{"id":121,"date":"2026-02-25T13:34:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/?page_id=121"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:12:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:12:44","slug":"about-comics-based-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/about-comics-based-research\/","title":{"rendered":"About Comics-Based Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Comics-Based Research<\/strong> (CBR) emerged about a decade ago as a field of practice that applies systematic arts-making, data visualization, and sequential narrative practices to research in the humanities, social sciences, and natural, physical, and medical sciences. It aligns with a broader efflorescence of sequential arts and narrative in popular and academic cultures as graphic novels, manga, comics journalism, non-fiction comics, graphic medicine, data comics, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comics can be employed in all aspects of research, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Data generation and collection<\/strong>, i.e., sketching and drawing observations in the field, lab, or archive; asking research participants to create drawings and sequential art narratives; creating lab or fieldwork comics to share with research participants and spark dialogue, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Data analysis<\/strong>, i.e., drawing to make sense of observations, including\u2014but not limited to\u2014visual memos; techniques of data visualization; drafting mini-comics that explore a particular archival or fieldwork story, anecdote, theoretical reflection, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Research dissemination<\/strong>, i.e., using comics to communicate research findings with the world, either as part of a piece of conventional scholarship, or as a standalone piece of comic art, in a range of forms: DIY zines, webtoons\/digital comics websites, peer-reviewed journal articles and books, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CBR offers creative research modalities to <strong>address new problems<\/strong>, foster new modes of <strong>cross-disciplinary thinking<\/strong>, and present <strong>complex issues and systems<\/strong> with clarity and style that can <strong>broaden public outreach<\/strong> and enhance the visibility of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this symposium and retreat, <strong>we aim to take stock of where CBR practices are right now<\/strong>: How far has this movement gone since its emergence a decade or so ago? What new forms has it taken? What challenges does the practice of CBR face?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Learn more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>UVM&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.uvm.edu\/c.php?g=1456115&amp;p=10826126\">Comics-Based Research and Comics Studies Research Guide<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on the article below, co-authored by our Keynote speaker, Marcus Weaver-Hightower.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1468794120918845?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"697\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-at-12.26.46-PM-697x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-at-12.26.46-PM-697x1024.jpg 697w, https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-at-12.26.46-PM-204x300.jpg 204w, https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-at-12.26.46-PM-768x1128.jpg 768w, https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-at-12.26.46-PM.jpg 964w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 697px) 100vw, 697px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comics-Based Research (CBR) emerged about a decade ago as a field of practice that applies systematic arts-making, data visualization, and sequential narrative practices to research in the humanities, social sciences, and natural, physical, and medical sciences. It aligns with a broader efflorescence of sequential arts and narrative in popular and academic cultures as graphic novels, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1814,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-121","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1814"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167,"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uvm.edu\/cbrnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}