Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tension, Sensation, and Pedagogy: Depictions of Childhood’s Struggle in Saga and Paper Girls

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Childhood, Science Fiction, and Pedagogy

  • 501 Accesses

Abstract

Science fiction is untethered by assumptions of how people, things, and environments should act. The perceptions and portrayals of childhood in two science fiction comic series, Saga and Paper Girls , provide engagements with affective encounters. Attention to these encounters and the disruptive portrayals of childhood encourages the exploration of the pedagogic potential of sensation . Comics, as a genre, and childhood in each series inhabit ambiguity: comics blur the boundaries of popular culture objects and “properly” educative materials, while the younger characters in Saga and Paper Girls are not quite adult or child, nor innocent or monster . An examination of Chapters 1 through 48 of Saga and Issues 1 through 18 of Paper Girls reveals approaches to engaging sensations of tension and discomfort. Using affect and new materialism as guiding frameworks for this examination of two comic series, it is possible to sift through the provocations of affect suggested by interaction with the material comic itself and the meanings this exploration holds for reconsidering educational habits.

Like most people over thirty, they’re monsters .

Erin, Paper Girls , Issue 9 (Vaughan & Chiang, 2016b)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ahmed, S. (2010). Happy objects. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader (pp. 29–51). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant matter: A political ecology of things. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Biesta, G. J. J. (2013). The beautiful risk of education. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boler, M., & Zembylas, M. (2003). Discomforting truths: The emotional terrain of understanding difference. In E. Trifonias (Ed.), Pedagogies of difference: Rethinking education for social change (pp. 110–136). London, UK: Routledge Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2000). The value of being disturbed. Theory and Event, 4(1). Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/journals/theory_and_event/v004/4.1butler.html.

  • Carroll, D. (1987). Paraesthetics: Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida. New York, NY: Methuen, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colebrook, C. (2002). Gilles Deleuze. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Connors, S. P. (2012). Altering perspectives: How the implied reader invites us to rethink the difficulty of graphic novels. The clearing house, 85, 33–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronin, B. (2016, February 21). The 10 most expensive comic books ever sold. Comic Book Resources (CBR). Retrieved from https://www.cbr.com/the-10-most-expensive-comic-books-ever-sold/.

  • de Bolla, P. (2001). Art matters. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. (1916/1944). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York, NY: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. New York, NY: Penguin Publishing Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellsworth, E. A. (2005). Places of learning: Media, architecture, pedagogy. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gregg, M., & Seigworth, G. J. (2010). An Inventory of shimmers. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader (pp. 1–25). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guattari, F. (2013). Schizoanalytic cartographies (A. Goffey, Trans.). New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic (Original work published 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hague, I. (2012). Beyond the visual: The roles of the senses in contemporary comics. Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art, 1(1), 98–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hague, I. (2014). Comics and the senses: A multisensory approach to comics and graphic novels. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, K. S. (2012). In defense of graphic novels. The English Journal, 102(2), 57–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvis, C. (2005). Real stakeholder education? Lifelong learning in the Buffyverse. Studies in the Education of Adults, 37(1), 31–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jorgensen, A., & Lechan, A. (2013). Not your mom’s graphic novels: Giving girls a choice beyond Wonder Woman. Technical Services Quarterly, 30(3), 266–284. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2013.785779.

  • Keen, S. (2011). Fast tracks to narrative empathy: Anthropomorphism and dehumanization in graphic narratives. SubStance, 40(1) Issue 124: Graphic Narratives and Narrative Theory, 135–155. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41300192.

  • Labio, C. (2011). What’s in a name? The academic study of comics and the “graphic novel”. Cinema Journal, 50(3), 123–126. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41240728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T. B. (2016, November 2). Print newspapers are dying faster than you think. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/new-money/2016/11/2/13499004/print-newspapers-dying.

  • Levinson, B. A. U. (2000). Whither the symbolic animal? Society, culture, and education at the millennium. In B. A. U. Levinson et al. (Eds.), Schooling the symbolic animal: Social and cultural dimensions of education (pp. 1–11). Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLure, M. (2013). Researching without representation? Language and materiality in post-qualitative methodology. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 658–667. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massumi, B. (2002). Parables for the virtual: Movement, affect, sensation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. (2014). Phenomenology of perception. (D. A. Landes, Trans.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge (Original work published 1945).

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, N. (2001). Shapeshifters, shadows, mentors and allies in a lifelong learning journey: Lessons from television. In Proceedings of the 31st Annual Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research on the Education of Adults, University of East London, UK. Retrieved November 1, 2017, from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002499.htm.

  • Ndalianis, A. (2011). Why comics studies? Cinema Journal, 50(3), 113–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panel Syndicate. (n.d.). About Panel Syndicate. Retrieved from http://panelsyndicate.com/authors.

  • Rautio, P. (2009). On hanging laundry: The place of beauty in managing everyday life. Contemporary Aesthetics, 7(9), 1–25. Retrieved from http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/article.php?articleID=535.

  • Roeder, K. (2008). Looking high and low at comic art. American Art, 22(1), 2–9. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/587910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Royal, D. P. (2007). Introduction: Coloring America: Multi-ethnic engagements with graphic narrative. MELUS, 32(3), 7–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schade Eckert, L. (2013). Protecting pedagogical choice: Theory, graphic novels, and textual complexity. Language Arts Journal of Michigan, 29(1), 40–43. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1984.

  • Sealy-Morris, G. (2015). The rhetoric of the paneled page: Comics and composition pedagogy. Composition Studies, 43(1), 31–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sousanis, N. (2015). Unflattening. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sousanis, N., & Suzuki, D. (2015). Continuing a conversation with Maxine Greene in comics. Teachers College Record, 117(10), 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spinoza, B. (1994). The Ethics. In A Spinoza reader: The Ethics and other works (E. Curley, Ed., & Trans.) (pp. 85–265). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (Original work published 1677).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavares, H. M. (2016). Pedagogies of the image: Photo-archives, cultural histories, and postfoundational inquiry. New York, NY: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • VanderMeer, A., & VanderMeer, J. (2016). Introduction. In VanderMeer, A. & VanderMeer, J. (Eds.), The big book of science fiction (pp. xiii–xxxi). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Chiang, C. (2016a). Paper Girls, Volume 1. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Chiang, C. (2016b). Paper Girls, Volume 2. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Chiang, C. (2017a). Paper Girls, Volume 3. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Chiang, C. (2017b). Paper Girls, Issue #16. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Chiang, C. (2017c). Paper Girls, Issue #17. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Chiang, C. (2017d). Paper Girls, Issue #18. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2014a). Saga, Volume 2. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2014b). Saga, Volume 3. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2014c). Saga, Volume 4. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2015). Saga, Volume 5. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2016a). Saga, Volume 1. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2016b). Saga, Volume 6. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017a). Saga, Volume 7. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017b). Saga, Chapter 43. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017c). Saga, Chapter 44. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017d). Saga, Chapter 45. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017e). Saga, Chapter 46. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017f). Saga, Chapter 47. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, B. K., & Staples, F. (2017g). Saga, Chapter 48. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, M. (2010). Desiring recognition, accumulating affect. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader (pp. 1–25). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weldon, G. (2016, July 27). Kids on bikes: The sci-fi nostalgia of ‘Stranger Things’, ‘Paper Girls’ & ‘Super 8’. National Public Radio. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2016/07/27/487602000/kids-on-bikes-the-sci-fi-nostalgia-of-stranger-things-paper-girls-super-8.

  • Wright, R. R., & Sandlin, J. A. (2009). Cult TV, hip hop, shape-shifters, and vampire slayers: A review of the literature at the intersection of adult education and popular culture. Adult Education Quarterly, 59(2), 118–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Amy N. Sojot

Authors
  1. Amy N. Sojot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy N. Sojot .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, MN, USA

    David W. Kupferman

  2. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Andrew Gibbons

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Sojot, A.N. (2019). Tension, Sensation, and Pedagogy: Depictions of Childhood’s Struggle in Saga and Paper Girls. In: Kupferman, D., Gibbons, A. (eds) Childhood, Science Fiction, and Pedagogy. Children: Global Posthumanist Perspectives and Materialist Theories. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6210-1_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6210-1_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6209-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6210-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation