Explain yourself with comics

Almost every grad student struggles with the difficulty of explaining your dissertation topic to strangers (not to mention friends and family) without launching into an hour long lecture on the topic. One enterprising geographer has come up with a unique solution to the problem: write a comic book.

Ju Hui Judy Han at UC Berkely participated in the 24 hour comic day in 2006. The challenge was to write 24 pages in 24 hours. She chose to write about her dissertation. The result can be downloaded here (PDF) or viewed online.

I love the idea of saying, the next time someone asks you about your dissertation: “Here, read my comic book.”

(via Konrad Lawson on Twitter)

P. Kerim Friedman is an assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic Relations and Cultures at National Dong Hwa University, in Taiwan, where he teaches linguistic and visual anthropology. He is co-director of the film Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!, winner of the 2011 Jean Rouch Award from the Society of Visual Anthropology. Follow Kerim on Twitter.