CFP: Comics and the Multimodal World [Comics Grid] (Douglas College, Canada) (Jan. 15; June 13-16)

Call For Papers:

Graphixia and Comics Grid
Spring Conference 2013:

Comics and the Multimodal World
13-16 June 2013, Douglas College
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Deadline for proposals: 15 January 2013

This conference is a collaborative, multidisciplinary exploration and celebration of sequential art, multimodal narrative, and comics. We welcome submissions on any of the following themes:
 

Comics and Internationalism

• How can comics overcome the limitations of language by promoting an international language of the image?

Comics and Digital Culture

• What are the linkages between comics scholarship and the digital humanities? 
• Why are these linkages so prevalent?

Multimodal narrative and First Nations/Aboriginal Cultures

• What is the relationship between image and story in First Nations culture, and how does that relationship connect with other modes of graphic storytelling?

Comics, Information Design, and Skill Development

• How can we use comics to teach document use, visual culture, and new literacies?

As the themes suggest, the conference aims to attract scholars from a diverse set of disciplines who are interested in further defining this burgeoning academic area and linking it to other fields.

The conference will be international in scope: we will attract scholars from as many places in the world as possible. To this end, we will put out a far-reaching call for papers and announce the conference is as many ways as possible.

The conference will encourage student participation by including student-oriented sessions, workshops and/or seminars and “teach-ins” with experts in the field. The conference steering committee will investigate ways of making it as easy and desirable as possible for students to attend.

In addition to being an academic event, the conference will also be a cultural and community event, featuring a festival of sequential art alongside its academic forums, encouraging the participation of emerging local artists, comics practitioners, and book sellers.

While the conference will be centred at the New Westminster campus of Douglas College, we would like to involve other local venues, the Quay for example, in the event. Local schools and libraries may also participate. The conference will be an opportunity for Douglas College to assert itself as a community and cultural hub.

New Westminster, known as the Royal City, is a part of Metropolitan Vancouver, the third most populous urban region in Canada. Vancouver is known for its livability and for its beautiful geography: it is on the Pacific Ocean and ringed by mountains. The city is also famous as a “foodie” city, hosting notable high-end restaurants as well as more casual fare.

Douglas College is connected to the downtown core of Vancouver by the Skytrain rapid transit system. The journey takes 25 minutes.

While the conference is in session, though not connected with it, the Vancouver Art Gallery will be hosting Art Spiegelman Co-Mix: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps.

For further information or clarifications, please e-mail Graphixia2013@gmail.com.
 
To submit a proposal, complete the proposal form and submit not later than 15 January 2013.

This message was originally published by Peter Wilkins on the Comics Grid (4 October 2012).
http://www.comicsgrid.com/2012/10/graphixia-comicsgrid-conference-2013/