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Exploring Identity and Multiliteracies through Graphic Narratives

In a first-year, university-level communication course that examined issues of race, ethnicity, postcolonialism, diaspora, and coming-of-age using different points of view and modes of communication, students created graphic novel-style auto-ethnographies to reflect on their experiences with diaspora and identity creation. The assignment was an experiment in the use of a different pedagogical tool that pushed participants to move beyond the parameters of the traditional academic literacy afforded by a research essay. The themes of diaspora and coming-of-age were intended to speak to as many of the students as possible. For some, the two themes coincided, since several students were forced to grow up quickly when they immigrated to Canada as children or teens alone or with family. For instructors, these diverse experiences form the often invisible backdrop to any classroom.