Dr Aaron Humphrey

Screenshot of journal article. Title: Lost Precursor to Autobiographical Comics, Kangarooland (ca. 1918–1919), Illuminates Transnational Creativity in Australia’s WWI Internment Camps. Authors: Aaron Humphrey and Simon Walsh. Abstract: Autobiographical graphic novels have become crucial texts for understanding displacement and transnational identities. This article discusses a long-lost early example of the genre, The Voyage and Adventures of a Well-Behaved German in Kangarooland (Reise-Abenteuer eines Braven Deutschen im Lande der Kangaroo), a series of proto-comic books created circa 1918–1919 by the cartoonist C. Friedrich. A German immigrant to Australia imprisoned in an Australian internment camp during World War I, Friedrich used his self-published comics to document the routines, passions and frustrations of camp life. Drawing on recent scholarship on “POW creativity” as a conceptual lens, we argue that the transnational displacement at the heart of Friedrich’s work affirms Kangarooland as a pioneering work that provides a conceptual link with later autobiographical graphic novels and which should lead scholars to question claims that autobiographical comics are an American-born genre. Its origins in displacement and transnationalism, themes that animate so many of the most renowned graphic novels of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, suggest the genre instead developed out of the ability of comics to depict transnationalism and the precarity of displacement.

Open category winner: Aaron Humphrey and Simon Walsh, “Lost Precursor to Autobiographical Comics, Kangarooland (ca. 1918–1919), Illuminates Transnational Creativity in Australia’s WWI Internment Camps,” JAS, 48:2 (2024), 209-29.

@aaronhumphrey.bsky.social

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

22.07.2025 01:02 — 👍 1    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

How To Read This Chart: The most amazing collection of charts I’ve ever seen. Plus, the GOP tries to chart some cash out of your pockets.

I came across a 1939 book of data visualizations — more than 500 pages! — and it is just terrific. Free to read:

02.03.2024 15:05 — 👍 54    🔁 12    💬 2    📌 0

chunks > blobs #digiplatdesign

11.03.2024 23:12 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

“On Photography” is my favorite Sontag work, and is fascinating to read today in the context of modern photography. “What does a photo actually represent” has never been a straightforward question.

11.03.2024 13:42 — 👍 195    🔁 21    💬 5    📌 2

Yes, this is a hashtag for a class assignment, set up to help students find each others' accounts. When we used to do this exercise on Twitter, the volume of posts drowned us out & no one ever stumbled upon it. I can see that it's pretty annoying here on bsky, tho so we'll adjust our approach!

01.03.2024 06:36 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Today leaving with the lens cap on feels silly but you realise pretty quickly. This one really hurt back in the days of film (each exposure costs $) and no digital displays providing feedback on what you photographed (which means you could take lots of photos without realising your mistake).

28.02.2024 03:58 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

... sometimes it can't even do this very well :)

28.02.2024 03:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

'Now Breezing' reports that for ten minutes during our first Digital Platforms class of the semester, the #digiplat hashtag that students use to create introductory posts was one of the top ten most used hashtags on bluesky!

Clearly hashtags aren't common on bsky right now-- but still 👍 #digiplat!

27.02.2024 03:48 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Selection from NYT article about subcultures, with the highlighted section "Mom that dresser is super cottagecore and that is NOT my aesthetic at all. "

Headline from Elle article "Amazon has everything you need to master the vanilla girl aesthetic: because vanilla is not just a scent. It's a lifestyle"

Section from Teen Vogue article, including the headline "Are there other fruit-inspired aesthetics besides tomato girl?"

Nearly 90 years since Benjamin pondered the meaning of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, Mireille Silcoff despairs fading auras of subcultures in the age of TikTok aesthetics. www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/m...? Worth reading for learning about 'tomato girl summer' and "super cottage core".

27.02.2024 02:44 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

In 2024, our Digital Platforms class is experimenting with Bluesky. It's a lot quieter than other platforms right now, which is actually nice! I'll repost some of the best student content, and am interested to see what everyone comes up with!... ✍️ #digiplat

27.02.2024 01:22 — 👍 15    🔁 0    💬 3    📌 1