CFP: Sweet Christmas! Constructions of Blackness in Comics and Sequential Art (anthology)

Note that a PDF version of this call for papers is available here.

Sweet Christmas!
Constructions of Blackness in Comics and Sequential Art
edited by Damian Duffy, John Jennings, and Frances Gateward
Issues of Black racial representation in comics have generally fallen into a few set categories: surveys of black characters and creators, or studies of racially denigrating stereotypes in sequential art history. Sweet Christmas! is an anthology that seeks to put forth scholarly investigations that move past categorization and into the ways comics make meaning with and/or about Black racial representation, as well as the interactions of those representations with society as a whole.

Written essays of 6,000 words and visual essays (b/w, in the comics medium, and no longer than 10 pages in length) are sought for this anthology. We welcome proposals that address the following issues theoretically or through comparative studies, through the work of individual artists/writers, or through explorations of individual titles or themes.

SUGGESTED TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Auteurist studies of Black comics writers and artists


• Historical interrogations of Blacks in the comic book industry


• Black independent comics and characters outside the superhero genre


• Milestone Comics and its legacies; what is the state of contemporary Black comics?


• The depiction of Black historical figures Afro-futurism in comics and sequential art
  
• The practice of taking white superheroes and making them Black (Captain America, Iron Man, Green Lantern, Firestorm, etc.)


• Representations of Black spirituality


• The treatment of African mythology


• Images of Black femininity and Black masculinity


• Hip Hop culture and its depictions in comics and sequential art


• The use of humor and satire in the Black tradition


• Representations of the Civil Rights Movements and Black Power Movements

This list is not meant to be inclusive; other topics are welcome. Please send your one page abstract and a short bio by January 15, 2008 to (essays due October 1, 2008):

Damian Duffy - thbt12[at]gmail.com - 142 Law Building, 504 East Pennsylvania Ave., University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, Champaign IL 61824

John Jennings - jayjay[at]uiuc.edu - School of Art and Design, 143 Art and Design Building, 408 East Peabody Drive, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign IL 61820

Frances Gateward - gateward[at]uiuc.edu - Unit for Cinema Studies, 3072 FLB, 707 S. Mathews, University of Illinois, Urbana IL 61821