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Breaking the mold of human rights education, the cartoon-based project will develop a targeted activist toolkit and grade-appropriate curriculum, as well as graphic history books, comics, animation, podcasts, and online platforms for engagement and activation.
In 2021, a global online survey was conducted with Amnesty International and shared with more than 200 human rights and social justice organizations globally. The survey results were then fed into an in-depth Yale led focus group program.
Fordham’s IIHA is now supporting the finalization and launch of the project with a special research initiative looking at social change agents in both complex emergencies and natural disasters.
“Never has the need for global cooperation between human rights, climate change, and social activists and artists been greater. Our research is uncovering what activists and artists need in order to better connect with and learn from each other.”
Christian Clark is a Visiting Research Fellow at Fordham’s Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) and former Chief of Public Advocacy and Campaigns at UN OCHA. Christian heads The Graphix Project, which seeks to allow human rights and social activists, high school students, and other youth demographics globally to connect, plan and learn from each other.
Christian Clark is a cartoonist (Washington Post, Financial Times, Toronto Star, Guardian, etc.) and two-time Emmy Award-winning writer (Sesame Street) who has written and/or illustrated three graphic histories including the 2017 UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War. Christian has extensive international advocacy and human rights experience working for the BBC and the United Nations in North America, Asia, Africa and the Balkans. He led the Meena project for some years, a groundbreaking UNICEF effort to advance girls’ rights using animation for social change in Asia.
He is the founder of the Graphix Project (GP) which will serve as a cartoon-based human rights support initiative. The GP will allow human rights and social activists, high school students and others — from #BLM in the U.S. to the climate justice campaign globally — to connect with, plan and learn from each other and experts through the project’s interactive online platform. The project will promote active change by using a range of mediums and products including activist toolkits, grade appropriate curriculum, graphic histories and novels, comics, animation and podcasts. The project concept has been tested through Masters level course work at both CUNY (2019) and Columbia University (2020), as well as through a multilingual (English, French and Spanish) online survey, developed with Amnesty International, shared with 200 human rights entities worldwide. The results will be fed into a Yale-supported global focus group initiative to answer a central question: “Are cartoons/graphics seen as a serious and appropriate medium for engaging activists across cultures?”