The Work of Ramzi Fawaz and Comics Scholarship

Summary

This course surveys the work of comics scholar Ramzi Fawaz, chiefly through a reading of his book The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics (NYU Press, 2016) and related work. We will discuss Fawaz’s application of queer theory and utopianism to superhero comics and other comics genres since the 1960s for how these reflect the emergence and representation of alternative communities in post-war US culture.

The course will serve as preparation Fawaz’s keynote presentation at the International Comic Arts Forum, taking place at the UW in November 2017, and will feature a final session led by Fawaz. Open to undergraduates with permission.

Meeting Times and Location

• Wednesday, October 18, 2:30-5 pm
• Wednesday, October 25, 2:30-5 pm
• Wednesday, November 1, 2:30-5 pm (Communications 322)
• Thursday, November 2: Students will also attend the first day and keynote presentation of the International Comic Arts Forum at UW

José Alaniz is Associate Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Director of the Disability Studies Program, and affiliate faculty in Comparative History of Ideas, Comparative Literature, Cinema & Median, and English. He is the author of Comics and History in the Czech Lands (forthcoming), Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond (2014), and Komiks: Comic Art in Russia (2010).

Tom Foster is Professor of English and the author of The Souls of Cyberfolk: Posthumanism as Vernacular Theory (2005) and Transformations of Domesticity in Modern Women’s Writing: Homelessness at Home (2002). He has taught courses on superheroes in popular fiction and media and on science fiction and fantasy.

Questions? Contact José Alaniz: jos23@uw.edu.