CFP: The Visual Language of Manga (Image [&] Narrative; July 15)

Call for papers:

The Visual Language of Manga

December issue of Image [&] Narrative

Image [&] Narrative is an open access scholarly publication. Apart from papers in the traditional scholarly format, we also welcome experimental formats and approaches, such as innovative use of visuals, web applications, or collaborative works. There will be no minimum or maximum length for contributions; contributors are assumed to know best how much space they need to get their particular point across in an academically sound manner. We are particularly interested in contributions that include discussion of methodological and research ethics issues faced by the author(s).

Examples of suggested approaches include:

• theoretical models that can be applied to the the study of visual aspects of manga
• new technologies and their influence on the study of visual aspects of manga, for example data mining and visualization software
• the visualization of sexual content in manga, for example in relation to recent efforts by lawmakers in Japan to regulate depictions of minors in sexual situations
• gendered visual language in manga
• the historical evolution of visual representations of different nationalities and/or minorities in manga
• the use of visual cues in manga to overtly or subtly favor a particular position, for example in "political" manga such as Gōmanism Sengen
• visual properties of "author" manga as opposed to what are considered "popular" titles
• the influence of new platforms for manga publication (such as cellphones and online manga-reading applications) on the visual language of the manga published through these platforms
• connections between visual style of a commercially published manga and the style of that manga's adaptation by amateur manga artists in dojinshi
• visual characteristics of so-called "OEL manga" and other comics by non-Japanese authors that claim the label 'manga'

The issue will include translations of existing Japanese scholarly texts on the visual language of manga. The editors welcome suggestions as to existing Japanese scholarly texts whose translation into English would be of particular interest for this issue.

Due dates: Proposals should be sent by 15 July 2010, with final submissions in either English, French or Japanese to be submitted on 15 November 2010. Submissions in Japanese will be translated into English. (Contributors submitting in Japanese may be asked to submit a few weeks early to allow more time for translation by the editors. Contributors may of course create their own translations.)

Proposals: Please send proposals of less than 500 words to nele.noppe@arts.kuleuven.be by 15 July 2010.

Guest editors: Hans Coppens and Nele Noppe (Let's Manga project, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium – http://japanesestudies.arts.kuleuven.be/popularculture)

The text of this call for papers is available online at http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/announcement/view/2