From July 25 to 27, the 2nd Annual Conference of the Comics Studies Society (CSS) will take place at Ryerson University in Toronto/Canada. We are happy to announce that there are several members of the German Society for Comic Studies (ComFor) and the AG Comicforschung among the contributors (see below).

This year‘s topic will be „COMICS/POLITICS“ and co-chairs Candida Rifkind and Andrew O’Malley have compiled a schedule consisting of academic presentations, roundtables, workshops, and an extensive cultural program. Special mention should also be made of the international campaign #womenonpanels, which advocates a better representation of women and people of marginalized gender identities in the field of comics studies. #womenonpanels successfully raised funds for two travel grants for female-identified or non-binary emerging scholars.

Selected presentations:

• Daniela Kaufmann (Independent Scholar, German Society for Comic Studies): ”‘A Study in Black and White’ – Color Change and Gender Fluidity in George Herriman’s Krazy Kat” (27. 7., Panel “In/Visible Race and American Comics”; 11:30-12:45)
• Biz Nijdam (University of British Columbia):
  • “Preserving the Preservation of the Past: Comics in Archives and Archives in Comics” (25. 7., Roundtable „Archival Anxieties“; 11:30-12:45)
  • “Embodying feminism: Anke Feuchtenberger’s comics at the intersection of art and methodology“ (27. 7., Roundtable „A Multidisciplinary Investigation of Feminist Comic Art in the Baltic Sea Region“; 14:00-15:45)
• Marina Rauchenbacher (University of Vienna): “Bringing Viewpoints to Mind: German-language Comics on Flight and Migration.” (26. 7., Panel „Border Crossings“; 11:30-12:45)
• Katharina Serles (University of Vienna): „‚Nothing Left Out‘? Canonical Images and The Politics of Cosmogony-Comics.“ (26. 7., Panel „Religion and Comics“; 14:00-15:15)
• Véronique Sina (Cologne University): “’I am not these feet’: Representations of the ‘dis/abled’ body in Kaisa Leka’s autobiographical comic” (26. 7., Panel “Auto/biography and the Embodied Self”, 15:30-16:45)

Please find the detailed program here: http://comicssociety.org/conference/program/