Category: Programs


Oct
2014

Manga Futures – 6th Int’l Scholarly Conference

categories: Programs

Manga FuturesThe University of Wollongong and the International Manga Research Center (Kyoto Seika University) have unveiled the full schedule for this year’s Manga Futures: Institutional and Fan Approaches in Japan and Beyond academic conference. This event will be held at the University of Wollongong, Australia, from October 31 to November 2. It will bring together leading scholars of Japanese comics from around the world for an intensive schedule of keynote and plenary addresses, interviews, and individual presentations arranged in several topical streams, with the broad goal of examining the full scope of “manga culture” and the production, distribution and consumption of Japanese comics. Some of the specific themes the conference’s Call for Papers highlighted included:

• Fan appropriations of and contributions to manga culture in Japan and beyond
• Commonalities and differences in fandom-based creation and criticism between Japan and other countries
• Ethical and legal challenges in the production and consumption of manga (copyright, representations of violent and sexual content, potential fictional “child abuse” images etc.)
• Institutional support for or criticism of manga culture
• The use of manga in Japan studies and Japan language pedagogy
• The future of “manga studies” – theory and methods

Manga Futures 2014 – Schedule (more…)


Aug
2014

The Graphic Novel – 3rd Global Conference (Sep. 3-5)

categories: Programs

Over any given year, scholars who are interested in presenting their work on comics (including manga) at academic conferences have several options available to them. The San Diego Comic-Con hosts its annual Comic Arts Conference. Mechademia: Conference on Asian Popular Culture (originally launched as Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Manga and Anime) is another well-known project. The University of Florida’s Comics Studies program also organizes an annual Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels, as does the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics. And the Popular Culture Association actively encourages scholars to submit papers on “all aspects of the medium” for presentation at its annual conference under the Comics and Comic Art area.

Recently, I found out about another academic conference that may be of interested to anyone working with Japanese comics. Starting in 2012, Inter-Disciplinary.net  has been organizing an annual The Graphic Novel conference, held every September on the campus of University of Oxford’s Mansfield College. (more…)


Mar
2014

University of Michigan Lecture/Workshop: More Information

categories: Programs

Later this week, the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies will be hosting two programs on aspects of Japanese popular culture and its reception both in Japan and around the world. On Thursday, April 3, Mark McLelland will present a lecture on ‘debates around fictional child characters in Japanese popular culture’. As announced earlier this month, following this, on Saturday, April 5, a group of leading scholars will participate in a one-day workshop on specific ethical, legal, political, cultural and other challenges that Japanese popular culture as a field or area of inquiry presents for teachers at all levels, researchers, and students.

(more…)


Mar
2014

The End of “Cool” Japan? (University of Michigan, Apr. 5)

categories: Programs

The End of “Cool” Japan?: Ethical, Legal, Political and Cultural Challenges for Japanese Popular Culture Teachers, Researchers and Students

Organizers: University of Michigan Department of Screen Arts & Cultures and Center for Japanese Studies

Location: University of Michigan, North Quad Space 2435 (Ann Arbor, MI)

Date: April 5, 2014

This workshop addresses some pressing concerns for all those with an investment in teaching and learning about Japan via its popular culture. It brings together Japan specialists, both educators and researchers, in order to identify key challenges in research and pedagogy and to develop a framework for a code of ethics that can serve as a guideline for Japan Studies professionals. (more…)


Mar
2014

University of Tokyo “Media Mix” Summer Program

categories: Programs

The University of Tokyo is now accepting applications for the two-week residential 2014 Media Mix Summer Program, to be held from July 14 to July 26. Through lectures, workshops, field trips and other special activities, participants in this program will “understand the ways in which Japanese pop culture circulates across multiple media platforms and commodity forms.” The program’s overall goal will be to “examine this transmedia movement between anime, manga and other media forms from both a theoretical and practitioner perspective.” The sessions will be led by Ian Condry (MIT), Marc Steinberg (Concordia University), and Eiji Otsuka, and Shinuya Oshimi (University of Tokyo).

(more…)