Organised in collaboration with Comica – London International Comics Festival, Transitions at Birkbeck College is unique in offering a regular comics studies symposium and meeting point in London, a platform for emerging research at an event that is free of charge and open to all. Originally convened by PhD students in 2009, Transitions has become an annual fixture in the UK comics scholars’ calendar.

We are still especially supportive of postgraduate and early career presenters, but open to any new and ongoing research in our field. Our aim is to provide a platform for debate and a space from which further collaborations can emerge, to further strengthen our area of study and academic community, and to support connections between comics scholars working in diverse academic departments and contexts.

We welcome abstracts for 20 minute papers, or pre-constituted panels of three, on topics including, but not limited to:

• comics, comix, graphic novels, manga, manhwa, bande dessinée
• superheroes, genre comics, religious comics, documentary comics, children’s comics
• politics of representation in comics, formal approaches, trauma and comics, transgressive comics, propaganda and comics
• readers and fandoms, creators, publishing histories, transnational approaches, comics and the law, web-comics and comics exhibitions

Alongside traditional panel presentations we would like to trial the more interactive format of a 20-minute workshop, potentially as a way of data collection and/or feedback on research-in-progress. Please indicate your preference by stating PAPER or WORKSHOP following your abstract title.

You can apply by email to: transitionssymposium@gmail.com.

Please attach your abstract of 250-300 words plus short biographical note (preferably as a Word document), indicating ‘abstract’ in the email subject line and your name in the file’s title.

The deadline for submissions is August 26th 2016.

http://www.ccl.bbk.ac.uk/call-for-papers-transitions-7/