BOARD MEMBERS
Jean Braithwaite
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Jean Braithwaite indulged herself in a recklessly diverse education which is not over even yet. She is employed as a specialist in nonfiction writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where she also teaches literary comics, runs an annual Comics Contest, and serves as graphic literature editor for riverSedge magazine. She edited the UPM Conversations volume on Chris Ware. Also she has published a literary memoir and a smattering of essays, scholarly articles, and hybrid short writings. Jean’s current research projects in comics studies include Figural Solidarity (with collaborator Kai Mikkonen). FS is an attempt to give a semantic account of comics images and their connections with, as well as differences from, linguistic reference. Jean believes: (1) literature can and should be regarded as one of the cognitive sciences, (2) comics are a branch of literature, though of course with unique affordances, (3) C. P. Snow was right: truly successful cultures must unite the sciences and humanities. Jean’s curricular interests include literary appreciation and analysis, wordcraft, science writing, and narratology. Extra-curricular include biology, consciousness, and ethics.
On Figural Solidarity: “Figures are wordlike, or phraselike, to an extent. Like words they are reliable pointers to diegetic entities. Unlike words, though, the signifier is not segmentable.”
Jean Braithwaite originated the term figural solidarity, which describes a research program that she initiated along with Kai Mikkonen to investigate the nature of reference in comics images.
(Picture: Rene Magritte, The Human Condition)
C-S Publications
Braithwaite, Jean, and Kai Mikkonen. “Figural Solidarity: Grappling with Meaning in Comics.” Article. Comicalités. 2022. https://doi.org/10.4000/comicalites.7729
Book review of Kai Mikkonen’s The Narratology of Comic Art, in ImageText 2019, vol 10, No. 3.
“Navigating Jimmy Corrigan: Time, Space, and Puzzles, Including Pagination.” Article. International Journal of Comic Art, 2018, vol 20, #2 Fall/Winter, 312-341.
“Words+Pictures: A Manifesto.” Essay-article in Studies in 20th and 21st-Century Literature, vol 42, issue 1, September 2017.
Chris Ware: Conversations. Edited volume from University Press of Mississippi (Conversations with Comic Artists series), December 2016. Includes scholarly introduction and minibiography.
Into C-S
1) National / international Comics Studies events:
"Through Word or Image: How Figural Solidarity Builds Characters and Drives Narrativity in Comics" at the Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association in Tbilisi, Georgia, July 27, 2022. Co-presented with Kai Mikkonen. https://icla2022-tbilisi.ge/
"Figural Iconic Solidarity" at the Narrative Forms and Medium conference in Lausanne, Switzerland,October 21-23, 2021. Co-presented with Kai Mikkonen. https://dhcenter-unil-epfl.ch/en/event/conference-transfer-reconfiguration-and-digital-transition-in-graphic-narratives
“Navigating Jimmy Corrigan: Time, Space, and Other Puzzles.” Scholarly paper presented at National PCA/ACA Annual Conference, Washington, DC., April 17, 2019. Presented updated info on historical/geographical issues addressed in previous print publication.
“Some Intuitions about Comics Narratology: The Significance of Proprioception.” Scholarly paper presented at PCA/ACA Annual Conference, Indianapolis, March 28, 2018.
"The Status of Objective Narration in Chris Ware's Fictional Worlds." Presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics, Toronto, May 2016.
"Varieties of Nonlinearity in Chris Ware's Building Stories," paper presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Cultural Association national conference, Chicago, April 19, 2014.
“A Taxonomy of Graphic Sex: Fun Home, Lost Girls, and the Art of Gilbert Hernandez.” Paper presented at the SWTX PCA/ACA Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 28, 2009.
2) Extras, local or regional events, or non-scholarly venues:
Invited as expert consultant on graphic-novel options for Penn State Altoona’s Common Read Program, AY 2021-22.
“The Future of Comics Studies in the RGV,” FESTIBA Panel, March 2020.
“Words versus Pictures: Is the Writing or the Artwork Pre-eminent in Comics?” Panel discussion/debate by Jean Braithwaite, Jerry Lyles, Paul Valadez. Presented on FESTIBA Comics Day, UTRGV, Feb 28, 2017.
“What Is a Cartoon?” Presentation at the academic panel of Omnicon convention, McAllen, TX, March 11, 2017.
Interviewed by Peter Rasmussen, The Monitor, in connection with FESTIBA Comics Day, Feb 27, 2017. http://www.themonitor.com/news/education/article_97d37a5c-fd37-11e6-b2f2-238a5718a076.html
Interviewed by Ashley Kronsberg, Diamond Comics, Dec 2016. http://www.diamondbookshelf.com/Home/1/1/20/823?articleID=189258
"The Words + Pictures Adventure." Scholarly paper presented at FESTIBA, UTRGV, March 2016. (Also organized and moderated panel.)
“Graphic Novel Challenges: the University/the Library,” presentation at the Texas Library Association District 4 Conference, Corpus Christi, November, 2015.
Two invited performances at UTRGV FESTIBA, March 2016: "The Backyard" multimedia presentation, and excerpt from "Covert Dualism."
ICLA Research Commitee on Comics Studies and Graphic Narrative (2024)
