Rutgers University Press will publish Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon.
https://supermanpersistenceofanamericanicon.com/
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Friday, January 20, 2017
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Call for Chapters
WHITENESS AND THE AMERICAN SUPERHERO
Co-edited by Sean A. Guynes and Martin Lund
American superhero comics have a problem with race, and especially with their own overwhelming—albeit often unspoken—whiteness. Recent decades have seen increasing interest in diversity of all kinds from comics publishers, and in the past few years comics scholars have sought to provide histories and critiques of race, racism, and their representation in comics. Through monographs, anthologies, journal special issues, articles, and conference presentations scholars of U.S. superhero comics have addressed a breadth of issues regarding how black, Latinx/Chicanx, Jewish, Muslim, Asian American, Native American, Middle Eastern-North African, and other ethno-racial and ethno-religious identities and histories have intersected with the figure of the American superhero—a figure that, from its own inception, has traditionally been used by comics creators and in public discourse to represent white masculine prowess.
Whiteness and the American Superhero addresses a key lacuna in the way that race, superheroes, comic books, and the matrices of American culture and history have been previously discussed by finally turning attention to the role that whiteness has played in superhero comics’ narratives and histories. In particular, the collection brings together chapters that address the whiteness of American superheroism and the assumptions (and possibilities) of the racial makeup of the superhero figure from the late 1930s to the present.
This collection invites scholars to participate in demonstrating, historicizing, and challenging the operations of whiteness across the range of superhero comics produced in the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States. We welcome chapters that look at superhero narratives as well as at the production, distribution, and audience and reception contexts of those narratives, in order to highlight the imbrication of forces that have helped to create, normalize, challenge, and even subvert ideas about whiteness and race in U.S. superheroes. At the same time, we seek papers that challenge any normativizing language, and the (political) assumptions embedded therein, in this proposal or the title of the collection. For example, “American Superhero” erases the superheroine, suggests that to be super is to be a man, and by extension conflates superheroism with masculinity, (U.S.) nationalism, whiteness. Strong submissions will consider the co-constitutive nature of identity, representation, narrative, production and consumption, and historical and cultural contexts in forging ideas about who gets to be American and who gets to be a superhero on the four-color pages of U.S. comic books.
If you have questions about the fit of any particular topic for the collection, please do not hesitate to contact the editors.
Guidelines and Deadlines
Abstract submitted for consideration are due by April 1, 2017. They should be 200-250 words in length, and include a tentative title and brief bio of the contributor(s). Please send your submissions simultaneously to both editors at p.martin.lund@gmail.com and guynesse@msu.edu with the subject line “Last Name Whiteness Chapter Submission.” Selections will be made and notifications emailed by April 15, 2017. Full chapters of 5,000-6,000 words will be due by July 15, 2017. The book proposal will be sent to prospective publishers by August 1, 2017.
About the Editors
Sean Guynes is a PhD student in the Department of English at Michigan State University, editorial assistant to the Journal of Popular Culture, and co-editor of the forthcoming Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling (Amsterdam University Press, 2017), as well as author of several articles on U.S. comics history.
Martin Lund has a PhD in Jewish studies from Lund University (no relation). He is an editor of the Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art, co-editor of the forthcoming Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation (ILEX Foundation/Harvard University Press, 2017), and author of Re-Constructing the Man of Steel: Superman 1938, Jewish American History, and the Invention of the Jewish-Comics Connection (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and of several articles about U.S. superhero comics, their history, and their politics.
A Note about Publication
The editors have already contacted university press editors regarding the collection, and will submit a full proposal after all first drafts of the accepted chapters have been received. Whiteness and the American Superhero will only be submitted to university presses that have established reputations for publishing on comics.
CFP has also been posted here: https://seanguynes.com/2017/01/17/cfp-whiteness-and-the-american-superhero/
WHITENESS AND THE AMERICAN SUPERHERO
Co-edited by Sean A. Guynes and Martin Lund
American superhero comics have a problem with race, and especially with their own overwhelming—albeit often unspoken—whiteness. Recent decades have seen increasing interest in diversity of all kinds from comics publishers, and in the past few years comics scholars have sought to provide histories and critiques of race, racism, and their representation in comics. Through monographs, anthologies, journal special issues, articles, and conference presentations scholars of U.S. superhero comics have addressed a breadth of issues regarding how black, Latinx/Chicanx, Jewish, Muslim, Asian American, Native American, Middle Eastern-North African, and other ethno-racial and ethno-religious identities and histories have intersected with the figure of the American superhero—a figure that, from its own inception, has traditionally been used by comics creators and in public discourse to represent white masculine prowess.
Whiteness and the American Superhero addresses a key lacuna in the way that race, superheroes, comic books, and the matrices of American culture and history have been previously discussed by finally turning attention to the role that whiteness has played in superhero comics’ narratives and histories. In particular, the collection brings together chapters that address the whiteness of American superheroism and the assumptions (and possibilities) of the racial makeup of the superhero figure from the late 1930s to the present.
This collection invites scholars to participate in demonstrating, historicizing, and challenging the operations of whiteness across the range of superhero comics produced in the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States. We welcome chapters that look at superhero narratives as well as at the production, distribution, and audience and reception contexts of those narratives, in order to highlight the imbrication of forces that have helped to create, normalize, challenge, and even subvert ideas about whiteness and race in U.S. superheroes. At the same time, we seek papers that challenge any normativizing language, and the (political) assumptions embedded therein, in this proposal or the title of the collection. For example, “American Superhero” erases the superheroine, suggests that to be super is to be a man, and by extension conflates superheroism with masculinity, (U.S.) nationalism, whiteness. Strong submissions will consider the co-constitutive nature of identity, representation, narrative, production and consumption, and historical and cultural contexts in forging ideas about who gets to be American and who gets to be a superhero on the four-color pages of U.S. comic books.
If you have questions about the fit of any particular topic for the collection, please do not hesitate to contact the editors.
Guidelines and Deadlines
Abstract submitted for consideration are due by April 1, 2017. They should be 200-250 words in length, and include a tentative title and brief bio of the contributor(s). Please send your submissions simultaneously to both editors at p.martin.lund@gmail.com and guynesse@msu.edu with the subject line “Last Name Whiteness Chapter Submission.” Selections will be made and notifications emailed by April 15, 2017. Full chapters of 5,000-6,000 words will be due by July 15, 2017. The book proposal will be sent to prospective publishers by August 1, 2017.
About the Editors
Sean Guynes is a PhD student in the Department of English at Michigan State University, editorial assistant to the Journal of Popular Culture, and co-editor of the forthcoming Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling (Amsterdam University Press, 2017), as well as author of several articles on U.S. comics history.
Martin Lund has a PhD in Jewish studies from Lund University (no relation). He is an editor of the Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art, co-editor of the forthcoming Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation (ILEX Foundation/Harvard University Press, 2017), and author of Re-Constructing the Man of Steel: Superman 1938, Jewish American History, and the Invention of the Jewish-Comics Connection (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and of several articles about U.S. superhero comics, their history, and their politics.
A Note about Publication
The editors have already contacted university press editors regarding the collection, and will submit a full proposal after all first drafts of the accepted chapters have been received. Whiteness and the American Superhero will only be submitted to university presses that have established reputations for publishing on comics.
CFP has also been posted here: https://seanguynes.com/2017/01/17/cfp-whiteness-and-the-american-superhero/
Monday, January 16, 2017
Friday, January 13, 2017
CFP Authorship special issue: Comics and Authorship
The comic, recently legitimized through the graphic novel phenomenon while remaining anchored in popular culture, can provide unique insights into issues surrounding authorship. Although comics scholarship has explored autobiographical comics and the strategies for self-fashioning of individual canonized comics artists and writers, the complex and mutating concept of comic book authorship remains by and large overlooked.
Analyses of the changing notions of authorship, their contextualization and implications - aesthetic, political, economic - across different comics genres and formats can provide answers to key questions, such as:
· How do different techniques and styles mold conceptions of the author?
· Who is the author in large franchises and studio collaborations?
· What are the claims to authorship of vital but often overlooked mediators such as letterers and inkers?
· How do conceptions of authorship vary with publishing format (serial comic book, graphic novel, syndicated comic strip, self-published fanzine)?
In this special issue dedicated to comics, the open-access journal Authorship seeks to specify the range and potential of the terrain covered by comics and authorship through bringing together papers on the following, broad aspects:
· Roles encompassed by the notion of authorship in comics (writer, artist, letterer, inker, penciller)
· Differences in constructions of authorship across formats, genres, cultures and history
· Self-creation of author (and auteur) personas through paratextual elements
· Self-reflection on authorship in comics, cartoons and graphic novels
· Issues of authorship raised by adaptations of comics in other media such as novels and films.
Please send articles (ca. 5000 words) to Maaheen Ahmed (ahmedmaaheen@gmail.com) by 31 July 2017. The issue will be published in December 2017.
Analyses of the changing notions of authorship, their contextualization and implications - aesthetic, political, economic - across different comics genres and formats can provide answers to key questions, such as:
· How do different techniques and styles mold conceptions of the author?
· Who is the author in large franchises and studio collaborations?
· What are the claims to authorship of vital but often overlooked mediators such as letterers and inkers?
· How do conceptions of authorship vary with publishing format (serial comic book, graphic novel, syndicated comic strip, self-published fanzine)?
In this special issue dedicated to comics, the open-access journal Authorship seeks to specify the range and potential of the terrain covered by comics and authorship through bringing together papers on the following, broad aspects:
· Roles encompassed by the notion of authorship in comics (writer, artist, letterer, inker, penciller)
· Differences in constructions of authorship across formats, genres, cultures and history
· Self-creation of author (and auteur) personas through paratextual elements
· Self-reflection on authorship in comics, cartoons and graphic novels
· Issues of authorship raised by adaptations of comics in other media such as novels and films.
Please send articles (ca. 5000 words) to Maaheen Ahmed (ahmedmaaheen@gmail.com) by 31 July 2017. The issue will be published in December 2017.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Graphic Biography Opportunity for MA Research Fellowship September 1, 2017-August 31, 2018
Graphic Biography
Opportunity for MA Research Fellowship
September 1, 2017-August 31, 2018
MA in Cultural Studies
Department of English
University of Winnipeg
Deadline to apply: February 1, 2017
Candida Rifkind, Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, is seeking one MA student to work on projects related to graphic biography (biographies in the form of comic books). The MA student will receive a 12-month stipend of $17,500 to work as a Research Fellow on the project. Additional project funding is available to present a paper at a North American conference.
The stipend will be divided evenly over the three terms of the MA program (Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer). The tasks are primarily related to textual research and knowledge mobilization of the project. As part of their research training, the student will learn how to assemble and evaluate existing scholarship, review books for general audiences, and analyze texts for scholarly audiences. This hands-on scholarly research will be complemented by the print and electronic communication of the project. The student will also plan a project book club, which will provide them with a valuable set of skills in professional organizing and communicating specialized knowledge to general audiences.
This is an ideal research fellowship for students interested in comics and life writing theory. Related fields include cultural studies, film studies, media studies, celebrity studies, and art history.
Prospective Research Fellows must follow the formal application process to the MA in Cultural Studies. More information about the program is available here: http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/cultural-studies/
All interested applicants should contact Dr. Rifkind (c.rifkind@uwinnipeg.ca) prior to submitting their application to the MA in Cultural Studies, and are encouraged to visit the project website: www.projectgraphicbio.com
This position is funded by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the University of Winnipeg.
The holder of this Research Fellowship may not also hold another major award to support their MA in Cultural Studies program
Candida Rifkind
Associate Professor
Department of English
University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9
Canada
http://candidarifkind.com
http://projectgraphicbio.com
http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/english/
Opportunity for MA Research Fellowship
September 1, 2017-August 31, 2018
MA in Cultural Studies
Department of English
University of Winnipeg
Deadline to apply: February 1, 2017
Candida Rifkind, Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, is seeking one MA student to work on projects related to graphic biography (biographies in the form of comic books). The MA student will receive a 12-month stipend of $17,500 to work as a Research Fellow on the project. Additional project funding is available to present a paper at a North American conference.
The stipend will be divided evenly over the three terms of the MA program (Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer). The tasks are primarily related to textual research and knowledge mobilization of the project. As part of their research training, the student will learn how to assemble and evaluate existing scholarship, review books for general audiences, and analyze texts for scholarly audiences. This hands-on scholarly research will be complemented by the print and electronic communication of the project. The student will also plan a project book club, which will provide them with a valuable set of skills in professional organizing and communicating specialized knowledge to general audiences.
This is an ideal research fellowship for students interested in comics and life writing theory. Related fields include cultural studies, film studies, media studies, celebrity studies, and art history.
Prospective Research Fellows must follow the formal application process to the MA in Cultural Studies. More information about the program is available here: http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/cultural-studies/
All interested applicants should contact Dr. Rifkind (c.rifkind@uwinnipeg.ca) prior to submitting their application to the MA in Cultural Studies, and are encouraged to visit the project website: www.projectgraphicbio.com
This position is funded by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the University of Winnipeg.
The holder of this Research Fellowship may not also hold another major award to support their MA in Cultural Studies program
Candida Rifkind
Associate Professor
Department of English
University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9
Canada
http://candidarifkind.com
http://projectgraphicbio.com
http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/english/
Monday, January 2, 2017
Sunday, January 1, 2017
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