Manga and the Manga-EsqueThe Japanese Studies Program at Ateneo de Manila University (Manila, Philippines) has unveiled the full schedule for Manga and the Manga-esque: New Perspectives to a Global Culture, the program’s 15th Annual International Conference on Japanese Studies. The conference will be held at Ateneo de Manila University on January 22 and 23, 2015, and this year, it will receive support from the Women’s MANGA Research Project (Chikushi Jogakuen University) and also serve as the project’s 6th Women’s Manga Conference. Accordingly, the conference will significantly emphasize manga in general and manga’s female readers in particular both in Japan and in other Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Looking at the full program, what makes it so unique and interesting is its sheer range. Many of the speakers are well-known manga scholars who have published and presented on Japanese visual culture extensively. Some of these include Jacqueline Berndt (editor of last year’s essay collection Manga’s Cultural Crossroads), Fusami Ogi (whose 2003 paper, Female subjectivity and shoujo (girls) manga (Japanese comics): Shoujo in ladies’ comics and young ladies’ comics was one of the first in-depth discussions of shoujo manga to appear in an English-language scholarly journal – and has been cited frequently since), Marco Pellitteri, an author of a number of articles on the reception of anime and manga in Europe, Ryan Holmberg, an expert on manga of the 1940’s through the early 1970’s, and Sheuo Hui Gan, who has authored a series of theoretical essays on various aspects of Japanese animation in Animation Studies, the official journal of the Society for Animation Studies). But many other presenters are likely making their first contributions to anime/manga studies. In addition, although some of these same speakers participated in this year’s Manga Futures conference, at Australia’s University of Wollongong, this conference has the potential of introducing the ideas and practices of manga studies to an entirely new audience!

Manga and the Manga-esque
Conference Program

Thursday, January 22

9:30 a.m.
Welcome Remarks – Filomeno V. Aguilar, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University  Opening Remarks – Shūji Takatori, Director, The Japan Foundation Manila Office

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Plenary Session: Manga and the Manga-esque

  • Considering the ‘Mangaesque’ as a Cultural Condition: Where Japanese Studies and Manga Studies May Meet
    Jacqueline Berndt (Professor, Manga/Comics Theory, Kyoto Seika University)
  • The Role of National Mediators in the Construction of the Global Meaning of Manga
    Zoltan Kaczuk (Budapest University of Technology and Economics)
  • Manga-esque in a Single Frame: An Exploration of the Bounds of Japanese Irasuto and Cartoons
    Ronald Stewart (Associate Professor, Life Sciences, Prefectural University of Hiroshima)

11:40 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Artist Session: Philippine Manga and Manga-esque

Moderator: Elbert Or
Artists: Robert Magnuson, Ace Vitangcol

1:20 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.
Artist Session 2 & 3: Women’s Manga in Singapore / Vietnam and Manga-esque

Moderators: Fusami Ogi (Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, Chikushi Jogakuen University) and Jacqueline Berndt ((Professor, Manga/Comics Theory, Kyoto Seika University)
Artist: Nguyen Thanh Phong

2:20 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
Paper Session 1: Manga-esque in Southeast Asia

  • The Domestication of Japanese Manga Representation in Malaysia: The Universality of Visual Language and Cultural Characteristics
    Suraya Md Nasir
  • Manga in the Philippines: From Niche Market to an (Invisible) Market
    Victoria Cayton (University of Asia and the Pacific)
  • “OTAKU NO RIKO”: Gratifications Derived from Filipino Anime Engagements
    Thea Pamela Pauline A. Javier (San Sebastian College Recolectos – Manila)

3:35 p.m. – 4:35 p.m.
Artist Session 4: Women’s Comics in the Philippines

Moderator: Kristine Michelle Santos (University of Wollongong)
Artist: Tintin Pantoja

4:35 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
Paper Session 2: Frameworks in Popular Culture Studies

  • Performing 2.5 Dimensional Characters: Cosplay as a Practice in Hybrid Reality
    Akiko Sugawa-Shimada (Yokohama National University)
  • Glocalizing Appearance: Filipino Cosplayers and the Mukokuseki Aesthetic
    Tiffany Lim (University of Tokyo)
  • Quantitative Research in Manga/Anime Studies: Methodological Considerations and Three Europe-Based Surveys
    Marco Pellitteri (Kobe University)

Friday, January 23

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Plenary Session 3: Women’s Manga in Japan

  • Manga-esque Hybridity Coming Out of Women’s Manga
    Fusami Ogi (Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, Chikushi Jogakuen University)
  • On Sexual Issues of Aging Women: Shungiku Uchida and Challenges in Women’s Manga
    Kotaro Nakagaki (Daito Bunka University)
  • What Female Manga Artists are Doing with Shakespeare
    Yukari Yoshihara (University of Tsukuba)

11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Artist Session 5: Indonesian Women’s Comics

Moderator: Febriani Sihombing
Artists: Jhosephine Tanuwidjaya and Stephani Soejono

1:15 p.m. – 1:35 p.m.
Artist Session 6: China

Moderator: Sheuo Hui Gan (Visiting Fellow, Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore)
Artist: Rongrong Luo

1:35 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Plenary Session 4: Manga and the Manga-esque in Southeast Asia

  • Analysis of the Terminology “Komik Indonesia” in Indonesian Comics: A Discussion Case Study of Three Indonesia Comics Exhibition After 2000
    Febriani Sihombing (Tohoku University)
  • Locally Made! – The Gag Comics in Malaysia
    Sheuo Hui Gan (Visiting Fellow, Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore)

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Paper Session 3: Women and Manga Beyond Japan

  • Yaoi Dōjinshi in the Philippines and Malaysia: Challenges and Transformations in Local Girls’ Culture
    Kristine Michelle Santos (University of Wollongong)
  • Kartoon-y: Boys’ Love Manga Flourishes in Conservative Thailand
    Poowin Bunyavejchewin (Research, Institute of East Asian Studies, Thammasat University) and Ormwajee Pibool (Thammasat University)

3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Paper Session 4: Women and Japanese Manga

  • Defining Yuri Fandom in Japan: Women and Men Reading and Writing About Girl–Girl Romance Media
    James Welker (Associate Professor, Cross-Cultural Studies, Kanagawa University)
  • On the Role of Characterization and Engagement in Shōjo-Manga as a Genre
    Giancarla Unser-Schutz (Lecturer, Psychology, Rissho University)

4:45 p.m – 5:45 p.m.
Paper Session 5: Gender and Japanese Manga

  • Winry, Hinata, Mikasa: Feminine Imagery in Shōnen Manga and Japan’s Masculinist Cultural Nationalism
    Hansley Juliano (Lecturer, Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University)
  • Sex Tourism, Filipina Brides, and Japanese Comics
    Ryan Holmberg (Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow, The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)

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