Tag: Jaqueline Berndt


Aug
2025

Call for Papers – Critical Paths in Manga Studies

categories: Announcements, Call for Papers

InTO.MANGA – Critical Paths in Manga Studies
Torino, Italy
January 22-24, 2026

This fall, with two leading university presses each publishing a major new scholarly monograph (Manga: A New History of Japanese Comics by Eike Exner from Yale University Press and Manga’s First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989 by Andrea Horbinski from University of California Press), it’s clear that manga studies as an academic field is continuing its rapid growth and development. And now, a different university has announced plans for what going may very well become a global center for the study of Japanese comics.

And now, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and Modern Cultures at the University of Torino (Italy) has announced that in January, it will host the inaugural symposium InTO.MANGA – Critical Paths in Manga Studies, with a stated goal of establishing a forum for debate and discussion on manga as a “form” with particular narrative, visual, and cultural dimensions. The symposium will specifically recognize manga as complex objects, and will specifically welcome multidisciplinary approaches and perspectives grounded in fields such as:

  • posthuman studies
  • medical humanities
  • translation studies
  • narrative theory
  • platform studies (including interplays between manga and other kinds of media)

Participants are invited to submit proposals for individuals presentations of approximately 20 minutes in length (300 words) or complete panels with up to 4 speakers to info.intomanga@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is September 15, and speakers will be notified by September 30.

InTO.MANGA – Critical Paths in Manga Studies is partly funded by the Japan Foundation. The symposium organizing committee is composed of Dr. Jaqueline Berndt (Stockholm University, editor of last year’s The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime), Marta Fanasca (University of Bologna), Paolo La Marca (University of Catania), and Gianluca Coci, Edouardo Occhionero, Asuka Ozumi, and Anna Speccio (all University of Torino).

The full Call for Papers, with additional details, follows:

(more…)

Feb
2025

Authors’ Roundtable – The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime

categories: Announcements

When, in 1999, Susan Napier published her study Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation, a scholarly monograph of that kind was both unique and unexpected. It was also foundational to the field of anime studies – and paved the way for the easily several dozen full-length books on anime/manga that have come out since – titles such as Anime: A Critical Introduction, Anime’s Identity: Performativity and Form Beyond Japan, Leiji Matsumoto: Essays on the Manga and Anime Legend, and Rewriting History in Manga: Stories for the Nation. Perhaps predictably, the focus of many of these titles has gotten progressively more narrow – some recent examples are monographs on “The Moral Narratives of Hayao Miyazaki“, and on “Japan’s Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health“. This is of course not to dismiss these more narrowly focused studies, but rather, to argue that the field would also benefit from books that were perhaps broader in scope.

And, as it turned out, just last year, Cambridge University Press, one of the world’s most prestigious and recognizable academic publishers, met this need – by publishing The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime – a collection of 19 short essays, each around 10 pages long, that would serve as “a lively and accessible introduction, exploring the local contexts of manga and anime production, distribution, and reception in Japan, as well as the global influence and impact of these versatile media”.

The emphasis in the Companion is not as much on specific representative or prominent anime/manga titles (or directors/creators)as it is on exploring some of the major general characteristics of the two media forms. To this end, some of the topics of the individual chapters include “graphic style in manga and anime”, “voice acting for anime”, the nature of the relationships between “manga editors and their artists”, and a survey of “anime fandom in Japan and beyond”.

On February 19, Hosei University (Tokyo, Japan), will host a special round-table discussion bringing together the book’s editor and several authors of the individual chapters. The goal of the discussion will be to consider applications of the Companion to classroom instruction, and future perspectives in anime and manga studies, and it will also be accessible online.

Participants:

Dr. Jaqueline Berndt, Professor, Japanese Language and Culture, Stockholm University
– editor, and author, Introduction: Two Media Forms in Correlation and Premodern Roots of Story-Manga?

Dr. Akiko Sugawa-Shimada, Professor, Urban Innovation, Yokohama National University
– author, Anime Fandom in Japan and Beyond

Dr. Patrick W. Galbraith, Associate Professor, International Communication, Senshu University
– author, Manga Readerships, Imaginative Agency, and the “Erotic Barrier”

Dr. Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, Associate Professor, Culture & Communication, Waseda University
– author, Genre Networks and Anime Studios

Dr. Stevie Suan, Associate Professor, Global and Interdisciplinary Studies, Hosei University
– author, Character Acting in Anime

Location:
Hosei University, Ichigaya Campus
Ouchiyama Building, Room Y401
Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

[Additional Details and Registration]



Nov
2022

Call for Papers – Mechademia 2023 Conference: “Aftermath”

categories: Call for Papers

Mechademia 2023 – Aftermath
Kyoto International Manga Museum
May 27 – May 29, 2023

Originally launched at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design as “Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits”, the annual Mechademia conference is now a premier site for new research on a wide range of topics related to Japanese popular culture, including anime and manga, but also encompassing video games and fan activities and practices. Last year’s conference was held in Los Angeles immediately preceding the Anime Expo convention, and for 2023, Mechademia will take place in Kyoto, at the Kyoto International Manga Museum, and potentially at Kyoto Seika University (home of the Graduate School of Manga). Options for line presentations will be available, but in-person participation is strongly encouraged.

The keynote speaker for this year will leading manga scholar Prof. Jaqueline Berndt (Stockholm University). Some of recent work includes contributing the introduction to the new Stockholm University Press open-access essay collection Anime Studies: Media-Specific Approaches to Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the essay More Mangaesque than the Manga: ‘Cartooning’ in the Kimetsu no Yaiba Anime to a special section on Demon Slayer in an issue of the journal Transcommunication, and serving as one of the co-editors for Shojo Across Media: Exploring “Girl” Practices in Contemporary Japan. Prof. Berndt has also written adn lectured widely on the future of anime and manga studies as a field.

The theme for 2023 will be “aftermath” – in connection to concepts of a “a sense of destruction”, apocalyptic images, and shifts in lived experiences in response to these events and changes. Some suggested topics that participants are invited to consider in their papers include:

  • Methodological shifts within the field of anime and manga studies
  • Effects of digitalization on media mixes
  • BL as a global genre
(more…)

May
2022

‘Manga in a Postdigital Environment’ Symposium

categories: Programs

On May 30-31, Universida de Vigo, Pontevedra Campus, will host an international academic symposium entitled Manga in a Postdigital Environment. The symposium, organized by the research group DX5 is open to the public, and also will be broadcast online via Zoom. For additional information, including registration instructions, please contact grupodx5@uvigo.es.

The full program will consist of 12 individual presentations, with speakers from a number of leading European and Japanese universities, representing the cutting edge of global manga studies. For more details, including abstracts of the presentations and further details about the speakers, please see full symposium program.

Monday, May 30

10:00 a.m. – Opening Remarks

– Jorge Soto (Vice-Rector, Pontevedra Campus, Universidade de Vigo)
– Ana Soler (Director, dx5 Research Group)
– Jose Andres Santiago (Symposium Coordinator)

10:15 a.m.
From Cover to Page. From Title to the Speech Balloon: An Analysis of Typographic Applications in Naruto and Bleach
– Jose Andres Santiago (Universidade de Vigo)
– Tatiana Lameiro Gonzalez (Universidade de Vigo) (more…)


Aug
2019

‘What is Manga’ British Library Symposium

categories: Programs

One of this year’s major cultural events related to Japan has been the Manga exhibition hosted by the British Museum – “the largest exhibition of manga ever to take place outside of Japan.” It opened on May 23, and immediately received significant critical attention. The Economist praised it as a “dynamic, exuberant and ambitious celebration of Japan’s comic-art narrative form”, as did the Financial Times, while responses in The Guardian (“asking us to compare today’s graphic artists with greats of the past is misguided”) and The Telegraph (“is Manga really as significant as Rodin and the Ancient Greeks?”) were not as enthusiastic. In any case, an exhibition of this scale – and at this kind of venue – attracts attention.

And now, following up on the exhibition’s success, and connected to it, the British Library has announced plans to host a special one-day What is Manga academic symposium that will bring together many of the world’s leading scholars of manga specifically and comics/sequential art in general, as well as museum practitioners, and a range of international perspectives for a discussion on manga in a global context and the role of cultural institutions such as the British Museum in preserving, presenting, and promoting manga. The Symposium is open to the public, but tickets must be purchased via the British Library website.

What is Manga – Exploring Japanese Manga and Visual Narratives
[full program – PDF]

Friday, August 23
10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
The British Library
Knowledge Centre Theatre
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB

Schedule:

10:20 a.m.
Opening Remarks
Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)

10:30 a.m.
Keynote Address
Manga Studies’ “Manga” and the Outsider Perspective: Intercultural Observations
Prof. Jaqueline Berndt (Stockholm University)

Dr. Berndt is one of the world’s leading scholars of Japanese comics. He work has included editing the essay collections Manga’s Cultural Crossroads and Reading Manga: Local and Global Perceptions of Japanese Comics, a number of individual chapters and journal articles that have been fundamental to shaping the field of manga studies (particularly important examples include ‘Historical adventures of a post-historical medium: Japan’s wartime past as represented in manga’, ‘Manga, which manga? Publication formats, genres, users’, and ‘Reconsidering manga discourse: Location, ambiguity, historicity’), and teaching several pioneering classes

11:00 a.m. – 1:20 p.m.
Panel 1: Manga and Comic Theory and Iconography (manga hyōgenron) (more…)


Mar
2015

Publication patterns in anime/manga studies, 2010-2014

categories: Commentary

Over the last year, I have been using this blog to promote, foster and facilitate the developing field of anime/manga studies, and document various new developments in this field. And, I also hope to be able to say that with this blog, I can  demonstrate just what we mean by the term anime and manga studies. One easy way to do this is simply by highlighting the range of academic books, book chapters, journal articles, and other publications on anime/manga – as I do in the Bibliography section. Another is by noting that many of these publications themselves specifically use the terms ‘anime studies’/’manga studies’.

But, pointing out that anime/manga studies is an academic field then raises a direct question – what are some of the characteristics of anime/manga studies as an academic field? What kinds of programs are the scholars writing about anime/manga based in? What form does the “scholarly output” of anime/manga studies take? What is the field’s “citation landscape” – what kinds of publications do anime/manga scholars cite in their work, and are there particular publications (or even particular individual titles) that are cited with such frequency that they should be considered “core” for the field as a whole? Academic fields or areas can also be characterized by their “publication patterns” – that is, the kinds of journals (or the specific journals) that scholarship in these fields tends to appear in. Do anime scholars seek to publish their work primarily in Japanese or Asian studies journals? Film studies/animation studies journals? Other types? (more…)


Feb
2015

Annual Bibliography of Anime and Manga Studies – 2010 Ed.

categories: Bibliographies

To the best of my knowledge, 2010 was simply THE high point to date of English-language scholarly interest in anime and manga, with 10 new monographs, 6 essay collections (with a total of well over a hundred chapters), 29 more chapters in other essay collections, and over 60 individual articles in scholarly-peer reviewed journals.

Particularly noticeable trends this year included:

  • With Open Court Publishing Company’s Anime and Philosophy and Manga and Philosophy essay collections, at accessible price points and distributed to general book stores, an effort to introduce the ideas and practices of scholarly approaches to Japanese animation and Japanese comics to general audiences.

As always, it is possible that this list is not absolutely complete – you are welcome to suggest additional titles to add.

And, as always, this list is also available as a separate page. Any new updates will be reflected on that page only.

(more…)


Dec
2014

Manga and the Manga-esque: New Perspectives to a Global Culture

categories: Programs

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.

(more…)


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…)


Mar
2014

2013 Anime/Manga Studies Bibliography

categories: Bibliographies

The largest and most prominent contribution that I make to anime and manga studies is compiling and editing the Online Bibliography of Anime and Manga Studies – a continuously expanding record of scholarly publications on Japanese animation and comics, anime fans, the industry, and related topics. The public version of the Bibliography is currently on hiatus, but I continue to maintain a searchable database of publications that I plan to use as the heart of a new and redesigned Online Bibliography.

In the meanwhile, though, the database allows me to survey the overall landscape of publication in anime and manga, to locate publications with specific titles, on specific subjects, written by specific authors and appearing in particular specific journals and other sources. I draw on it the to promote “anime and manga studies” as an established area of study and to assist colleagues in their own work. And, I can use the database to generate stable, persistent lists of publications in anime and manga studies that may be of interest for anybody who is interested in this topic.

Annual Bibliography of Anime and Manga Studies, 2013 Ed.

(more…)