Dr Gemma Sou, IHRR seminar series 2022-2023

The Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience seminar series continues

Online registration essential: register here

Dr Gemma Sou, Lecturer in Environment and Disasters, University of Manchester

28^th November 2022, 1pm to 2pm

Title: Telling ‘graphic’ stories about disasters: representing the world from below with graphic novellas

Abstract: Drawing on my own experiencing of translating research into graphic novellas , I will discuss how combining geographical research on disasters, graphic novellas and postcolonialism opens exciting opportunities to think geographically about disasters and to challenge colonial imaginaries about peoples and places experiencing climate change. Graphic novellas invite researchers to create worlds based on ‘thick descriptions’ of their research sites. They celebrate character-driven narratives and can distil complex ideas into engaging formats, and are well placed to communicate the temporal, sensorial, ephemeral, and ethereal ways that people experience disasters. They can increase the participatory nature of research and facilitate a move towards more ‘desire-based’ research frameworks (Tuck 2009). Understanding and responding to disasters requires recognizing and engaging multiple experiences of agency, a process that attention to graphic novellas can help facilitate.