Rude Girl: My Life on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Rude Girl: My Life on Both Sides of the Atlantic
A talk by Priscilla Layne (UNC)
April 3rd, 4pm
Greene Hall Room 162

“In this talk, I will discuss the development and aesthetic decisions that contributed to my graphic memoir Rude Girl (2022), which was written and illustrated by German artist Birgit Weyhe. I met Weyhe seven years ago, when I was living in Germany in an academic residency and working on an essay about her graphic novels. I was drawn to Weyhe’s work, because I found her transnational background and its influence on her narratives fascinating. A white German woman who grew up in Kenya and Uganda, Weyhe’s work largely centered around issues of identity, migration and culture as a construct. After interviewing Weyhe for my essay, she became interested in my unique backstory: the daughter of Caribbean immigrants who started studying German at age 10, spent two decades in the punk scene and lived in Berlin for 4 years. Rude Girl grew out of our shared desire to think through questions of representation and cultural appropriation together. We intentionally took a feminist approach to the project; an approach that emphasized dialogue and understanding and which is conveyed through the formal aesthetics of the book. In this talk, I will speak about this collaboration, the graphic novel’s reception in Germany, the process of translating Rude Girl into English and how once I started teaching graphic novels about disability and illness, Rude Girl actually helped lead me to several late diagnoses of developmental disorders.”

Priscilla Layne is a Professor of German, Adjunct Professor of African-American Studies, and Director of the Center for European Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. She will then end her visit with a talk “Rude Girl: My Life on Both Sides of the Atlantic.” Professor Layne will also visit several classes that focus on both contemporary Germany and the German history of race theory, where she will speak with students about both her experiences in Germany as well as her understanding of race discourse in Germany as it is today.