Man Plans, G-d Laughs: A Graphic Autoethnography of an Intercultural Communication Student

Abstract

Originally intended to serve as a defense of graphic novels in and beyond educational settings, across the months it was created, this project shifted heavily into uncharted territory, instead asking and answering the following questions: what does “legitimate” knowledge look like? What impact do the standards for academic knowledge production and dissemination have upon academics and non-academics alike, and what potential lies in critiquing and circumventing these long-held standards? Utilizing a combination of content analysis, diary methods and informal interviews, this autoethnographic work provides an unfiltered glimpse into the life of a humanities graduate student. It combines theories such as Donna Haraway’s “situated knowledges” and texts such as Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis to tell a story located “from below,” predominantly in the form of a graphic novel. In doing so, the thesis argues for the use of unconventional formats when conveying both academic and personal knowledge, and demonstrates the persuasive power of vulnerability in opposition of purported “objectivity” and empiricism.