Martina Schradi (/ʃʁadi/ born 1972) is a German author, cartoonist and certified psychologist from
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
.
She is known for ''Oh, I see?!,'' a collection of
comics depicting the daily lives and struggles of people in the
LGBT*I community.
After successfully exhibiting her work, Schradi began travelling throughout Germany to conduct workshops and readings. These workshops are designed to inform people on how to use her comics to fight prejudice.
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Career
After completing her
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
diploma in
Erlangen
Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhab ...
and
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, Schradi practiced as a psychologist for several years.
In addition, she completed degrees in Communication Design and Media Author in Nuremberg and
Stuttgart. Eventually, she returned to sketching comics, a childhood passion, spending several years self-publishing them. Some of her comics have been released as the book ''Oh, I see?!'' (''Ach, so ist das?!'' in the original German title) with the publishing company Zwerchfell.
''Oh, I see?!''
Schradi noted discussions in the province of
Baden-Wuerttemberg on the implementation of LGBT*I themes in the school curriculum as catalyst for ''Oh, I see?!.''
The comics are a collection of true stories about people ages 20–68 in the LGBT*I community. Different themes are found throughout the comics including coming out stories, anonymity at work and experiences on how peers at school view
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
. A book was first published in 2014, but many of the comics can also be found on the official website for ''Oh, I see?!,'' available in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Russian. A Chinese translation is in preparation Beyond being a collection of people's lives, it is an anti-discrimination project supported by the
in a project titled
Toleranz fördern – Kompetenz stärken(Promoting tolerance-strengthening competence), th
Human Rights Office of the City of Nuremberg and th
Hannchen-Mehrzweck-Stiftung More details on this project are given in a chapter which Schradi co-authored in the book ''Teaching Gender''.
Pedagogy in Germany
After discussions in Baden-Wuerttemberg concerning the inclusion of LGBT*I themes in the school curriculum were met with backlash, Schradi began collecting stories from people and sketched them.
Studies demonstrating how many people are still too afraid to out themselves at work also inspired her to do her work. In addition to this, many teachers still do not react to
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
behavior in the classroom. The success of the comics gave her opportunities to be involved in how LGBT*I themes can be incorporated in the classroom.
Beyond her work as a cartoonist, Schradi has been published, alongside
Christine Burmann, in a chapter of ''Teaching Gender?'' titled ''Ach, so ist das?! Ein Antidiskriminierungsprojekt zu LSBTI* auch fuer die Schule (Oh, I see?! An anti-discrimination project about LSBTI* even for school).''
There they discuss how comics can offer insight into the life of the LGBT*I community on a textual and visual level. More specifically, how these comics can inform people at workshops as well as further educate teachers for their curriculum. The work's relevance is cited in the prevalence of homophobia in modern-day Germany. An online questionnaire showed that almost half of the participants had been discriminated against in the previous year, and a third were
closeted at their school.
Until 2015, she was in charge of the blog ''Infothek Lehre,'' which is funded by the German ministry of education and research. It is a platform dedicated to informing teachers, and professors about current publications in the field of teaching. Schradi herself conducted interviews with people in the German education system from different fields where their ideas, methodologies, and goals were discussed.
Activism
Schradi has made it her mission to expose people to the daily lives and trials of people in the LGBT*I community.
This mission has been realized after her work was successfully exhibited in Nuremberg. Since then, she has introduced her work throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Tunisia, Italy and Ukraine. A funding by the ministry of family has helped the team around Christine Burmann and Martina Schradi develop methodologies showing how teachers can discuss LGBT*I themes in their classrooms. In 2015, she had the opportunity to introduce her work at notable events such as the Proud At Work (PAW) conference.
Ways in which comics, such as ''Oh, I see?!'', may be used as teaching material are discussed in workshops. ''Oh, I see?!'' is already being used at the
Friedrich-Alexander University in conventions and workshops for the further education of teachers.
Schradi also worked as federal manager for Lambda e.V. an organization that acts on behalf of LGBT*I youth in the political and public spectrum. It also offers youth an opportunity to discuss their feelings in a non-judgmental environment, where they can be themselves. In Schradi's own words, "We have dedicated ourselves to support the youth on their path of self-discovery and in psychological crisis situations."
Works
Comics
Oh, I see?!winner of the ICOM-Sonderpreis der Jury 2015 for exceptional comic book publications and Michael-Schmidpeter-Sonderpreis 2014)
Non-Fiction
The chapter "Ach, so ist das?! Ein Antidiskriminierungsprojekt zu LSBTI* auch fuer die Schule" ''(Oh, I see?! An anti-discrimination project about LSBTI* even for school)'' for the book
Teaching Gender?
A contribution t
Patient Education for People with Parkinson's Disease and their Carers: A Manual
Awards
* ICOM-Sonderpreis der Jury 2015 for exceptional comic book publications
* Michael-Schmidpeter-Sonderpreis 2014
* mentioned as an Extraordinary Book by the International Literature Festival Berlin
References
External links
www.achsoistdas.comohisee.orgcomic-von-schradi.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schradi, Martina
LGBT comics creators
German female comics artists
German women writers
German LGBT writers
1972 births
Living people
German LGBT artists
German comics artists