Cardiff academic sees work reimagined in cartoon form

Research by a School of Law and Politics lecturer has been transformed into a cartoon as part of a project which aims to help engage the public in topical issues.

Dr Rosie Walters of the School of Law and Politics researches girls’ activism. She explores how girls find ways to be political in their everyday lives, even when they are often excluded from formal decision-making forums and don’t receive the support they would like from the adults in their communities.

As part of the project, Academics and Artists Addressing Social Challenges, supported by the Open University, King’s College London and Pitik Bulag cartoon collective, Dr Walters has been selected alongside 5 other academics to have their work interpreted into cartoon form to help bring to life their latest research on pressing social challenges.

The collaboration resulted in the work Fireflies by Taiwanese cartoonist Stellina Chen. Chen has had work published in Le Monde, Courrier International, France 24, Le Temps, Voxeurop, The News Lens and many others and frequently addresses issues such as women’s rights and gender equality which made her the perfect collaborator for Dr Walters.

Talking about Fireflies Dr Walters said, “It seems as though everybody is talking about girl activists at the moment, but is anyone actually listening to them? Despite endless media headlines and NGO campaigns celebrating girl activists and all that they can achieve, research shows that most girls still experience huge barriers to achieving the kinds of changes they want to see in their communities and beyond.”

“In the image, we wanted to convey the idea that while adults hold girl activists up as beacons of hope, or fireflies lighting the way, they are still not removing barriers to their full participation or hearing their calls to stand with them.  Girls are courageous and creative in their activism, but they cannot, and do not want to, change the world all by themselves.”

Chens interpretation of Dr Walters work can be seen on the Academic and Artists addressing Social Challenges gallery on the Open University website.