CRITICAL SCIENCE & TECH ZINES AND COMICS
WHY ZINES? I use comic zines as an easily reproducible, shareable, and engaging medium to communicate how science and society interact with one another, in service of making academic STS literature more accessible and creating a more equitable science and society.
Commissions for STS-related zines are currently OPEN, see Contact tab for more information. Physical copies of existing zines are available at shop link above. Please contact me at form below if you’re interested in making bulk zine purchases for educational/nonprofit use.
WHAT ZINES? The following three zines cover the myth of scientific objectivity, how science museums and everyday science learning are systematically exclusive, and who should have a voice in shaping self-driving transportation. Read more below!
Science Under the Scope: The Objectivity of My Affection
June 2017
What determines who does science, what questions scientists ask, and who science helps and harms? This first installment of the Science Under the Scope series explores those questions and breaks down 5 ways that science may not be as objective as we’re often taught it is.
Click the link below to read in full at the Free Radicals website or purchase your own copy.
Equity, Exclusion and Everyday Science Learning - Zine Edition
April 2019
An illustrated summary of Dr. Emily Dawson’s book on exclusion in everyday science learning. It’s not just ticket prices that keep people out of science learning spaces like science museums - it’s a whole menagerie of exclusionary practices! Check out this zine to learn more…or to see cultural imperialism drawn as a slime mold.
This zine was a commission from Dr. Emily Dawson for the launch of the book.
Who’s Driving? Exploring Driverless Futures
October 2019
Driverless cars could change everything. Their developers say that they would change our world for the good, making roads safer and transportation more accessible. Is that all there is to the story though? Who currently has a hand in making choices about what this driverless future might look like, and who should?
This zine was a commission from the Driverless Futures project.
PredPol Is…: A Guide To PredPol and Dismantling It
October 2019
The LAPD uses a predictive policing program called PredPol to claim that their policing is objective and neutral. However, PredPol’s use of historic racist crime data, its focus on location-based policing in a violently segregated city, and its mere existence as a technology that must predict crime are all clear evidence to the contrary.
As part of Free Radicals’ partnership with Stop LAPD Spying Coalition to dismantle PredPol and all other predictive policing programs used by the LAPD, we created a short 1-sheet zine that covers the basics of PredPol.
This zine is a collaboration with Adit Dhanushkodi and Leah Horgan.
Oh, The Places Your Data Will Go! by Data Seuss
August 2019
An innocent selfie gets uploaded to Instagram and goes on a journey that’s a bit more than she bargained for…
Follow our selfie on a journey through facial recognition algorithms, the corporate and state data sharing environment, and more, oh my! All in spectacular rhyming fashion.
This zine is a collaboration with Alexis Takahashi and Chrystal Li (collectively, Data Seuss)
Salt to Stars
by Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice, illustrated by Sophie Wang
April 2021
As part of fighting greenwashing in the climate movement, I had the honor of illustrating this comic/infographic on the impacts of and Indigenous resistance to lithium mining for electric vehicles and so-called “renewable” energy by the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice. Check out the full thing in larger strip form (or download as 11x17 poster) as well as the rest of CIEJ’s incredible Anti-Greenwashing toolkit below!
AI for Whose Good? Lessons from Community Resistance to Automation at the Port of Los Angeles
August 2023
By Sophie Wang and Taylor M. Cruz
This critical zine examines artificial intelligence (AI) and automation across Greater Los Angeles, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork of public engagement events in the LA Harbor Area and Silicon Beach. It shares the direct words of people impacted by AI systems at the Port of LA through the personal and political lenses of the authors and creators. For more information on this zine, see its dedicated page on my website HERE.
What’s In A Watershed? Connection, Responsibilities, and Opportunities for Change
September 2023
This comic takes a playful approach to teaching readers about connections between us, the water, other people, and other life in and around the water, through how water travels through a watershed.
Commissioned by Capitol Region Watershed District and Springboard for the Arts
BULK COPIES
**Individual copies are available for easy purchase at my SHOP**
Physical copies of the Objectivity of My Affection comic are now available. These are printed with 100lb cover paper and robot endpapers, and contain 80 pages of critical goodness. Teachers have used the comic in classrooms from high school to university level and in courses in disciplines ranging from history to biology to sociology.
If you’re interested in making a bulk purchase, please either 1) fill out the form below or 2) email sophieshenwang@gmail.com with subject line “Objectivity of My Affection,” and include in the email 1) how many copies you would like to purchase, and 2) your shipping address. The comic is $15 per copy, but bulk discount rates may apply to your order. You will receive a confirmation invoice before your order is completed.