[As a second-year PhD student in the Rhetoric and Writing Program at BGSU, my cohort is currently selecting committee chairs for our Prelim exams, which means we are beginning to develop potential dissertation topics. For many years, I imagined pursuing a dissertation arguing that modern comic book crossovers are remediated Greek myths reproduced in a multimodal format and understanding how that changes our literacy practices, but after six years and much deliberation with professors and soul-searching…I am leaving comics behind.
During my coursework as a first-year PhD student, I felt if I wanted to write a dissertation using comics, then I should distance myself from that subject as evidence that I am about more than Rhetoric, Composition, and Comics. Professors confirmed my feeling and I began pursuing papers addressing possibilities using video games and I received a much more positive response, but other signs also contributed to my decision:
- I received encouragement from Cynthia Selfe (a living legend rhetoric and composition professor) at last year’s CCCC conference about a paper I plan on submitting to Computers and Composition.
- Watson and CCCC (two major league conferences for rhetoric and composition scholars) accepted proposals from me about video games and composition.
- I cannot imagine new project possibilities for comics beyond the dissertation.
- I realized that I want my professional identity to be a teacher-scholar and not a scholar-teacher.
- Video games are far less personal than comics to me.
Another major reason I am happy and comfortable with leaving comics behind is my composition students. I always love teaching students about writing well and I constantly try incorporating their literacies into my pedagogy. As a younger self, I struggled with writing well, but I loved doing it and that love predates other interests I hold. Now I am pursuing arguments showing how students improve writing through gaming and reading comics becomes a favorite hobby again. BK]
category: Comics, Gaming, Life, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology