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Comics for a serious cause!
New Delhi, Oct 28: If you think the comics are for the kids and only for fun, you are in for a surprise. For comics are now being promoted as a communication tool to spread social messages.
New Delhi, Oct 28: If you think the comics are for
the kids and only for fun, you are in for a surprise. For
comics are now being promoted as a communication tool to
spread social messages.
"Comics and cartoons have the potential to be used as an
effective means of social communication and bring about a
social change," says Sharad Sharma, a professional cartoonist,
whose NGO - World Comics India conducts workshops all over the
country on various social issues.
"They may be employed as powerful tools for sensitising the masses to a cause, or mobilising public opinion on an issue. Comics are fun, thought-provoking and have an intrinsic energy of their own, having the power to stimulate, provoke an urge one to action," Sharma reasons.
He says compared to conventional instruments and methods employed for social change, cartoons and comics have a definite edge for a variety of reasons.
"We realised the efficacy of comics, when we were working with the newly literate rural folk of Rajasthan in 1992," Sharma explains.
According to him, the newly literate adults had shown little interest in the rhetorical speeches, given in the literacy programmes and also had problems in understanding posters full of text.
"Whereas many pictures in the comics are self-explanatory, the visuals attract their imagination and convey the message in simple language," Sharma says.
The cost required to make comics and cartoons is so less that funds was never a problem for his volunteers, he said.
"They are also cost effective and can be distributed easily in photocopies, posters, small booklets," he says.
"All one needs is a paper and a pen but the message conveyed can have great ramifications."
But, how difficult was it to teach cartooning to illiterate women and children from backward areas and make them socially aware?
The answer to this, if Sharma is to be believed is actual transformation at the grassroots level.
"They draw what they feel, as drawing reflects the subconscious feelings. Most of the drawings reflect their perceptions of the world around them," he says.
"The subjects vary - illicit liquor, poverty, the form of cultivation in their region, voting rights, migration and various social evils," Sharma reveals.
However, teaching them to draw is not easy, as the participants generally write lots of text, which needs to be condensed.
"Practice is inevitable," Sharma says.
But, after they shed their initial inhibition, the participants express themselves very well, he says.
"In the backward west Singhbhum district of Jharkhand and in Madhya Pradesh, the women and children very effectively expressed their feelings."
Sharma's organisation, World Comics India, receives technical and other kinds of support from world comics - a Finnish organisation. Started by Leif Packalen, a renowned cartoonist it promotes the use of comics as a communication tool in education, development and cross-cultural information.
Sharma says his organisation has received invitations from host NGOs to conduct workshops after mobilising the participants - who mostly comprise local activists, artists and others.
"The participants are then trained in the workshop for four days, who in turn, train others in their villages. They also distribute the pictures drawn by them by photocopying. These posters are pasted at public places and the message spreads," Sharma says.
He claims that in states like Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Mizoram, the locals have even started regular weekly and monthly editions.
Sharma also has plans to expand to other parts of the country and neighbouring south Asian countries in the near future.
Bureau Report
"They may be employed as powerful tools for sensitising the masses to a cause, or mobilising public opinion on an issue. Comics are fun, thought-provoking and have an intrinsic energy of their own, having the power to stimulate, provoke an urge one to action," Sharma reasons.
He says compared to conventional instruments and methods employed for social change, cartoons and comics have a definite edge for a variety of reasons.
"We realised the efficacy of comics, when we were working with the newly literate rural folk of Rajasthan in 1992," Sharma explains.
According to him, the newly literate adults had shown little interest in the rhetorical speeches, given in the literacy programmes and also had problems in understanding posters full of text.
"Whereas many pictures in the comics are self-explanatory, the visuals attract their imagination and convey the message in simple language," Sharma says.
The cost required to make comics and cartoons is so less that funds was never a problem for his volunteers, he said.
"They are also cost effective and can be distributed easily in photocopies, posters, small booklets," he says.
"All one needs is a paper and a pen but the message conveyed can have great ramifications."
But, how difficult was it to teach cartooning to illiterate women and children from backward areas and make them socially aware?
The answer to this, if Sharma is to be believed is actual transformation at the grassroots level.
"They draw what they feel, as drawing reflects the subconscious feelings. Most of the drawings reflect their perceptions of the world around them," he says.
"The subjects vary - illicit liquor, poverty, the form of cultivation in their region, voting rights, migration and various social evils," Sharma reveals.
However, teaching them to draw is not easy, as the participants generally write lots of text, which needs to be condensed.
"Practice is inevitable," Sharma says.
But, after they shed their initial inhibition, the participants express themselves very well, he says.
"In the backward west Singhbhum district of Jharkhand and in Madhya Pradesh, the women and children very effectively expressed their feelings."
Sharma's organisation, World Comics India, receives technical and other kinds of support from world comics - a Finnish organisation. Started by Leif Packalen, a renowned cartoonist it promotes the use of comics as a communication tool in education, development and cross-cultural information.
Sharma says his organisation has received invitations from host NGOs to conduct workshops after mobilising the participants - who mostly comprise local activists, artists and others.
"The participants are then trained in the workshop for four days, who in turn, train others in their villages. They also distribute the pictures drawn by them by photocopying. These posters are pasted at public places and the message spreads," Sharma says.
He claims that in states like Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Mizoram, the locals have even started regular weekly and monthly editions.
Sharma also has plans to expand to other parts of the country and neighbouring south Asian countries in the near future.
Bureau Report