Four at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Hilo presented their research papers at the in Rome in November. Uʻilani Dasalla, Tynsl Kailimai, Ciarra-Lynn Parinas and Leomanaolamaikalani Peleiholani-Blankenfeld attended the conference, which featured more than 100 international scholars at at Rome.
The presentations originated in a spring 2017 course, Graphic Novels and Comics, taught by , associate professor of English. Under M?llegaard¡¯s guidance, the students expanded on their original class papers and partnered up to write substantial literary analyses that will be submitted for publication in the .
Dasalla and Peleiholani-Blankenfeld focused on the way the comics medium, in particular autobiographical graphic novels, can help heal and overcome personal trauma. Their presentation, “Healing with Graphic Novels: A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Alison Bechdel¡¯s Fun Home,” investigates the therapeutic properties of art in Bechdel¡¯s acclaimed coming-of-age narrative.
Kailimai and Parinas jointly examined comics author Alan Moore¡¯s seminal works in their presentation entitled, “Fighting for Justice or Creating Chaos: An Analysis of V for Vendetta and Watchmen.” They explored the political underpinnings of these two novels by focusing on the themes of vigilantism and terrorism in conjunction with the overall question, “what makes a hero a hero?”
“These four UH Hilo English majors¡¯ successful international conference presentations and the stellar caliber of their research projects demonstrate the overall quality of a UH Hilo education and helps to put UH Hilo on the map as an institution that supports and encourages undergraduate student research in the humanities,” said M?llegaard.
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—From UH Hilo Stories