Introduction to Anime & Manga Studies @ Waku Waku +NYC

Waku Waku +NYC, the new “Japanese pop culture festival”, will be held this weekend (August 29-30) in New York City, in various locations in Brooklyn. More than just an anime convention, it will include screenings, talks, performances, a fashion show, interactive events, and concerts spread out several locations in Brooklyn.

I am delighted to be able to contribute to this festival by presenting the session “Introduction to anime and manga studies”. This will run on Sunday, August 30, at 11:30 a.m., at the Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Avenue).

Introduction to Anime and Manga Studies

Mikhail Koulikov
Prof. Kathryn Hemmann
Prof. Shige (CJ) Suzuki

Anime and manga studies is a vibrant emerging academic field. It’s also a great way to get away with watching Attack on Titan in a college class, writing a graduate school paper on feminism, consent, and rape culture in Kill la Kill, or publishing an article on fan politics in the anime music video community. Join members of the Anime and Manga Research Circle for an in-depth look at what we mean by “anime and manga studies”, how we got started, what we do as anime/manga scholars – and how you can become an anime scholar yourself, or simply a more knowledgeable enthusiast.

Mikhail Koulikov works to promote the field of anime and manga studies and to facilitate communications between scholars, students, industry professionals, fans and others interested in academic approaches to Japanese animation and comics. He co-founded the Anime and Manga Research Circle, produces the annual Anime and Manga Studies Symposium (the Academic Program track at Anime Expo, the largest Japanese animation convention in the U.S.), and maintains the Anime and Manga Studies Blog and the Online Bibliography of Anime and Manga Research. Mikhail’s own scholarship examines how different types of people, such as anime/manga fans, organize and use information. Mikhail received a master’s degree in library science from Indiana University Bloomington, and a BA in international affairs from The George Washington University.

Kathryn Hemmann is an assistant professor of modern and classical languages at George Mason University. teaching classes on Japanese culture, language, and literature. She recently published Short skirts and superpowers: The evolution of the Beautiful Fighting Girl (U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal, 47, 45-72). and has presented her work around the world, such as at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 AX Anime and Manga Studies Symposium (Los Angeles), the Manga Futures: Institutional and Fan Approaches in Japan and Beyond conference (University of Wollongong, Australia), and the Globalized Manga and Fandom event (Baruch College, New York)

Shige (CJ) Suzuki teaches in the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature, Baruch College (City University of New York), and has written widely on Japanese comics, in particular, on gekiga. Just some of his publications include Learning from monsters: Mizuki Shigeru’s yokai and war manga, Image&Narrative, 12(1), 229-244; Envisioning alternative communities through a popular medium: Speculative imagination in Hagio Moto’s girls’ comics, International Journal of Comic Art, 13(2), 57-74, Tatsumi Yoshihiro’s gekiga and the global Sixties: Aspiring for an alternative (in Manga’s Cultural Crossroads, pp. 50-64), Manga/comics studies from the perspective of science fiction research: Genre, transmedia, and transnationalism (in Comics World and the World of Comics, pp. 68-84), and , in the new essay collection International Perspectives on Shojo and Shojo Manga: The Influence of Girl Culture, Autism and manga: Comics for women, disability, and Tobe Keiko’s With the Light (pp. 50-63).

I’m really looking forward to this event, would like to thank the organizers of Waku Waku for giving me an opportunity to participate in the Festival – and hope to meet some of you on Sunday!