Critical representation of university life in online "PhD Comics"

Abstract

Academic life has been a privileged theme for ficcion, which found in the microcosmos of campus life the repertoire for stories, generally expounding the contradictions and underlining the all-to-human aspects behind the seriousness of academia. This paper outlines some aspects of the webcomics “Phd Comics”, published by Jorge Cham since 2006. Research question focus on the comical representation of academic life, which develops threefold: (a) the hierarchical structure with positions set to everyone; (b) the struggle for power and prestige has precedence over research; (c) the tension between researcher’s personal life and the constraints of academic demands. PhD Comics deals with these themes with light-hearted humour, targeted at those who are, or were, at the university.