Doctorate degree in Comics Studies

[Bay_Breeze_Belle]

I am an Indian, desperately wanting to do my PhD in English on Comics Studies. I have known USA to be a great centre for the same and come to know about a handful of universities that deal with the genre.

I would be grateful if I could know that, as an overseas (international) student, which American university would be the best for me? (In terms of fee structure, scholarships etc.) 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Bay_Breeze_Belle
Typing error.

[dilby]

Hi there! I work on animation, so I feel we may have similar experiences in this regard. No university that I know of offers a PhD in Animation Studies or Comics Studies. But you may find scholars who work in American Studies, Art/Art History, Literature, or Visual Studies programs whose research aligns with your interests. It may be worth reaching out to these people and asking about what's happening in comics studies at their institution.

Off the top of my head, departments that might be flexible enough to accommodate a PhD in comics studies include Stanford (either Modern Thought and Literature or Art History) and Rochester's Visual and Cultural Studies PhD program.

[hgtvdeathdrive]

You might also want to consider schools with experimental/non-traditional Rhetoric programs. My former supervisor, an Eisner-winning scholar in visual rhetoric and comic studies, did her PhD in Composition & Rhetoric at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her dissertation focused on Lynda Barry, and she is now not only the Director of Rhet/Comp but also Director of the new Comic Studies Program (an undergraduate program) at Portland State University.  

[Bottle-o-Red]

Ramzi Fawaz ("The New Mutants") teaches at U Wisconsin-Madison English, and hails from GWU American Studies. He's also currently working on the new Keywords book for Comics Studies, co-editing with Shelley Streeby at UCSD (used to be Literature, nowadays Ethnic Studies). I know at UW (the other one, U Washington) there are several people doing comics work in their PhD - in English, and also in History.

Honestly, though, I'd take a look at the leadership and conference line-ups for ICAF and the Comics Studies Association, then trace who's teaching where, and perhaps email some folks. I say email because while it's easy enough to find who's doing the scholarship where, I think it's harder to figure out which institutions are best for funding international students, in those particular departments, so you may have to outright ask, or at least look at their admission statistics. Sorry to not have a more direct answer to your question.

Good luck!!

[brontebitch]

Catherine Labio at CU Boulder works on comics! We also have a great collection of visual art at the CU Art Museum and in the archives. 

[arbie]

Hillary Schute is at Northeastern in Boston! I know she has several students who work on comics and graphic novels, though it is through the English graduate program. 

[20LadyBugs]

University of Florida has a PhD Program in comics!