral reports.
   d. Exercise: Create a graphic narrative based on non-fiction events. A4 format. Proposed technique: Graphite pencil + 1 color.

Class 3: Imaginaries
1) Introduction:
   a. Elicitation and co-production.
   b. Graphic narrative as a speculative method.
2) Practical Workshop: Fictions
   a. How to imagine the gaps in a report? How to imagine the future? How to represent imagination? Fiction and speculative scenarios.
   b. Comic Book III Tools:
       - Ink: Line and Stain;
       - Color: temperature and sensation, interaction, selection.
   c. Discussion about the imaginary in research.
   d. Practical exercise: Create a graphic fiction narrative. Free format. Proposed technique: Black paint + 3 tones.

Class 4: Communication and Scientific Dissemination
1) Introduction:
   a. Graphic storytelling and science communication.
   b. Comics and knowledge sharing in Social Sciences.
2) Practical Workshop: Poster
   a. Illustration, design or comics? Analysis of some posters, leaflets, diagrams, illustrations.
   b. Comic Book Tools IV:
       - Rational and sensorial communication; Page composition; graphic noise.
       - Formats and Fanzines;
       - Understanding editing.
   c. Exchange of ideas about communicative processes. Target audience and efficiency of graphic language.
   d. Exercise: Create a poster. A4 or A3 format. Proposed technique: collage.

Class 5: Sharing and Final Reflection
   a. Presentation of work and feedback.
   b. Final discussion on the potential of graphic narrative in Social Sciences.

Assessment Methodology

The course will be held via Zoom, and WhatsApp will be used as a complementary tool for communication, work monitoring and feedback

The course includes synchronous sessions, with theoretical classes and practical exercises.

There will be asynchronous monitoring for guidance and development of individual work.

Participants must carry out some work throughout the course, aligned with their research and/or professional interests. The work will be monitored asynchronously by the trainer.

There is no summative assessment, but obtaining 3 ECTS is subject to the presentation of a final work.

Bibliography

Bayre, F., Harper, K., & Afonso, A. I. (2016). Participatory approaches to visual ethnography from the digital to the handmade: An introduction. Visual Ethnography, 5(1), 7–13.
Barberis, E., & Grüning, B. (2021). Doing social sciences via comics and graphic novels: An introduction. Sociologica, 15(1), 125–142.
Grennan, S. (2017). A theory of narrative drawing. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kara, H., & Brooks, J. (2020). The potential role of comics in teaching qualitative research methods.
The Qualitative Report, 25(7), 1754–1765.
Kuttner, P. J., Sousanis, N., & Weaver-Hightower, M. B. (2017). How to draw comics the scholarly
way. In P. Leavy (Ed.), Handbook of arts-based research (pp. 396–422). Guilford Press.
Mutard, B., Medley, S., & Kara, H. (2022). Scholarship in action. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 13(2), 310-320.
Rowland, J., Ramos, V., & Venâncio, C. (2022, May). Remix to resist: Using methods creatively in the age of projects. DIY Methods Conference.
Sassatelli, M. (2024a). How to do social research with... comics. In R. Coleman, K. Jungnickel, & N. Puwar (Eds.), How to do social research with. MIT Press.
Sassatelli, M. (2024b). Thinking with drawing. Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, 17(3), 423–442.
Scavarda, A., & Moretti, V. (2023). Health got graphic! The role of Graphic Medicine in unpacking autism. Disability & Society, 1-23.
Taussig, M. (2011). I swear I saw this: Drawings in fieldwork notebooks, namely my own. University of Chicago Press.