Culture Through Comics: Erin Kathleen Bahl
Last week Andy attended the annual meeting of the American Folklore Society in Buffalo, NY where he coordinated Culture Through Comics, a graphic ethnography and ethnographic cartooning workshop taught by cartoonist Marek Bennett.
Andy supplied some sample materials from the VFC Archive for attendees to use as a basis for their projects, and Erin Kathleen Bahl of Kennesaw State University created the fabulous comic below from an interview conducted with Katharine DuClos by Greg Sharrow in 1990.
Erin generously offered us this insight into her work:
I’d initially come into the workshop planning to work with my own research materials, but when I read the selection from Katharine DuClos’s interview, I was immediately captivated. Food and drink, and the process of making them, play an important role in my own family, and I grew up with many cozy evenings shared over a bowl of popcorn (though not hard cider!). My comics tend to feature anthropomorphic birds, but in this case especially, I hope the blackbirds enhance the autumnal atmosphere Katharine describes so evocatively in her story.
“Cider” by Erin Kathleen Bahl and Katharine DuClos
Listen to Katharine’s narrative:
Erin Kathleen Bahl is an Assistant Professor of Applied and Professional Writing at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research and teaching explore the possibilities digital technologies afford for creating knowledge and telling stories. She’s written and presented on intersections between folklore, comics, and pop culture, including P. Craig Russell’s graphic novel The Ring of the Nibelung, Jason Bach’s webcomic Catholic Cartoons, and the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime series. She’s especially excited about exploring ways to make comics as a scholarly form of communication in experimental digital scholarship.
Erin’s digital comics are inspired by folklore, fairy tales, and daily life. Her published comics include "Citrus and Canaries: The Witch's Orchard Charm" (Through the Twisted Wood) and "Lantern" (The Nashville Review). Her ongoing webcomic, Little Yellow Bird (@lybcomic), reflects on academic life and celebrates the delights of everyday things.
print your own copy of “Cider”!
Click above to download the file—print it at home double sided, cut along the middle, collate, staple and voilà an awesome mini-comic!
Don’t forget to join us for the Pulp Culture Comic Arts Festival and Symposium on October 26 and 27, 2018!