Call for Papers - Comics as a Nexus of Culture: An Interdisciplinary
Conference

25 - 27 May 2007

to be held at Pfalzakademie, Lambrecht, Germany

The comic can be seen as a central node in the network of
contemporary culture. Comics have developed several distinctive
national "schools" but they also display a strong inherent potential
for international reception, which allows them to transcend cultural
boundaries easily. In a very unique way, comics mediate between the
culture of youths and the culture of adults, as well as between
popular culture and high culture. Comics are also intermedial because
they manifest themselves at the intersection of text, image, and
sequence. They have often been shaped by the influence of various
neighbouring media but they have also influenced other media.
Comics thus present the unique chance to engage in a truly
interdisciplinary discourse which brings together the distinctive
approaches of various disciplines. An approach shaped by the
distinctive characteristics of comics, on the other hand, has the
potential to spark off new insight in the fields of the established
disciplines.

For the proposed conference in May 2007, we therefore invite papers
which look at the comic as a mediator between cultures and
disciplines. European comics are planned to be a special focus of the
conference but we are also happy to receive suggestions for papers
which find their topic elsewhere. Ideas for panels and conference
events in non-traditional formats are highly welcomed.

Areas of interest include but are not limited to the following:

- different styles in European comics

- intercultural connections between Europe and the rest of the world
in comics

- the influence of comics on film and TV and vice versa

- literary influences on comics and the influence of the comic on
literature

- the subversive cultural potential of comics

- comics in Academia: Comics studies as an academic discipline

- the meta-comic

- realism/anti-realism and comics

Please abstracts of proposed papers (ca. 200 words) by 15 December
2006 to:
Dr. Mark Berninger
Department of English and Linguistics
Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz
berninger_at_anglistik.uni-mainz.de

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Received on Thu Oct 12 2006 - 11:21:46 EDT