FYS 129 Manga and Graphic Novels

University of Tennessee

Instructor Information

Lisa Yamagata-Lynch

Educational Psychology and Counseling
A532 Bailey Education Complex
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: 865-974-7712
LisaYL@utk.edu
http://www.lisayamagatalynch.net/

*Please note that the instructor reserves the right to modify the syllabus during the semester and participants will be notified through this website and BlackBoard Announcements

Meeting Time
Monday 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM

Office Hours Thursday 11:10 AM-12:10 AM at Bailey A532, Other appointments can be arranged upon request

Meeting Place
Baily Education Complex 238

Catalog Description
How many of you are interested in manga (漫画)or graphic novels? Did you know that these artistic novels are imported from Japan? In this class we will start by examining the works of Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫)who is identified as one of the most influential authors in Japan who help build the manga publishing industry after World War II. We will start our readings with Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム) and Black Jack (ブラックジャック). Participants can choose other contemporary works to read later in the course. We will examine the sociocultural aspects of manga and what we can learn from them about Japan and about the US based on your interpretations of the stories and evidence you find for building an argument supporting your interpretations.

Course Format
This course will be delivered primarily face-to-face. Please review the Classroom Etiquette section carefully to understand your responsibilities as a participant in this course. If you choose to engage in activities that are unprofessional, disrespectful to others, or disruptive you will lose points toward course participation.

Objectives
Through this course participants will be able to:
  1. Examine manga/漫画 and graphic novels as a sociocultural method of story telling;
  2. Examine qualities of good verbal and visual story telling and how they are related to good oral and written communications;
  3. Engage in library research about a topic of personal interest related to course topics;
  4. Engage in an oral presentation of a topic of personal interest related to course topics; and
  5. Collaborate with the instructor and other participants to develop an engaging learning community.
Required Text
  • Eisner, W. (2008). Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Tezuka, O. (2008a). Astro Boy, Vol. 1 & 2. Dark Horse.
  • Tezuka, O. (2008b). Black Jack, Vol. 1. (C. Nieh, Trans.). Vertical.
University Technology Resources
University Undergraduate Student Resources
Resources for Research
Course Communications
You will regularly receive course related communications from the instructor through email and BlackBoard Announcements. It is your responsibility to make sure that your university email account is in working condition. If you have technical issues or need help troubleshooting please contact OIT at http://remedy.utk.edu/contact/ or by call the helpdesk at 865-974-9900. You should expect your instructor to respond to your message within 24 hours on regular business days during the week and 48 hours on weekends and university holidays. If you do not hear back from the instructor please send another message or make a phone call 865-974-7712.

Disability Services
Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss specific needs. Please contact the Office of Disability Services at 865-974-6087 in Dunford Hall to coordinate reasonable accommodations for documented disabilities.

Assignments
Class Participation 600 pts
Please come to each class session prepared by completing readings on days that are due with relevant questions for class, and by being a productive participant in course discussions. You need to able to share your understandings about the readings, new ideas, and discoveries through collegial, effective, and professional discussion in class.

Presentation 200 pts
You will find a topic of your interest that is related to course experiences. You can pursue a topic that was related to a specific manga (漫画) read in class or find another manga (漫画) or graphic novel to read and review. What is important is that you find a topic that is related to this course and engage in a thoughtful investigation to prepare a 5-minute presentation. On the day of your presentation, your instructor will keep time and will ask you to end your presentation when 5 minutes pass. This project is a great opportunity for you to engage in a thoughtful investigation of possible future fields you may be interested as a major. Please consult the instructor to obtain approval of your research topic.

Presentation Handout 100 pts
Prepare a 1-page handout of your presentation. This handout can be text based, visual, or both.

Presentation Reflection
100 pts
After completing your presentation you are required to complete a reflection paper. In this paper you will reflect on your presentation and handout. You need to discuss what went well, what did not go well, and what you would do differently in future course presentations.

Assignments and Total Possible Points
Assignments  Communication Format
Participation Mode
Possible Points
Class Participation  Oral and Written
Individual and Group
600
Presentation
 Oral
Individual
200
Presentation Handout
 WrittenIndividual 100
Presentation Reflection
 WrittenIndividual 100

 Total Possible
 1000

Assignment of Final Grades
Grade in this class will be assigned following the Satisfactory/No Credit Grading System policy as stated in the Undergraduate Catalog. The policy states that:

Satisfactory/No Credit Grading System
The purpose of this system is to encourage the student to venture beyond the limits of those courses in which the student usually does well and, motivated by intellectual curiosity, explore subject matter in which performance may be somewhat less outstanding than work in other subjects. To this end, Satisfactory/No Credit (S/NC) grading has been developed for undergraduate courses (100-, 200-, 300-, and 400-level courses).
  • S is given for C or better work on the traditional grading scale and NC is given for grades of C-, D+, D, D-, and F.
  • The student only receives credit in the course if an S is received.
Academic Honesty
Academic integrity is a responsibility of all members of the academic community. An honor statement is included on the application for admission and readmission. The applicant’s signature acknowledges that adherence is confirmed. The honor statement declares:

An essential feature of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a commitment to maintaining an atmosphere of intellectual integrity and academic honesty. As a student of the university, I pledge that I will neither knowingly give nor receive any inappropriate assistance in academic work, thus affirming my own personal commitment to honor and integrity.

You are expected to complete your own work. You cannot re-submit work here that was done for previous classes.

Plagiarism
Students shall not plagiarize. Plagiarism is using the intellectual property or product of someone else without giving proper credit. The undocumented use of someone else’s words or ideas in any medium of communication (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge) is a serious offense subject to disciplinary action that may include failure in a course and/or dismissal from the university. Some examples of plagiarism are
  • Using without proper documentation (quotation marks and a citation) written or spoken words, phrases, or sentences from any source.
  • Summarizing without proper documentation (usually a citation) ideas from another source (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge).
  • Borrowing facts, statistics, graphs, pictorial representations, or phrases without acknowledging the source (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge).
  • Submitting work, either in whole or in part, created by a professional service and used without attribution (e.g., paper, speech, bibliography, or photograph).
Extreme caution should be exercised by students involved in collaborative research to avoid questions of plagiarism. If in doubt, students should check with the major professor and the Dean of the Graduate School about the project. Plagiarism will be investigated when suspected and prosecuted if established. For this class, plagiarism will result in a zero on the assignment and a meeting with your academic adviser.

University Civility Statement
Civility is genuine respect and regard for others: politeness, consideration, tact, good manners, graciousness, cordiality, affability, amiability and courteousness. Civility enhances academic freedom and integrity, and is a prerequisite to the free exchange of ideas and knowledge in the learning community. Our community consists of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and campus visitors. Community members affect each other’s well-being and have a shared interest in creating and sustaining an environment where all community members and their points of view are valued and respected. Affirming the value of each member of the university community, the campus asks that all its members adhere to the principles of civility and community adopted by the campus: http://civility.utk.edu/.

Attendance Policy
Students are expected to be on time, attend all classes, and participate in class discussions, small group activities, exercises, and projects. You may not receive class participation credit for missed classes and are responsible for missed information. However, emergencies can occur at any time and the instructor reserves the right, based on the individual situation, to accommodate a student with any emergency. A student missing class must complete all assignments to the satisfaction of the instructor before credit will be issued. Absences are not considered excused for job interviews, vacations, regular doctor's appointments, or general lack of planning. Students are granted one "free" absence, regardless of the situation. However multiple absences and excessive tardiness are considered unacceptable for success in this course and can be cause for a final grade reduction. Attendance will be taken every class session, and every unexcused absence after the "free" absence will cost towards your ability to pass this course.

Additionally, please review the Attendance Policy and Eligibility in the the Undergraduate Catalog

Academic success is built upon regular class attendance. At the University of Tennessee, students are expected to attend all of their scheduled classes.

Only students who are properly registered for a course may attend it on a regular basis. Any other person in the classroom for special reasons must obtain the consent of the instructor.

It is the prerogative of the individual instructor to set the attendance requirements for a particular class. This means, for example, that an instructor in first year composition may state in a syllabus how many absences are allowed before a student receives a grade of No Credit.

Classroom Etiquette
While your instructor, your peer, or guest lecturer is conducting a presentation you are expected to pay complete attention to what they are presenting. It is not only rude, but also distracting to the presenter and other students in class when you are working on the computer, personal portable devices, cell phones, or behaving in any manner that is disruptive to them. If you are engaging in activities such as surfing the web, writing a paper, reading/writing email, working on class assignments, answering your cell phone, Skyping or any other disruptive activities in class you will be asked to leave for the day. If your disrespectful and disruptive behaviors continue, you will lose points from course participation, which will affect negatively on your final grade for this course. Make sure that your cell phone and/or beeper are turned off or set on manner mode. Please inform the instructor before class session begins if your are experiencing circumstances that warrant your cell phone/beeper to be turned on, such as extreme weather conditions that may put your family members in danger.

Schedule
*Please note that readings must be completed by the class session on the date they appear in the schedule.
*All Assignments are due 11:59pm the day it is due.

Week
Day
Topic Notes Assignments/Readings
1
8/27
Course Expectations, Website, Blackboard, and Introductions

Week 1 Notes Readings
Course Syllabus
Tour course Blackboard Site
How to be a successful student handout



Labor Day




2
9/10
Storytelling and narratives


Week 2 Notes
Readings
Eisner (2008) chp 1, 2, & 3

3
9/17
Visual story telling Week 3 Notes
Readings
Eisner (2008) chp 4 & 5


4
9/24
Manga in Japanese History
日本の歴史の中の漫画
Week 4 Notes
Gravett (2004) chp 2


5
10/1
Tezuka's role in history of manga
手塚治虫の歴史的な漫画への影響
Week 5 Notes
Readings
Gravett (2004) chp 3

6
10/8
Getting Familiar with Tezuka's work I: Astro Boy Part 1
手塚治虫の漫画一:鉄腕アトムその一
Week 6 Notes

Readings
Tezuka (2008a) Astro Boy pp 4-58

 7 10/15Getting Familiar with Tezuka's work II: Astro Boy Part 2
手塚治虫の漫画二:鉄腕アトムその二

 Week 7 Notes
Readings
Tezuka (2008a) Astro Boy pp 58-206

8
10/22
Getting Familiar with Tezuka's work III: Black Jack Part 1
手塚治虫の漫画一:ブラックジャックその一
Week 8 Notes
Readings
Tezuka (2008b) Black Jack pp5-136

9
10/29
Getting Familiar with Tezuka's work IV: Black Jack Part 2
手塚治虫の漫画一:ブラックジャックその二

Week 9 Notes

Readings
Tezuka (2008b) Black Jack pp137-288

10
11/5
Student Work Day

Prepare your Presentation
Week 10 Notes

Send an email to instructor to summarize your presentation
11
11/12
Student Presentations
Week 11 Notes
Assignment
Student presentations

 12 11/19Student Presentations
Week 12 NotesAssignment
Student presentations

13 11/26
Student Presentations

Week 13 Notes
Assignment
Student presentations

 14 12/3
No meeting Week 14 Notes
Assignment
Submit reflection paper


Week 1

  • Course Syllabus
  • Tour course Blackboard Site
  • How to be a successful student handout
Week 2
  • Eisner, W. (2008). Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. W. W. Norton & Company. Chp 1, 2, & 3

Week 3

  • Eisner, W. (2008). Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. W. W. Norton & Company. Chp 4 & 5

Week 4

  • Gravett, P. (2004). Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics. Harper Design. Chp 2

Week 5

  • Gravett, P. (2004). Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics. Harper Design. Chp 3

Week 6

  • Tezuka, O. (2008a). Astro Boy, Vol. 1 & 2. Dark Horse. pp 4-58

Week 7

  • Tezuka, O. (2008a). Astro Boy, Vol. 1 & 2. Dark Horse. pp 58-206

Week 8

  • Tezuka, O. (2008b). Black Jack, Vol. 1. (C. Nieh, Trans.). Vertical. pp5-136

Week 9

  • Tezuka, O. (2008b). Black Jack, Vol. 1. (C. Nieh, Trans.). Vertical. pp137-288

Week 10

  • Student work day no assigned readings

Week 11

  • Presentation handouts for Week 11 presentation

Week 12

  • Presentation handouts for Week 12 presentation

Week 13

  • Presentation handouts for Week 13 presentation

Last Updated August 24, 2012