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Dr. Postema is a proud MLC Alumna and no longer with the Centre.

Dr. Barbara Postema holds a PhD (2010) from Michigan State University, an M.A. (2000) in Comparative Literature from the University of Warwick (UK), and an M.A. (1998) in English Language and Literature from the University of Amsterdam. She is the author of Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments published by the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2013. At the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre, Dr. Postema held a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013 - 2015), working on her new scholarly book project "Telling Stories Without Words: Visual Communication in Silent Comics,” under the supervision of Dr. Irene Gammel.

In August of 2015, Dr. Postema accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Concordia University (2015-2016). She continues as an MLC Visiting Scholar (2015-2016). 

Book Publications

Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments. Rochester, NY: Rochester Institute of Technology Press, 2013.

Selected Scholarly Articles

 
Postema, Barbara. "Following the Pictures: Wordless Comics for Children." Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 5.3 (2014): 311-322. Read the abstract.
 
Postema, Barbara. “Establishing Relations: Photography in Wordless Comics.” The Narrative Functions of Photography in Comics. Spec. issue of Image and Narrative 16.2 (2015): 84-95. Read the article.
 
Postema, Barbara. “The Visual Culture of Comics in the Last Half of the 19th Century: Comics without Words.” Transforming Anthony Trollope: Dispossession, Victorianism and 19th century Word and Image. Ed. Laurence Grove and Simon Grennan. Leuven: Leuven UP. 131-47. Read more.
 
Postema, Barbara. "Draw a Thousand Words: Signification and Narration in Comics Images.” International Journal of Comic Art 9.1 (2007): 487-501.
 
Postema, Barbara. "Memories that Don't Weaken: Seth and Walter Benjamin." International Journal of Comic Art 6.2 (2004): 266-72.

Exhibition Curated

"The Graphic Life Narrative of Marta Chudolinska: An Exhibition.” MLC Gallery, Ryerson University. May 6-13, 2015.

Research Outreach 

 

Personnel Index

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The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

MLC Themes

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

Amid the unprecedented social change of World War I, women renegotiated their identities by dramatically changing the way they engaged with the arts. But how did they do so? And how did everyday citizens engage with the war?
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

MLC Themes

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, considered by many to be the mother of Dada, was a daringly innovative poet and an early creator of junk sculpture. “The Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances.
Modernism in the World

MLC Themes

Modernism in the World

Recent research has departed from the Euro-centric and national view of Modernism to include approaches and methods studying Modernism across national boundaries and across different art forms to include fashion, dance, performance, technology, and visual culture.
Lucy Maud Montgomery

MLC Themes

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery is perhaps Canada's most important literary export. She was prolific writer of over 500 short stories and poems, and twenty novels, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables.
Canadian Modernism

MLC Themes

Canadian Modernism

The works of numerous Canadian authors who lived during the modernist era may well constitute the most central and experimental articulation of Canadian modernism in prose, allowing authors to stage cross-cultural, controversial, and even conflicted identities.
Modernist Biography and Life Writing

MLC Themes

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

Life writing, including autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written or told by women and men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their lives, has become a standard tool for communication and the dissemination of information.