Examines application of print media in contemporary visual culture; explores its use in a fine art context. Introduces digital drawing, digital photo editing, and typographic layout to visually communicate expressive concepts. Laboratories, lectures.

Instructor:  Warren, Tyrras

This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic... (read more)

This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history... (read more)

Applies technology as a drawing medium to communicate concepts visually. The entire creative process is researched in an experimental studio environment.

Instructor:  Salter, Michael

Comics are suddenly everywhere. Sure, they’re in comic books and the funny pages, but now they’re on movie screens and TV screens and... (read more)

The Jewish American Graphic Novel

This course will examine Jewish identity and contemporary history from the point of view of American women graphic novelists. We will explore how these women negotiate their artistic and narative identity through the graphic medium while asking questions... (read more)

The growing acceptance of comics and graphic novels as “serious” literature owes much to the genre’s embrace as a powerful vehicle for memory, especially by... (read more)

Zines are cheaply printed and easily distributed forms of... (read more)

Comics, Colonialism and Images of Empire

Aliens, monsters, killer robots, mutants.... Such metaphors may express cultural fears of the “other” that underlie social prejudice, intolerance, and... (read more)

This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)

As an introductory survey, this course emphasizes the formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of Latinx literature. We will read novels, poetry, short stories, and comics, among other media, by authors from a range of identities—including Mexican American, Central American, Cuban American, and... (read more)

Aliens, monsters, killer androids, mutants.... Such metaphors may express cultural fears of the “other” that underlie social prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination. But viewers and fans may also read against the grain of normative cinematic images, finding identity and affirmation in the... (read more)

This class will focus on crime noir, a somewhat loosely defined genre of fiction, comic, and film. Unlike detective fiction, hardboiled crime noir centers on criminal protagonists, often of the "career" variety. Tracing the trajectory of such a genre from its inception in 1920s hardboiled pulp... (read more)

In this class we will map the path of the American comic book superhero and explore the ways in which that journey reflects larger processes of social change. We will consider these superheroes not only as expressions of an ancient mythic heroic tradition, but also as distinctly “modern”... (read more)

Explores ways in which physical, perceptual, affective, and cognitive modes of learning interact when viewing, interpreting, and assessing designed visual information within sociocultural contexts.

One could say that most comics are about the human body, in all its variations, exaggerations, erotics, poses, powers, and vulnerabilities. This course looks at the human body in contemporary comics with particular attention to disability and gender. We’ll read 4 comics genres: anime, memoir,... (read more)

This course considers how gender is relevant to the creation, study, and appreciation of art and culture. This class introduces and addresses socio-cultural factors influencing gender expression and discusses gender as a vehicle for understanding artistic creation and select artistic mediums in... (read more)

This course is an introduction to cultures of the Spanish-speaking world with an emphasis on comics and graphic novels. In this course we will learn about the graphic novel as an artistic vehicle for studying the history and cultures of Spain and Latin America (including the Latino US). There... (read more)

This course considers how gender is relevant to the creation, study, and appreciation of art and culture. This class introduces and addresses socio-cultural factors influencing gender expression and discusses gender as a vehicle for understanding artistic creation and select artistic mediums in... (read more)

Aliens, monsters, killer androids, mutants…. Such metaphors may express cultural fears of the “other” that underlie social prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination. But viewers and fans may also read against the grain of normative cinematic images, finding identity and affirmation in the... (read more)

This course considers how gender is relevant to the creation, study, and appreciation of art and culture. This class introduces and addresses socio-cultural factors influencing gender expression and discusses gender as a vehicle for understanding artistic creation and select artistic mediums in... (read more)

While many consider comics an American form of popular culture, sequential art is a global medium. Around the world, cultures have developed unique comics traditions with their own rich histories. In “World Comics,” we will investigate a few of these traditions. By examining comics and comics... (read more)

This course provides an introduction to the academic discipline of Comics Studies, which focuses on
comics as a form of literary production and asks questions about how and why comics are written and
read. You will be exposed to a variety of comic-art forms (the newspaper strip, the... (read more)

The growing acceptance of comics and graphic novels as “serious” literature owes much to the genre’s embrace as a powerful vehicle for memory, especially by minority writers seeking to showcase “non-normative” accounts of American life: the experiences of being gay, non-white, foreign, non-... (read more)

Despite the fact that critics and scholars across the globe have been writing about comics for decades, many people were surprised to hear that at the University of Oregon, the Department of Comparative Literature now offers comics-dedicated courses and you can even minor in Comics and Cartoon... (read more)

This course provides an introduction to the history and aesthetic traditions of Anglo-American comics, and to the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Together we will explore a wide spectrum of comicart forms (especially the newspaper strip, the comic book, the graphic novel) and to a variety... (read more)

This course offers an in-depth examination of one particular group – Asian Americans – which has gained especial prominence in the comics world in recent years. Artists like Gene Yang, Lynda Barry, and Adrian Tomine have begun to demonstrate how the combination of image and text can capture the... (read more)

The Mediterranean is a site of exchange between three different continents. How do individuals from North Africa, West Asia, and Southern Europe navigate questions of national and regional identity at these geographic crossroads? We will explore the way that graphic narrative – as a genre of... (read more)

This course considers how gender is relevant to the creation, study, and appreciation of art and culture. This class introduces and addresses socio-cultural factors influencing gender expression and discusses gender as a vehicle for understanding artistic creation and select artistic mediums in... (read more)

What is Manga? How does it work? This course traces the history of Japanese modern comic book (Manga) from the nineteenth century to present.

Examines application of print media in contemporary visual culture; explores its use in a fine art context. Introduces digital drawing, digital photo editing, and typographic layout to visually communicate expressive concepts. Laboratories, lectures.

his course considers the way graphic narratives often mediate traumatic historical events through seemingly simple images. Symbolic representations of moments of violence, conflict, and transformation can shape the way history is told—whether it is the history of an individual, a family, or a... (read more)

Taught by nationally syndicated cartoonist, Jan Eliot — the creator of Stone Soup — this four-credit class will meet from 2pm to 5pm on Wednesdays throughout Spring Term of 2016. Ms. Eliot will guide you through the design, development, and production of your own strip or comic, and offer... (read more)