Call for Papers – Kumoricon Anime and Manga Studies

Kumoricon Anime and Manga Studies – ‘Intertextual Anime’
Kumoricon 2018
Portland, OR
October 26-28

When, in 2012, I first reached out to the organizers of Anime Expo – then and still the largest anime convention in the U.S. – with a proposal to introduce a track of formal academic lectures, presentations, and panel discussions into the convention’s program, such an idea was not unprecedented, but it was still unusual. San Diego Comic-Con (now known officially as Comic-Con International: San Diego)’s program had already included a Comics Arts Conference panel track, and anime conventions frequently featured talks by academic speakers. And now, six years later, I am excited – and pleased – to see this  initiative growing outside AX. And I am happy to share with you a message from this program’s organizer, explaining its goals and plans:

“I’m Trace Cabot, the organizer for Kumoricon Anime and Manga Studies, a new series of lectures and panels that will be held at Kumoricon, Oregon’s largest anime convention. As an academic conference built into the convention, KAMS will bring anime and manga scholars and fans together to share some of the most fascinating insights into Japanese comics and animation from a number of different fields and perspectives.

I’ve had the opportunity to see the enormous energy and enthusiasm this sort of exchange between scholars and the fan community encourages firsthand as a participant in Anime Expo’s Anime and Manga Studies Symposium, and I look forward to bringing this model up to the Pacific Northwest. The opportunity to share research with a receptive and excited crowd is both thrilling and productive, often illuminating new angles and approaches to both established projects and new material. The chance to spread new ideas among an audience united by their common love of the material can truly be inspirational, and I hope we’ll be able to offer new critical perspectives and ways of thinking through anime and manga to the fan community. I look forward to reviewing your submissions and hope to see you in Portland.”

KAMS invites submissions on all topics related to anime and manga, encouraging both submissions pertaining to intertextual and genre elements and general topics related to the mediums and their attending practices. Both panels and individual submissions are welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Codifications and subversions of genres conventions
• The roles of intertextual frames in anime and manga (homage, critique, parody, etc.)
• Case studies on the development of manga in relation to films, television, and other forms of popular culture

• Intertextual collage as a means of exploring or commenting on controversial topics and concepts (politics, social critique, sexuality, etc.)
• The development of a fan language based on the use of allusion and recontextualization
• Anime and manga’s negotiations with historicity, ‘realism,’ and the past (folklore, nuclear catastrophe, nationhood, etc.)
• Fan Practices and Translation
• Auteur negotiations with popular culture (Tezuka Osamu’s ‘Hollywood-style’ star system, Araki Hirohiko’s constant homage to Western rock music, etc.)
• Anime and manga’s influence on works in other mediums (film, television, etc.)
• All other topics relating to manga and anime

250-400 word proposals should be submitted as a PDF or word document to kams.submissions@gmail.com. 3-5 citations/bibliographic entries are welcome, but not required.

Proposal submission deadline: July 15, 2018

Please direct any questions you may have about Kumoricon Anime and Manga Studies to N. Trace Cabot, at cabot@usc.edu.

Kumoricon Anime and Manga Studies – full CFP