October 20, 2018
The Graphic Justice Research Alliance (GJRA) is delighted to announce a call for papers for its annual conference at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY to be held October 20, 2018. The theme for this year’s Graphic Justice Discussions is ‘Law, Comics, Justice’, and promises to be an exciting event that will be accessible and relevant to scholars, artists, practitioners, policy-makers, writers, and the general public alike.
We are gratified to announce that legendary comic writer and editor Ann Nocenti will join us as this event’s keynote speaker. Nocenti has lent her distinctive voice to numerous beloved comic book runs, including her writings for Marvel’s Daredevil and DC’s Catwoman, Katana, and Green Arrow. We very much look forward to hearing her observations about the industry, as well as reflections on her latest project, the forthcoming The Seeds, a new four-issue series in collaboration with artist David Aja. The series, part of a new line of Berger Books published by Dark Horse Comics, is described as “An eco-fiction tech-thriller … a story of love beyond race and gender, and of the resilience of both human and animal kind.”
Papers may examine themes such as:
- Human rights discourse and visual representation
- Depictions of criminality and policing in comics
- Justice v Law in comics
- Vigilante justice in visual narratives
- Gender, violence, and representation
- Impact of comics cultures on social policy
- Comics online and social activism
- Social justice and visual storytelling
- Utopian and dystopian worlds and their relationship with the law
- The ‘laws’ of comics production – aesthetics & intellectual property
- Historical depictions of the law in visual documents
Participants may submit abstracts to present a paper, conduct a workshop or interviews, or a poster presentation. Papers will be allocated up to 20 minutes by default. Please include a bio-note of up to 150 words with all submissions. Please send 250-word abstracts to Nickie Phillips at nphillips@sfc.edu by July 10, 2018.
Registration: $20 for GJRA members, and $25 for non-members. Students admitted free. Payment can be made in cash on the day of the conference. For more information about joining the GJRA, including how to become a member, please visit bit.ly/2BDCmSi. Find GJRA on Twitter: @LexComica For more information on St Francis College, visit www.sfc.edu. For more on the Center for Crime & Popular Culture, visit bit.ly/2DfnJVK.
Stay tuned for more details to follow…
The GJRA is a multidisciplinary research network exploring the crossover between law and justice and comics of all kinds.
Contact:
Nickie Phillips, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice Department
St. Francis College
180 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
nphillips@sfc.edu