The MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives has extended the deadline for its proposed MLA 2013 session, Black Studies and Comics, to 16 March 2012. We encourage all interested scholars to submit a proposal!
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BLACK STUDIES AND COMICS
Call for Papers for a proposed panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 3-6 Jan. 2013, in Boston. Sponsored by the MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives. Submission deadline: 16 March 2012.
This proposed panel seeks to explore how the methods of Black Studies may inform comic studies, and vice versa. We hope collaboration between these fields will yield greater understanding of race and representation in one of America’s most vital cultural archives. We invite proposals from all angles, including but not limited to:
• African-American cartooning pioneers, e.g. Herriman, Harrington, Ormes, Turner
• Anderson’s King and other graphic representations of the Civil Rights Movement
• Contemporary African-American strip cartoonists
• Comics and the U.S. South
• Comics and Afro-futurism
• Masks and double consciousness in superhero comics
• Encounters between comics and hip-hop
• Black publishing and entrepreneurship in comics
• Scholarly and curatorial recoveries of Black cartooning
• The archive of comics and the archive of slavery
• EC Comics’ commentaries on racial discrimination
• Caricature and stereotype in Eisner, Crumb, and others
Send 300 to 500 word abstracts in .doc or .pdf form to Charles Hatfield: charles[dot]hatfield @ gmail[dot]com. The deadline for submissions is now 16 March 2012. Submitters will receive notification of results from the Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives by April 1.
PLEASE NOTE: This CFP is for a proposed, not a guaranteed, session at MLA 2013, meaning it is contingent on approval by the MLA Program Committee (which will make its decisions after April 1). All prospective presenters must be current MLA members by no later than 7 April 2012.
Feel free to leave comments on this site, or to email Charles Hatfield at charles[dot]hatfield @ gmail[dot]com if you have questions!