"Pictures Maybe Add a Whole Other Dimension": Students' Reading Gender and Religion in Graphic Novel Adaptations of the Bible

• In Event: Multiliteracies and Multimodality in Reclaiming Authority in Reading and Lives

Abstract

Given scholarly interest in using graphic novels to explore gender-related issues, coupled with continuing tensions in Modern Orthodox Jewish communities around feminism, I am interested in the ways adolescent Jewish girls read graphic novel adaptations of the Bible and how they navigate between authoritative and autonomous readings, particularly with regards to issues of gender in Judaism. Using R. Crumb’s adaptation of the book of Genesis, focusing on a moment that, in its depiction, emphasizes gender inequalities of the time, I consider how a participant experiences dissonance while reading. I find that graphic novels such as Crumb’s orchestrate moments where readers, despite ideological entrenchment, can form new opinions that are personally meaningful for their religious and gender identities.

Author

• Talia Hurwich, Drexel University