Call for Papers: Representation of Violence in South Asian Graphic Narratives and Comics

Concept Note: Violence, as a bodily, cultural, and social imperilling force, has been pervasive in popular media since the earliest times, and only in recent years has it received significant scholarly attention. Representation and depiction of violence have been changing and evolving over the years according to the sociopolitical context and the mood of consumption. As in other media, the representation of violence is central to popular visual-verbal media such as graphic narratives and comics, in which violence acts as a ‘force’ (Chute 2017, 309) and functions as a ‘persuasive’ medium for its audience (Duncan et al. 2023, 221). Although the depiction of violence in graphic narratives and comics was initially criticized for having a negative influence on children, recent scholarship has focused on how such representation has the ‘potential’ for social change (Varughese 2018, xi). Violence enjoys a ubiquitous presence in graphic narratives from India and other South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, a negative visual phenomenon which Varughese describes as ‘visuality of the inauspicious’ (2018, xiii). Scholarly discussions of graphic narratives and comics have focused mainly on Euro-American works, and in the South Asian context, such discussions are primarily preoccupied with traditional literary genres such as poetry, novels, and drama (Daiya 2018, 3). This edited volume, by focusing on a ‘vitally important subject’ (Hague et al. 2019, 1) like the representation of different types of violence in South Asian graphic narratives, aims to fill these two gaps and ponders how these narratives ‘put the body on the page’ (Chute 2010) in different ways. Thus, this proposed volume invites scholarly engagement of a nuanced examination of a wide range of violence, like political violence, ethical violence, and several types of identitarian violence, like religion-based, racial, and gender-based violence, urban violence, and caste-based violence. Further, the representation of violence in many South Asian graphic narratives and comics is not always straightforward and apparent. Hence, this volume aims to explore the depiction of intangible and subtle forms of violence in these visual narratives, including structural violence, epistemic violence, and ‘slow violence’ (Nixon 2011) in ecology, and how different socio-political contexts directly and indirectly influence such violence. Further, this edited volume will also focus on how violence plays a key role in aesthetic, ethical, and critical spaces of media reception and consumption, and while doing so, raise a few pertinent questions, such as why readers are particularly drawn to such graphic violence and what issues are related to such depiction. The volume invites submissions on areas that include but are not limited to: Representation and contextualization of a wide range of violence in South Asian graphic narratives and comics Violence and its relationship with religion, gender, caste, class, race, ethnicity, politics, war, military, and sexuality Representation and visualization of epistemic violence, ecological violence, and structural violence in South Asian graphic narratives and comics Creative and destructive aspects of violence Aestheticism of violence Consumption and the issue of representing violence in South Asian graphic narratives and comics.

Submission guidelines: Abstract Submission - Please submit an extended abstract of no more than 500 words (excluding bibliography) outlining the main arguments of the proposed chapter. Font - Times New Roman, 12 Formatting - Chicago Style

Important Dates: Abstract Submission Deadline - 25th May, 2026

Notification of Acceptance - 10th June, 2026.

Please send your abstract and a short bio-note to the following email address: graphicviolence26@gmail.com

Details of the Publisher: The proposed volume will be published by Routledge in the series Global Perspectives in Comics Studies Series Editors: Amy Matthewson, Harriet E. H. Earle Details of the Editors: Dr. Joydev Maity Faculty, Ravenshaw University & Dr. Ramprasad Dutta Faculty, Acharya Sukumar Sen Mahavidyalaya The University of Burdwan

N.B. - Please feel free to contact us at the following email address for any queries or further information: joydevmaity1993@gmail.com or +916297629133

*** Please note that the aim and scope of the book include graphic narratives and comics originating in and from beyond India also. Hence, we warmly welcome to submit chapters based on the analysis of visual texts from other South Asian countries also.