Papers by Lectito Journals
European Journal of STEM Education, 2020
Background: Inclusive STEM high schools employ a variety of instructional strategies, including P... more Background: Inclusive STEM high schools employ a variety of instructional strategies, including PBL (problem and/or project-based learning) experiences, with the goals of building students’ 21st century skills, facilitating long-term academic success, and encouraging pursuit of STEM careers. PBL approaches are central to the goals of inclusive STEM schools; however, at this writing, no description of the implementation of PBL at these schools exists.
Material and Methods: The current study draws on classroom observations and teacher interviews to describe PBL implementation across schools and classrooms. We describe specific instructional practices and classroom behaviors that teachers and students engage in during PBL.
Results: Results highlight the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of PBL implementation, and that consistencies in practice do exist across inclusive STEM schools. Additionally, quantitative results show increased use of particular strategies in PBL experiences, as compared with non-PBL classes.
Conclusions: This paper provides an in-depth look at instructional practices used in PBL approaches at inclusive STEM schools across the country, and findings have implications for how researchers and practitioners understand and use PBL going forward.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
Review of the book "Rewriting the Victim: Dramatization as Research in Thailand’s Anti-Traffickin... more Review of the book "Rewriting the Victim: Dramatization as Research in Thailand’s Anti-Trafficking Movement" by Erin M. Kamler.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
This work contains illustrations of Shromona Das, who was seven when she was sexually abused by h... more This work contains illustrations of Shromona Das, who was seven when she was sexually abused by her uncle. Years later suffering silently with the burden of keeping her trauma a secret, Shromona has finally gathered the strength to call out her abusers via her powerful illustrations.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
This interview embodies the dialogue between the personal and the political to the effect that it... more This interview embodies the dialogue between the personal and the political to the effect that it engages with the interaction between the individual and the collective in the space of (Indian) comics; it explores the trajectory of the comics space through the experiences of Priya Kuriyan and her work.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
The journey of graphic narratives in India began in 1967 with the publication of the first issue ... more The journey of graphic narratives in India began in 1967 with the publication of the first issue of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) comics, with protagonists based on the mythological tales. These comic books glorified Indian heritage, making every mythological and historical story of India amar or immortal and claimed to present a complete picture of the culture and essence of India. However, these comics reinforced gender prejudice and conventional gender roles of a society where women are only portrayed as demure beings in a patriarchal framework. Indian graphic narratives have come a long way from solely idealising Hindu/Vedic past to the contemporary digital comics where individual stories are shared. This article aims to look at the history of graphic narration in India from a feminist perspective. It will analyse the gradual change in the representation of women from the printed comic books of 1960s to contemporary printed graphic novels as well as webcomics. While Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) comics overtly sexualised and fantasised Vedic women, contemporary Indian graphic novels have made a space for the everyday woman and her struggles. This space expanded and when it branched out into the digital realm any woman could voice her own problems by using images and text. This article will attempt to understand how this change has occurred in the portrayal of women in Indian graphic narratives and how the ‘gaze’ has also undergone an evolution. It will look at the question of authorship, the different forms of media involved as well as the socio-cultural milieu that propelled the transformation in female characters over the years.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
The Craft of (Queer) Feminism: A Conversation with Neelima P. Aryan, Indian Illustrator and Queer... more The Craft of (Queer) Feminism: A Conversation with Neelima P. Aryan, Indian Illustrator and Queer Feminist Woman.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
Amruta Patil’s Kari (2008), the very first Indian graphic novel in English by a woman, is groundb... more Amruta Patil’s Kari (2008), the very first Indian graphic novel in English by a woman, is groundbreaking for multiple reasons. For one, it brings to the Indian graphic arena an ‘unusual protagonist’, a ‘young, deeply introverted, asocial and queer woman — counterpoint to the hyper feminine prototypes one keeps coming across’, as Patil remarks in an interview with Paul Gravett. Secondly, as an experimental text influenced by multiple media such as art styles from across cultures and many literary and graphic texts, Patil’s work also generates a rich narrative that visualises the many moods of its reclusive protagonist, in a powerful, intertextual way. The heteroglossia, combined with an experimental use of ‘ink, marker, charcoal and oilbar, crayon and found images’, captures Kari’s psychological landscape in all its complexity, creating a unique narrative framed by her interiority. In turn this creates a distinct way of seeing (other characters, places and events) through the eyes of this unusual protagonist. This article engages with both its unusual protagonist, and distinct narrative style, and poses the following question: in what ways does this experimental text appropriate the act of looking? How does it resist hegemonic, masculinist modes of seeing through this? The article interrogates the ways in which the text, that celebrates fluidity and exploration, 1) resists masculinist prescriptiveness through its protagonist’s unusualness and unconventionality, and 2) how through its protagonist’s unusual gaze generates new, potentially feminist ways of seeing through the lens of love, affection and curiosity.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
The following article is based on interviews and visual analysis of a collection of comics illust... more The following article is based on interviews and visual analysis of a collection of comics illustrated by Nepali women artists Bandana Tulachan, Kanchan Burathoki, Kripa Joshi, Preena Shrestha, Shraddha Shrestha and Sangee Shrestha, as well as my own work. These artists have been selected in terms of their visibility and prominence in the comics scene in Nepal. These artists have produced comics with personal narratives of their everyday life, thoughts and emotions. I address the questions if, through comics, individual visual accounts of the everyday experience can be understood as an act of feminism, and whether Nepali comics are a tool for encouraging feminist beliefs in Nepal. The article will give a brief introduction to Nepal’s feminist movement and assess whether or not the comics, that have been studied, can be characterised as part of Nepali feminism. For the purpose of this paper, I have categorised my visual inquiry under the areas of satire as counter culture, body image, self expression and sexuality, real life, real issues, metaphors and the comical side of life.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
Interview with Neeske Alexander.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
‘I Express All my Joys, All my Pain through my Art’: An Interview with Fifi Mukuna.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
This article conducts a comparative analysis of the Egyptian webcomic superhero, Qahera with Marv... more This article conducts a comparative analysis of the Egyptian webcomic superhero, Qahera with Marvel’s X-Men superhero, Dust by analysing the symbolic meaning of the veil in their storylines. By applying existing research from both comic scholars and postcolonial feminist researchers, this article illustrates how the veil can be used as a tool to perpetuate colonial prejudices as we see with Dust - or subvert them in the case of Qahera. Through both humour and political allegory, Qahera the Superhero has created a sensitive narrative for the veiled superheroine which speaks to the everyday life of a veiled Muslim woman in Egypt.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
In Turkey, under the governance of a conservative political party, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Ju... more In Turkey, under the governance of a conservative political party, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) since 2002, religion and conservatism has been relentlessly promoted. Both government officials and their supporters have been expressed sexist and discriminatory discourses against women keenly and frequently, causing various incidents and public outcries. Bayan Yanı, being the first and only women led caricature publication in Turkey, has been widely covering the gender related, socio-political issues, since its first appearance on the market, in the early days of March 2011. This article aims to explore the way in which gender related socio-political issues, whether on the part of individuals or a more collective activist engagement, are debated in this particular publication, revealing the depiction of feminist activism and tensions surrounding women’s everyday experiences of gender in Turkey.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
Ethnic diversity has become an important part of Chinese culture. Since the finishing of the ethn... more Ethnic diversity has become an important part of Chinese culture. Since the finishing of the ethnic minority classification project, artworks representing minority people have appeared in many different forms. Among the studies of ethnic minority representation, hardly has any discussed minority women in comics. This study will investigate the depiction of female ethnic minority characters in Chinese comics. I have chosen two comics that are representative for two different categories. The first work is Ling-Long, an original story that uses southern ethnic minority culture as context, which falls under the ‘ethnic minority themed original stories’ category. The second one is Gada Meilin, an adaptation of a famous Mongolian folktale, which falls under the ‘adaptation of existing stories’ category. The main female characters will be analysed from two aspects: the visual design and the role they play in the story. The former aspect will investigate their appearance, dress, facial expressions and body languages, while the latter will investigate their occupation, position and action in the story. After the analysis, I will discuss my thoughts from the perspective of an art practitioner and suggest some of my own possible ways of improving the character designs.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
Autobiographical graphic novels have become a salient cultural production and a popular art form ... more Autobiographical graphic novels have become a salient cultural production and a popular art form for feminists to express themselves nowadays. The graphic life stories privileged by feminist comic scholarship are often related to sexuality, trauma and unspeakable taboos while other themes are less explored. This article is a case study focusing on the visual and narrative analysis of two alternative feminist comic diaries: The Base of an Old Girl (2009), created by the Hong Kong artist Stella So; and Hitorigurashi Mo 5 Nen Me (2003) (literally translated as living alone for the fifth year), created by the Japanese artist Naoko Takagi. These works are composed of episodic everyday stories and the overarching narratives embody a sense of joy of living in solitude. Drawing on the manga aesthetic of ‘kawaii’ (cuteness), So and Takagi depict infantilised visual imagery and discursive practices in their comic diaries. This suggests a transcultural configuration of femininity that departs from the conventional emphasis on the female body and sexuality in feminist studies.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
During the twenty-first century, global developments with graphic texts have seen positive change... more During the twenty-first century, global developments with graphic texts have seen positive changes in the representation of characters and storylines representing female-led narratives and perspectives. Recent Japanese graphic texts offer an instructive window into concerns about feminist comics and graphic novels which not only represent a vital intervention in terms of contemporary Japanese feminist politics but also reinforce their relevance as feminist art activism within a global frame. Taking into account the popularity of manga worldwide this article argues that the growing range of Japanese texts with clear feminist messages marks an intervention on behalf of female creators in keeping with the theory and practice of contemporary feminist discourse. Additionally, this Japanese evolution illustrates the ways in which second wave feminism, particularly feminist art, has impacted women on a global scale. Consequently, the article explores the important role of intersectionality alongside themes relating to the body and sexuality, subversion of the monstrous feminine, feminist activism by considering the narrative of Rokudenashiko’s graphic memoir What is Obscenity?: The story of a good for nothing artist and her pussy (2016).
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
This article aims to provide insight, through the voices of the participants, on the current stat... more This article aims to provide insight, through the voices of the participants, on the current state of female comic artists in Argentina. We start with a brief historical overview: what was it like to be a minority in the Argentine comics industry? Historically, female comic creators have occupied a subordinate and even anonymous position in comparison to their male counterparts. However, since the 1980s, the Argentine comics industry has seen a change. This decade saw the appearance of several important women cartoonists in tune with the growing and expansive feminist movement of the 1970s. The tendency of female cartoonists moving to the forefront has grown exponentially over the years and in the last 25 years the number of female cartoonists in Argentina has increased significantly. The years 2015-2019 have seen a huge growth of such discussions and perspectives, coinciding with the birth of the massive Ni Una Menos (‘Not One Less’) feminist movement, which denounces femicides, and with the near-approval of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy law in 2018. This latter process sparked activist collectives such as LÃnea Verde (‘Green Line’) and Femiñetas (‘Femignettes’) which took upon themselves to raise awareness of the necessity of the IVE (the acronym for Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy in Spanish), among other issues.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
In the present work we analyse the exhibition Puras Evas: Sobre mariposas (Only Evas: About butte... more In the present work we analyse the exhibition Puras Evas: Sobre mariposas (Only Evas: About butterflies) by the Mexican artist Cintia Bolio. This exhibition was presented from November 14, 2018, to March 3, 2019 at the Museum of Women, which is located in Mexico City, in the context of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Woman, a date which commemorates the Mirabal sisters, known as ‘The Butterflies’, who were murdered in the Dominican Republic by the dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo on November 25, 1960. The exhibition was presented in a context characterised by the growing number of women victims of violence in Mexico. As we are going to see, in the exhibition analysed, Cintia Bolio seeks to publicise the types of violence that exist and why the struggle of the Mirabal sisters led us to reflection on gender violence in our daily life.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
Interview with MJ Barker.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2020
This special issue, which has been jointly edited by Sally R Munt, Rose Richards and comic artist... more This special issue, which has been jointly edited by Sally R Munt, Rose Richards and comic artist Nicola Streeten, is focussed on exploring how comics and graphic narratives have engaged with feminist politics. We have brought together artists and critics from a range of countries to discuss and debate how artists represent and debate gender, with examples of comics taken from Japan,
European Journal of STEM Education, 2020
botSTEM is an ERASMUS+ project aiming to raise the utilisation of inquiry-based collaborative lea... more botSTEM is an ERASMUS+ project aiming to raise the utilisation of inquiry-based collaborative learning and robots-enhanced education. The project outputs are specifically aimed to provide in- and pre-service teachers in Childhood and Primary Education and children four-eight years old, with research-based materials and practices that use integrated Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) and robot-based approaches, including code-learning, for enhancing scientific literacy in young children. This article presents the outputs from the botSTEM project; the didactical framework underpinning the teaching material, addressing pedagogy and content. It is a gender inclusive pedagogy that makes use of inquiry, engineering design methodology, collaborative work and robotics. The article starts with a presentation of the botSTEM toolkit with assorted teaching practices and finishes with examples of preliminary results from a qualitative analysis of implemented activities during science teaching in preschools. It turns out that despite perceived obstacles that teachers initially expressed, the analysis of the implementations indicates that the proposed STEM integrated framework, including inquiry teaching and engineering design methodologies, can be used with children as young as four years old.
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Papers by Lectito Journals
Material and Methods: The current study draws on classroom observations and teacher interviews to describe PBL implementation across schools and classrooms. We describe specific instructional practices and classroom behaviors that teachers and students engage in during PBL.
Results: Results highlight the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of PBL implementation, and that consistencies in practice do exist across inclusive STEM schools. Additionally, quantitative results show increased use of particular strategies in PBL experiences, as compared with non-PBL classes.
Conclusions: This paper provides an in-depth look at instructional practices used in PBL approaches at inclusive STEM schools across the country, and findings have implications for how researchers and practitioners understand and use PBL going forward.
Material and Methods: The current study draws on classroom observations and teacher interviews to describe PBL implementation across schools and classrooms. We describe specific instructional practices and classroom behaviors that teachers and students engage in during PBL.
Results: Results highlight the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of PBL implementation, and that consistencies in practice do exist across inclusive STEM schools. Additionally, quantitative results show increased use of particular strategies in PBL experiences, as compared with non-PBL classes.
Conclusions: This paper provides an in-depth look at instructional practices used in PBL approaches at inclusive STEM schools across the country, and findings have implications for how researchers and practitioners understand and use PBL going forward.