Thinking inside the boxes: the importance of comics and graphic novels in visual arts education

For most of the 20th century, comics and graphic novels have not been considered worthy of inclusion in curricula by Educators. Comics have been blamed for juvenile delinquency and poor literacy skill acquisition (Wertham, 1954; McCloud, 1993, 2000). Yet recently educators have taken comics into the classroom instead of to the incinerator. Comics are now considered by educators to be useful for a variety of reasons (Jacobs, 2007). This paper will explain why narrative art is important for visual arts education. Then it will discuss how comics have been treated by educators in the 20th century. a brief discussion of how literacy educators now advocate inclusion of comics as a scaffold for traditional literacy education will follow. The paper concludes with an exploration of comics as an application of the theory of multiliteracies and gives practical implications for art educators.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Thomas, Grant C.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Delacruz, Elizabeth M.

• comic books
• graphic novels
• mutliteracies

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2011 Grant Thomas

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/26183

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/26183