Editorial Cartoons:
Bringing World Issues to the Classroom

Editorial cartoons engage students in learning in a variety of ways. They inform them about current social and political issues in local, national, and international contexts, they invite analytic and critical thinking on verbal and visual levels, and they instruct students on the use of metaphors as arguments. Understanding and appreciation of editorial cartoons is an exercise in visual literacy, a critically important skill as social interaction relies increasingly on symbolic representations. The content of this presentation can vary, according to the institution's specific interest. Several examples include Editorial Cartoons on 9/11 and Ensuing Events: International Perspectives; Gender Imagery in the Editorial Cartoons; and screening and discussions of three videotape programs produced by the speaker on women and editorial cartooning. The videotape programs are titled, Running Mate: Gender and Politics in the Editorial Cartoons; Drawing Conclusions: Editorial Cartoonists Consider Hillary Rodham Clinton; and Trailblazer: The Editorial Cartoons of Etta Hulme. Participants are invited to discuss ideas for using editorial cartoon materials in their particular disciplines and, working in small groups, present to the larger group their own analysis and interpretation of cartoons distributed during the workshop.

To find out more, email Ed Leach or call (480) 705-8200, x233.