[Cross-posted at Comic Book Masculinity]
In Rochester this past March, we had a lot of success bringing
more scholarly attention to comic book studies at the Northeast Modern Language
Association. This year a few of us are
collaborating to keep the conversation going.
The NEMLA will meet in March 2013 in Boston.
At such a city with important contributions
to the creation and publication of comic books and graphic novels, we are
looking for presenters willing to discuss strategies for teaching and producing
these texts.
Please consider submitting to one or more of the following
calls for papers, and please contact the persons listed below for more
information.
Calls for papers: Comic
books and graphic novels
Conference information
44th Annual Convention
Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA)
March 21 to 24, 2013
Boston, Massachusetts
Hosted by Tufts University
The 2013 NEMLA convention continues the Association's
tradition of sharing innovative scholarship in an engaging and generative
location. The 44th annual event will be held in historic Boston, Massachusetts,
a city known for its national and maritime history, academic facilities and
collections, vibrant art, theatre, and food scenes, and blend of architecture.
The Convention, located centrally near Boston Commons and the Theatre District
at the Hyatt Regency, will include keynote and guest speakers, literary
readings, film screenings, tours and workshops.
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than
one NEMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or
seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also
present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable. A/V requirements include a $10 handling fee to
be paid with conference registration.
For more information on numerous panels, please visit the NEMLA
call for papers web site.
Panels and Pedagogy: Teaching the Graphic Novel
This panel works towards understanding and adding to
emerging pedagogies of the graphic novel and other forms of illustrated works.
What do these visual texts change about how we approach the classroom? Possible
topics include but are not limited to adaptation and teaching across mediums
and disciplines; the graphic novel as literature; approaches to visuality as
composition; and the limits of genre and medium. Submit 250- to 500-word
proposals by September 30, 2012, to Joel Simundich (joel_simundich@brown.edu)
and Derek McGrath (derek.mcgrath@stonybrook.edu).
The Sequential Monster: Reading Comics as Monstrous
Comic books, graphic novels and webcomics generally combine
words and images to create narratives. Though comics are often considered a
form in their own right, it is also possible to see them as an amalgam of disparate
forms of communication. If we think of comics that way, perhaps we can see them,
fruitfully, as monstrous: beasts that combine the elements of verbal and
visual, narrative and static communication forms. This panel will examine a social understanding
of the comics form (and the kinds of literacies required to accept it) using
Scott McCloud’s and Will Eisner’s comics theories as well as Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s
monster theory. Abstracts of 300 words
to lauere@sunysuffolk.edu by September 30.
Show and Tell: A Roundtable of Comic Book and Graphic Novel
Creators
This event hosts artists from a wide spectrum of roles as
related to the creation of comic books and graphic novels. This roundtable
welcomes participants from around the world and regardless of genre, medium, or
years of experience. Artists in the roundtable should bring visual materials to
facilitate discussion with a diverse audience of students, professors, and
overall fans of this art form. Submit resumes by September 30, 2012, to Derek
McGrath at SUNY Stony Brook (derek.mcgrath@stonybrook.edu).
