Nick Sousanis, a comic maker and professor at San Francisco State University, shares his journey from young comics enthusiast to academic and creator leveraging comics in education. He discusses his early fascination with comics, his detour through mathematics and tennis, and his return to comics which led to his doctorate and the creation of his dissertation as a comic book, 'Unflattening'.
Sousanis explores the significance of comics as a medium for expressing complex ideas, their historical context, and the pedagogical advantages they offer in teaching and learning. Highlighting student examples, he demonstrates how comics can facilitate nuanced thinking and storytelling, even among those with no background in drawing.
The narrative underscores comics' potential to break boundaries, encourage multidisciplinary thinking, and redefine scholarship.
Music: Insatiable Toad by Blue Dot Sessions CC-BY-NC
00:00 Meet Nick Sousanis
00:44 The Journey to Comics and Education
01:09 Bridging Comics, Mathematics, and Art
02:06 Rediscovering Comics for Political and Educational Purposes
03:18 The Doctoral Journey with Comics
04:33 A Diverse Career: From Tennis to Comics
10:37 Exploring the Power of Comics in Storytelling
15:26 The Evolution of Comics and Their Impact
18:09 Understanding Comics: Time, Space, and Narrative
35:10 Student Works: Demonstrating the Power of Comics
39:04 Concluding Thoughts on Comics as a Medium
