Call for Papers [ENG]

Students' and Graduate Students' Academic Conference

KOMIKS KON 2016.
REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES IN COMICS

Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow

May 30-31, 2016

Comics are one of the most important parts of the American popular culture. Even though they are often unappreciated and neglected, one cannot forget that they touch upon significant social and political issues, and have many devoted fans at the same time. Therefore, it is impossible not to notice their enormous influence on culture. According to the fact that comics, being an integral part of the popular culture, have been offering space for the representation of various minorities, the UJ American Studies Students' Research Society have decided to organize a students’ and graduate students’ academic conference on the subject.

Through all their history, comics have been, to some extent, a reflection of sociopolitical attitudes of their authors and readers. In the 20^th century, when comics began to change from short humorous cartoon pieces printed in newspapers to longer, multithreaded plots, the subject matter evolved as well – contemporaneous social and political issues became more widely present in them. Of course, it didn’t mean that the characters in comics suddenly began to faithfully illustrate the American society, meaning that they would represent various minorities or different beliefs, but that matter has also been subject to gradual changes. The issues thus became braver, crossing the limits and surprising. And what is essential, due to the fact that the media nowadays are talking a lot about minorities – either religious, ethnic, sexual or many others – this widespread subject cannot be neglected in the comics world.

The American comics market, being one of the best developed and most influential ones in the world, is creating global trends and has the ability to directly influence the environment, and that bears a great significance when it comes to minorities. Comics, as any other form of art, can carry some kind of a message – it is often just a belief that good always wins, but on the same basis, it can also be any less obvious statement. Hence the way that minorities are depicted in comics may not only be a reflection of the contemporary sociopolitical situation, but it can also serve as a way for the creators to bring to the audience their message on the matter.

Seeing the great scientific potential of comics in that context, the UJ American Studies Students' Research Society, along with the UJ Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora, decided to dedicate an academic conference to this matter, during which we hope to convince guests as well as participants about the value of comics. We encourage you to submit your presentation propositions – we are interested in any topics regarding the broadly-defined representations of various kinds of minorities in comics.

Those interested in participating in the conference are kindly asked to fill the form available at http://goo.gl/forms/wdSwQ2k319 , until April 29, 2016. The accept the papers in both Polish and English. The length of the presentation shall not exceed 15 minutes. Every speaker, after receiving a confirmation on their participation in the conference, will be obliged to pay a conference fee of 80 PLN until May 15, 2016. A peer-reviewed and evaluated post-conference publication is to be published after the conference.

Should you have any questions regarding the Komiks Kon 2016 and the conference, please feel free to contact us at komikskon@gmail.com. Please also check our websites www.komikskon.blogspot.com  and  www.facebook.com/ujkna   to receive updates on the organized events.