Unflattening: Reimagining Scholarship through Comics

Nick Sousanis (University of Calgary) will discuss Unflattening, originally his dissertation written and drawn entirely in comics form, now a book from Harvard University Press. Unflattening argues through its very form for the importance of visual thinking in teaching and learning, and ultimately seeks to reimagine what scholarship can be. Through extensive visuals drawn from his work, Sousanis will delve into the distinct ways that comics present meaning and demonstrate how the spatial interplay of image and text in comics serves as a powerful tool for complex, multi-layered thought.

Associate Professor Carol Tilley will be the faculty respondent to Sousanis's lecture.

A hands-on workshop, "Thinking through Comics," will follow the lecture and response (5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.). Sousanis will engage the audience in a hands-on comics-making workshop that will complement the theoretical discussion and generate ideas around incorporating visual thinking and other modes into attendees' own research and representation methods. No prior drawing experience required!

Nick Sousanis received his doctorate at Columbia University, where he wrote and drew his dissertation entirely in comics form. In addition to "Unflattening," his comics have appeared in numerous scholarly publications, including the Boston Globe and most recently in the journal Nature. He has spoken on his work and the importance of visual thinking in education in institutions including Stanford, Harvard, and Microsoft Research, and his comics art has been on exhibit in the Netherlands and Russia. Sousanis has taught courses on comics as powerful communication tools at Columbia, Parsons, and now at the University of Calgary, where he is currently a postdoctoral fellow in comics studies.