ICAF is excited to announce its first conference outside of North America and invites proposals for scholarly presentations for its twenty-second meeting, to be held online and in person at Edinburgh Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

ICAF welcomes original virtual and in-person presentation proposals from diverse disciplines and theoretical perspectives on any aspect of comics or cartooning, particularly studies that reflect international perspectives. Studies of aesthetics, production, distribution, reception, and social, ideological, and historical significance are equally welcome, as are studies that address larger theoretical issues linked to comics or cartooning, for example in image/text studies or new media theory.

Virtual & In-Person Conferences: ICAF's virtual programming will take place on Friday, May 14, 2027. ICAF's in-person programming will take place from Wednesday, May 26 - Friday, May 28, 2027 on site at Edinburgh Napier University.

Proposal Guidelines: ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven presentations that are clearly linked to larger critical, artistic, or cultural issues; we avoid those that are survey-like in nature. We accept original 20-minute presentations that have not been presented or accepted for publication elsewhere and prefer those accompanied by images that illustrate the arguments made. Presenters can assume an audience versed in comics and comic studies. Proposals should not exceed 300 words. 

Send Abstracts by Wednesday, September 30th, 2026, to Biz Nijdam, ICAF Academic Director, via this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfoOMfCWo1GQQsiU4IsuTygmZBJBzFh...

Participants must select their presentation modality when submitting their abstract: either in-person OR virtual. There will be no option to move between virtual presentations and the in-person presentations once proposals have been accepted.

Applicants can expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by Friday, October 30th, 2026.

In addition to the genreal call for papers, we hope to offer panels and programming on the conference's theme, "Transnational Dialogues: Past, Present, and Future." We welcome diverse interpretations of the theme including but not limited to the ollowing areas: 

Formal Dialogues Across Media: Investigating how the content and medium-specific qualities of comics (i.e., sequentiality, juxtaposition, the gutter, page architecture) enter into dialogue with other artistic and narrative forms, from film and prose to performance, digital media, and games, across transnational contexts. 

Language Revitalization and Multilingual Expression:
Examining how comics activate multilingualism, translation, code-switching, and typographic design to support language revitalization, diasporic identity, and the politics of Indigenous and marginalized linguistic sovereignty.

Scottish and Transnational Scottish Comics:
Evaluating the comic art and impact of artists, such as Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison, Tanya Roberts, Maria Stoian, Gill Hatcher, and Eddie Campbell, and/or comics scenes inside or connecting to Scotland.

Transnational Circulation and Exchange:
Exploring how comics travel across borders through translation, adaptation, collaboration, and global circulation, generating new aesthetic hybrids, publishing models, and intercultural conversations.

Temporal Dialogues: Past, Present, Future:
Analyzing how the formal structures of comics mediate time, staging dynamic dialogue between historical memory, contemporary realities, and speculative or imagined futures.

Comics and Memory Culture:
Evaluating how comics function as sites of cultural memory, counter-memory, and nostalgia, shaping historical consciousness through the interplay of visual and verbal form.

Genre Dialogues: Comics Formal Migration and Transformation:
Tracing how comics forms migrate across regions, traditions, and audiences (i.e., manga’s influence on global YA publishing) to produce new genres, readerships, and aesthetic conventions.

Formal Modes of Meaning-Making:
Investigating how the material and formal architecture of comics (i.e., layout, scale, line, color, pacing, and the gutter) actively generates narrative meaning rather than merely containing it. Alternatively, examining how aesthetic and structural choices in comics amplify, complicate, or destabilize thematic concerns such as migration, decolonization, futurity, and identity.

Comics & Movements for Social Justice:
Discussing comics’ intersections with various movements for social justice across temporal and national contexts, including but not limited to racial and gender justice, migration, climate activism, and disability rights.