Sabbatical Baldwin Van Gorp: Old and new horizons: from the ultimate paper on counter-framing to an exploration of graphic medicine

Since the start of my dissertation in 1999, I have continuously researched "framing", that is, the process whereby issues get their meaning, depending on the chosen angle. I have been able to contribute theoretically, methodologically and empirically. For ten years now I have also been researching counter-framing: the process in which issues are "deproblematized", so how they are not presented as a problem. That is an intriguing process about which I have already written a number of papers and to which I would like to attach my name. I want to realize this consolidation by delivering two high-quality publications, one empirical and one theoretical. The empirical is almost ready (intended journal: Communication Research), but I would really like to focus on it during my sabbatical, so that I can also make a theoretical contribution (intended journal: Communication Theory). In addition, I want to reorient and explore a completely different research path, particularly that of graphic medicine. This is about the use of drawings (comics, cartoons) to make medical subjects open to discussion for a wide audience (see eg https://www.graphicmedicine.org/). I have already taken steps to this end in recent years, but I have not yet had the time to really focus on it. For example, as a researcher I was involved in the graphic novel "Neighbor" (Kranenburg, Van Ooijen, Haan, publisher Oogachtend), which deals with palliative concerns. The intention is to develop a line of research, but also to develop a graphic novel yourself. I have already used a number of my drawings in my own publications and research, including as a form of "cartoon elicitation" during focus groups. This makes it possible to focus on visual framing, where there is still a lot of unexplored terrain.