The role of comics in moulding children’s understanding of science and technology in postcolonial india

Abstract

This thesis looks at how the depictions of science and technology in the Amar Chitra Katha comics, with special focus on Tinkle, moulded children’s understanding of science and technology in the 1980s in Post-Colonial India. By looking at these two comics, it wants to argue that both science and technology depictions in Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha biographies implemented unique pedagogies that went beyond the classroom. Not only were they different, but they were also reflective of the larger changes going on in science communication and science education efforts in India. Moreover, through their depictions of science and technology, one would get to notice how they negotiated the spaces of traditionality and modernity. The findings through these claims also contest the general image of ACK’s literature having merely religio-nationalistic tones. Lastly, by focusing on children’s comics in India as a medium of science consumption and participation, it seeks to know how the citizens of tomorrow were involved in the efforts of creating scientifically minded individuals from an approach that is beyond the institutional and social movements.