Wiley Lecture 2022. Communicating climate change with comics: Life beyond apocalyptic imaginaries

• Published in: Geographical research Vol. 61; no. 3; pp. 320 - 332
• Main Author: Sou, Gemma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Carlton South Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2023
• Subjects: Climate change; Climate change communication; Climate change research; Comics; Communication; creative; Geographers; Interdisciplinary aspects; Participatory research; science communication; storytelling; Translation
• ISSN: 1745-5863; 1745-5871
• DOI: 10.1111/1745-5871.12592

Drawing on my experience with creative research translation, in this work I discuss how comics provide several possibilities to communicate climate change using geographical analysis and anti‐essentialist representations. Comics can be deployed as a multi‐modal method that encourages researchers to use thick description to communicate embodied, intangible, and hidden experiences of life with climate change that are difficult to capture in other ways. Comics are also a powerful way for authors to visualise how life with climate change is multi‐temporal and to capture diverse images of still‐possible and alternative climate futures that move beyond apocalyptic imaginaries to inform debates about the geographies of hope as they relate to climate change. Finally, comics can enhance the participatory nature of research and facilitate a move to more ‘desire‐based’ research frameworks that emphasise character‐driven and anti‐essentialist narratives. The work reported here should be of broad interest among geographers engaging in geohumanities and climate change researchers experimenting with creative methods to narrativise and communicate human experiences of climate change. My intentions are to move beyond disciplinary boundaries; speak to scholars working in the interdisciplinary fields of climate change, comics studies, climate change communication, and visual studies; and invite more engagement with this mode of creative research translation. Comics can be deployed as a multi‐modal method that encourage researchers to develop thick descriptions of life with climate change and communicate the hidden experiences of climate change that are difficult to capture in words or other visual media. Comics can also visualise the multi‐temporal, lived experiences of climate change and various still‐possible climate futures that move beyond apocalyptic imaginaries. Finally, comics can increase the participatory nature of research and facilitate a move towards more ‘desire‐based’ research frameworks that celebrate character‐driven and anti‐essentialist narratives.