[Comicsstudiessociety] Fall Newsletter

Tue Sep 17 13:04:58 EDT 2019

Hi All,

In the event that your email ate the Fall Newsletter, I am forwarding it here.

Enjoy,

Dr. Samantha Langsdale

Senior Lecturer

Department of Philosophy & Religion

philosophy.unt.edu

________________________________
From: CSS Executive Board <webeditor at comicssociety.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2019 3:22 PM
To: Langsdale, Samantha <Samantha.Langsdale at unt.edu>
Subject: [EXT] [Test] Fall 2019 Newsletter

CSS Newsletter
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Comics Studies Society Fall 2019 Newsletter

Happy Fall!

Welcome! We hope you had a wonderful summer. The CSS was busy with an outstanding conference in Toronto, where we enjoyed fantastic presentations, outstanding special guests, and incredible hospitality from the locals. In this newsletter we’ve got several reports from the conference, including the graphic recordings of our plenary sessions by artists Sam Hester and Devon Kerslake. We hope you’ll make note of the CFP for the 2020 conference and join us at Henderson. And please do join the CSS listserv and continue the conversation at: https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/comicsstudiessociety<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.osu.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fcomicsstudiessociety&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C0%7C637041793833411462&sdata=zGjiE12ZTf7gKiut1ZMc7UusWJXDVEGharJu9ZtE5eg%3D&reserved=0>

Contents

  *   A report on inclusvity and first-time experience by Leah Misemer
  *   GSC Update by Biz Nijdam and Adrienne Resha
  *   A report on the GSC-Sponsored Roundtable on Scholarly Publishing
  *   An account of the Designing Comics Courses workshop by Jenny Blenk
  *   A report on the CSS Job Clinic by Biz Nijdam
  *   An account of the Comics/Politics Reception by Charles Hatfield
  *   The CFP for CSS 3rd Annual Conference

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Graphic recording by Sam Hester of the first plenary panel  featuring Tara Audibert, Cole Pauls, and Camille Callison, and moderated by Amy Dejarlais
Ensuring Inclusivity: Checking in with First Time Attendees
By Leah Misemer

Facing a conference as big as the Comics Studies Society Annual Conference (CSS) can be intimidating for newcomers.  As Liz Tetu, one of our first time attendees put it, we travel “thousands of miles from home to participate in that nerve-wracking practice of testing out theories and sharing observations in a new place among new people” and that “can be a lonely thing.”  When accompanied by the wide range of panels, the number of people (including numerous notable scholars) and the highly structured time, both first time and returning attendees at CSS can feel overwhelmed by the experience.  Even though this was only our second annual conference, I wanted to hear what first time attendees had to say about their time in Toronto this year. Their fresh perspectives shed light on how well we accomplished our goal of inclusivity and what measures we can take to improve in the future.

While many expressed some anxiety going into the conference, aspects like pronoun ribbons, vegetarian options, and travel scholarships created what Safiyya Hosein described as a “feminist, anti-racist, decolonial, and inclusive space.” At the same time, the diversity of perspectives represented in panels, at workshops, and on Artists’ Alley both reassured newcomers that their work had a place in the field and expanded their horizons by introducing them to new approaches. With so many people in attendance, social media helped ease the way for introductions.  As Alexandra Lampp Berglund mentioned, “connecting with other graduate students that I met online and being introduced to people through those friendships were two of the most helpful ways to meet people.”  Lampe went on to discuss how social media provided an additional sense of community during the conference, as the “robust online community made me feel welcome with heartfelt messages and encouragement throughout each day.”

However, this collegiality can tend towards cliquishness if we aren’t careful.  As one newcomer pointed out, they sometimes felt on the outside looking into a core group.  Building on-site networking and community building opportunities into the schedule, where people are encouraged to branch out, either through structured activities or simply through expectations set at the beginning of the event, could help us make sure everyone feels appreciated.  The fact that such events have been known to produce scholarly collaborations only adds to their value.

When asked what advice they would give future first time attendees, many encouraged them to make the conference their own, because they won’t be able to do everything. Erika Chung, suggested planning ahead, but she also wanted to remind everyone that “it's okay to take breaks and rests.

There’s a lot happening, so setting time aside for yourself is key to making the most of the conference.”  Based on all the first time attendee feedback, I’d say that, while we still have some areas where we can improve, Candida Rifkind and the rest of the conference organizers cleared the high bar Carol Tilley set when she organized the conference last year.  May future conferences continue to embrace the inclusivity and diversity that will grow and strengthen our field.
CSS’s Graduate Student Caucus Update
by GSC President Biz Nijdam and Vice President Adrienne Resha

As another academic year approaches, we would like to take the opportunity to reflect on the work we have done this year as the Executive Board of the CSS’s Graduate Student Caucus (GSC).

This year’s most exciting development was the revision of the GSC Bylaws<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fopen%3Fid%3D1JGs201Sha7c6K8YQe9Aiz0OjVWdaby00&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C0%7C637041793833421456&sdata=mWNsCyFkenl6Jv8vM22Xf5U3T6CiHpts8zOlPHNZqm0%3D&reserved=0>. With former GSC President Josh Kopin and former Member-at-Large Bryan Bove, the GSC updated our constitution to include the use of gender neutral pronouns, a statement affirming our commitment to diversity, and detailed descriptions of each role on our Executive Board. We encourage all members to read the bylaws, become more involved in the GSC by running in our 2020 elections, and attend our next Annual General Meeting at CSS 2020 in Arkadelphia.

Leading up to this year’s conference at Ryerson University in Toronto, we featured previews of several graduate student presentations. We hope to continue this new tradition and encourage GSC members to submit their abstract and a single PowerPoint slide for an upcoming conference presentation so that we may advertise it on the GSC blog. Using this venue to feature graduate student and contingent faculty research is one of our primary goals.

The conference itself featured a fantastic line-up of GSC programming. Our 2nd Job Clinic took place bright and early on Thursday morning, featuring Andrew Kunka and Frederik Byrn Kohlert as our guest speakers. For more on the event and its information handout, please see page the report on the CSS Job Clinic in this newsletter. This year’s GSC-sponsored roundtable, entitled “Best Practices in Comics Scholarly Publishing,” sought to help GSC members develop practical skills in their academic writing. For more on the roundtable and its information handout, please see the Roundtable on Publishing in this newsletter. We are grateful to everyone involved in the planning and organizing of these events, especially to our roundtable panelists, Qiana Whitted, Nhora Lucía Serrano, Andrew Kunka, Marc Singer, and Frederik Byrn Køhlert, for their participation and insight. Then our GSC Annual General Meeting featured a productive discussion on the future of the GSC and how we can help our constituents develop the shared language of collegiality, accessibility, and social justice that is so important to many of us working in this field.

Finally, at the Awards Ceremony, we were pleased to present the second Hillary Chute Award for Best Graduate Student Conference Presentation. The Chute Award celebrates high-quality presentations of graduate student research to both academic and public audiences. This year’s winner was Isabelle Martin (University of Illinois at Chicago) for “‘The Weight of Their Past’: Reconstructing Memory and History through Reproduced Photographs in Thi Bui’s Graphic Novel The Best We Could Do,” presented at the Comics Arts Conference, San Diego, July 2018. The judges praised Martin’s paper for its timeliness, the excellent synergy it demonstrated between the written and visual elements, and its creative and efficient argumentation.

Moreover, we were also thrilled to have several GSC members awarded travel grants, recently renamed the Carol L. Tilley Travel Grants, to attend the CSS conference, and we would like to thank the larger CSS Executive Board for continuing to demonstrate their support and encouragement of graduate student and contingent faculty research through these kinds of institutional support programs.

As always, we encourage GSC members to reach out to those of us on the Executive Board with comments and feedback on how we can best serve the interests of our constituents. Furthermore, we’re always looking for blog content, so please consider pitching an article. The blog, like the GSC itself, is only made possible by an active membership.
GSC-Sponsored Roundtable: “Best Practices in Comics Scholarly Publishing,” Organized by Biz Nijdam; Moderated by Hanah Stiverson

With publishing being such an important part of securing a tenure-track position in today's academic job market, the CSS's Graduate Student Caucus (GSC) is dedicated to helping foster the skills necessary for graduate students and contingent faculty to attain publishing success. To this end, the GSC-sponsored roundtable at the second annual CSS conference in Toronto focused on presenting a practical guide to academic publishing. Organized by GSC president Biz Nijdam of the University of British Columbia and moderated by Hanah Stiverson of the University of Michigan, “Best Practices in Comics Scholarly Publishing” featured scholars with expertise in different types of publishing in the field of comics studies. Each panelist spoke on one topic for six minutes before we opened the floor for questions.

Qiana Whitted from the University of South Carolina and the Editor of Inks was the first to speak. She offered a breadth of advice about publishing in academic journals and, in particular, how new scholars should approach this particular genre of writing. Nhora Lucía Serrano from Hamilton College and Co-Editor of Crossing Lines: Transcultural/Transnational Comics Studies with Wilfrid Laurier University Press, spoke on what makes a good book proposal. She offered useful suggestions on themes, titles, and key selling points in comics scholarship. Marc Singer from Howard University presented a succinct timetable for book publication, elucidating the often confusing process for early scholars. In his talk, he broke down the procedure from submitting proposals to revisions and everything that comes after. He also spoke about the benefits and drawbacks of book publishing compared to producing collected anthologies. Andrew Kunka discussed peer-reviewer expectations and journal publishing in the field, drawing attention to the differences between dissertation chapters, graduate student essays, and journal articles, and offered some insight into how to make the appropriate revisions. Finally, Frederik Byrn Køhlert from the University of East Anglia spoke on his recent experience turning his dissertation into a book. He offered a range of useful advice on how to approach the book in a way that might streamline the process from dissertation to final product.

The floor was then opened for discussion and audience members posed a wide variety of questions. One of the key concerns to emerge out of this conversation was regarding different universities’ approaches to graduate student publishing. Discussion then turned to whether or not to embargo dissertations, with a range of opinions demonstrating how much experience varies from institution to institution.

Please follow this link to download the  “Best Practices in Comics Scholarly Publishing Information Guide,” <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F19xfCDqLMYOhkBimcfibwf_OrGqRguYgy%2Fview%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C0%7C637041793833421456&sdata=KLQ55XdyiV384FFfcHf4Pnz7hrts9KqoBFUC4SBgDVk%3D&reserved=0> which features contributions from each of the presenters.

In conjunction with this roundtable, the GSC organized a Publishing Mentorship Program. Graduate students applied and were paired with senior faculty members in advance of the conference based on their subject of interest and had the opportunity to share one piece of writing in progress. Mentor and mentee then met once over the course of the conference to discuss turning the project into a journal article or book chapter. For more information on similar mentorship initiatives, please contact GSC President Biz Nijdam (elizabeth.nijdam at gmail.com<mailto:elizabeth.nijdam at gmail.com>).
Designing Comics Courses by Jenny Blenk

Bringing comics into classrooms in any formal way can be an intimidating process, from knowing where to begin to analyzing impacts and results. In one of two engaging and well-conceived lunchtime seminars at comics Studies Society 2019, Dr. Susan Kirtley (Portland State University) and Jay Olinger (Portland Community College) educated an eager audience on how to effectively plan a classroom curriculum around comics. The thoughtful talk gave equal effort to macro aspects like classroom outcomes and departmental proposals and to more detailed issues like individual lesson plans. Doubtless the information, resources, and suggestions that they provided will prove helpful to many as they develop individual approaches. Some highlights from the seminar are as follows:

Kirtley addressed the specific challenge of institutional resistance to comics inclusion in curricula by relating her experience in getting a comics class approved: when the class title included the word “comics” it was rejected, but when that word was replaced by a description of multimodal narrative storytelling, the exact same class with an identical curriculum was approved. The takeaway: comics themselves are acceptable as long as they’re not perceived as simple comics by the people approving the class. Don’t be afraid to use complex language to describe the format if it allows you to teach comics!

Both instructors guided the audience through the differences between classroom goals, objectives, and outcomes, and how comics can be utilized to achieve all of them. Olinger encouraged instructors to make their expectations regarding learning targets clear to students from the start, to help steer them in the right direction regarding the complex and varied format that comics are, and hopefully open students up to other creative takes on the material to which they’re exposed as class progresses.

Olinger shared that one of her favorite parts of class preparation is selecting texts. She relishes the challenge of providing a wide array of comics in conversation and conflict with one another for students to explore. Constructing and discovering running themes and threads between texts, readings, and other activities is also a constant process of discovery that Olinger uses in planning future classes, too.  She pointed out that important things to consider while choosing texts for a class are availability (Is it out of print? Is it widely available at local comics shops? Local bookstores? To order online?), expense (How many texts are you requiring, and how much does each cost? What is the total financial burden you’re expecting students to shoulder for your class?), library access (Are texts available through your institution or local libraries? Can you put a copy of it on hold at the front desk for class use?), and partnering with local bookstores (Are they available to order large quantities of a given text for your students? Are they able to provide a small discount if students buy their texts from them?). Kirtley also pointed out that if they’re found to have been providing students with free texts, many instructors will get no legal support from their institutions. However, it’s possible that students may spontaneously share PDFs of some materials that are being used for class but not readily available. These things happen!

One important aspect that both Olinger and Kirtley pointed out is to not assume students’ familiarity with the subject matter, even if your class description or even title contains the word “comics.” Students in a given class may range from someone discovering comics for the first time, to someone who anticipates an easy “A,” to someone who can quote you chapter and verse from X-Men lore. A good way to assess your students’ starting points is to design some classroom icebreakers that reveal their areas of interest and levels of immersion in different aspects of comics and the cultures associated with them. From there, instructors can use different kinds of activities and assignments to engage various groups of students and put them in conversation with one another.

Olinger reports positive classroom experiences by introducing aspects of the creative process behind comics to her text and theory courses. By allowing students to spend some time working and experimenting with the tools of the trade, she reports that students have a heightened sense of awareness of the creation process behind comics. An example she gives is having instructed her students in different methods of inking, and having given them time to experiment with them, before teaching “Black Hole” by Charles Burns. Immersing students not only in comics texts but in the artistic processes behind them allows them to form a fuller appreciation for the deliberate nature of creating comics.

Recently when she started instructing graduate students in teaching courses, Kirtley noticed that these students would come up with creative and fascinating lesson plans, but that they in no way intersected with class objectives. In order to measure how her comics-based courses have impacted student achievement and class outcomes, Kirtley asks herself how she will measure those outcomes from the very outset of class planning. In asking this, she says she’s able to form a broader plan for not only what she’s going to teach, but how she will achieve quantifiable results, and then collect that data. Self-assessment rubrics turned in at intervals by students are a helpful part of it, as is creating assessments for growth and comprehension as opposed to judging the formal quality of more creative projects.

To help instructors, scholars, community organizers, and others who want to teach comics come together to share resources and experiences, Olinger has established a website where things like worksheets, lesson plans, and course outlines can be shared. Please check it out an consider contributing!
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Graphic recording by Devon Kerslake of the second plenary panel featuring Jillian Tamaki and Fiona Smyth, moderated by Qiana Whitted.
CSS Job Clinic
Organized by Biz Nijdam

For the second year in a row, the CSS Job Clinic offered an opportunity for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and contingent faculty members to discuss their upcoming job market search with established faculty in the field.

The event took the form of an open conversation between prospective job-market-applicants and tenure-track and tenured faculty, giving CSS GSC members the opportunity to ask questions about the process and discuss their documents (CVs, Cover Letters, Teaching and Research Statements).

Please follow this link to download the “CSS Job Clinic Handout,”<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fopen%3Fid%3D1D4VuOrknksSXctWD8nrUpvvvK4II2uXC&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C0%7C637041793833431449&sdata=i2ypQlqkc0cnhWfCOh7teBuLTZOwCJwMpnw3L%2BAPNwg%3D&reserved=0> which features information on resources and helpful advice on the academic job market search.

Anyone contemplating the job market is encouraged to participate in next year’s Job Clinic at CSS 2020. For more information please contact GSC President Biz Nijdam (elizabeth.nijdam at gmail.com).
Comics/Politics: Reception and Recognition Ceremony by Charles Hatfield

On the evening of Thursday, July 25, carrying on a community-building tradition established at the inaugural CSS conference in Champaign, we ended our first day of conference proceedings in Toronto with an informal reception and recognition ceremony — this time held at The 519, a community center and meeting space some four blocks north of our main Ryerson University venue, on Church Street (indeed, 519 Church Street).

The 519 is a storied Toronto space, renowned for being a nexus of activism within the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Established in the mid-1970s by community activists, and governed by a volunteer board, The 519<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.the519.org%2Fabout%2Fhistory-timeline&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833431449&sdata=xtXC4%2BYTliA9%2BffQH%2FZN%2FZoN5HLGSUiowTo7Qjs04hw%3D&reserved=0> is dedicated to “Service, Space, and Leadership,” and has been a magnet for LGBTQ+ advocacy groups for the better part of forty years. The CSS Conference Organizing Committee was delighted to be able to bring attendees into this welcoming, spacious, and attractive venue—a perfect setting for the evening’s festivities and observances. (Thanks to the Canada Comics Open Library<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canadacomicsol.org&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833431449&sdata=CArZGK3ZE8XdybUNMGkwWr7Rf5%2FBMdQsjCVLsQsGHGM%3D&reserved=0> who held their launch event at The 519 in 2018 and pointed us there!)

The CSS opening reception and recognition ceremony is a convivial, mostly informal event meant to boost the sense of collegiality and community on which our Society thrives. In addition, it recognizes past and present CSS Board officers and, especially, spotlights the winners of the annual CSS prizes, including our travel grants and writing prizes.

Our Toronto reception began at 6pm that Thursday evening with opening reflections by our Immediate Past President, Carol Tilley, who observed that CSS is the best and most welcoming professional association of which she has been a part. Following Carol’s remarks, Second Vice President Brittany Tullis recognized past officers for their service. At this point, the program shifted toward the bittersweet, as we offered remembrances of two trailblazing scholars who passed away this year: Don Ault, pioneering comics and Blake scholar, mentor to generations of new scholars, and founder of the journal ImageTexT and the comics studies community at the University of Florida; and Derek Parker Royal, cofounder and producer of the acclaimed Comics Alternative podcast and a groundbreaking scholar of comics, Jewish American literature, and Philip Roth. Andrew (Andy) Kunka, who cofounded the Comics Alternative with Derek, movingly shared memories of his colleague, recalling his enthusiasm and generosity, and credited Derek with bringing him into comics studies. I had the honor of speaking about Don Ault, and shared excerpts from Joseph (Rusty) Witek’s eulogy for his late mentor, as published in The Comic Journal <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tcj.com&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C0%7C637041793833441442&sdata=8crUFBIqqNJHb9%2FJ5EUmnnnP56efQ1JWgMVpofoeaew%3D&reserved=0> (“On Don Ault,” June 26, 2019). This memorial section of the ceremony we hope to continue and expand as needed in the years to come.

After these remembrances, President Candida Rifkind awarded the CSS travel grants—and announced that, in honor of Carol’s exemplary service to the Society, the grants would henceforth be known as the Carol Tilley Travel Awards! Six “Tilleys” were awarded that night, to graduate students Evan Ash, e Jackson, and Adrienne Resha and contingent faculty members Daniela Kaufman, Jay Olinger, and Jessica Rutherford.

In addition, travel grants from the dedicated #womenonpanels fund were awarded to Samantha Langsdale and Katharina Serles. The ongoing #womenonpanels movement, initiated on Twitter in February 2019 by Adrienne Resha, Andréa Gilroy, and Leah Misemer, addresses gender inequality in comics studies by encouraging women and nonbinary scholars to share descriptions of their work and shine a light on their colleagues and inspirations. Carol Tilley designed fundraising t-shirts in support of the movement (“Read! Cite! Invite!”), the proceeds of which go toward funding CSS conference attendance. This year’s #womenonpanels grants, we hope, mark the beginning of an annual tradition.

Following the travel awards, the program spotlighted the winners of this year’s writing prizes (recognized for work published in 2018):

The Hillary Chute Award for Best Graduate Student Conference Presentation: On behalf of Chute Award Coordinator Joshua Abraham Kopin and the GSC, Biz Nijdam, President of CSS’s Graduate Student Caucus, presented the Chute to Isabelle Martin, for “‘The Weight of Their Past’: Reconstructing Memory and History through Reproduced Photographs in Thi Bui’s Graphic Novel The Best We Could Do” (Comics Arts Conference, San Diego, July 2018). Isabelle graciously appeared by live video streaming to accept her award and acknowledge and celebrate her fellow GSC members.

The Gilbert Seldes Prize for Public Scholarship: On behalf of CSS Web Editor, Inks Associate Editor, and Seldes Prize Coordinator Jared Gardner, I had the honor of presenting the Seldes to Osvaldo Oyola, for work published on his blog The Middle Spaces<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthemiddlespaces.com&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833441442&sdata=skRRFFTwjf05tcQiU80nydze12xTFUgPj6uWuRxbjoc%3D&reserved=0>, particularly “YA=Young Avengers: Asserting Maturity on the Threshold of Adulthood” (Oct. 16, 2018); “Guess Who’s Coming Home for the Holidays: Intergenerational Conflict in Bitch Planet” (Dec. 11, 2018); and “‘I AM (not) FROM BEYOND!’: Situating Scholarship & the Writing ‘I’” (Dec. 25, 2018). Osvaldo accepted his award in person, with a warm acknowledgment of his CSS community and peers.

The CSS Article Prize: Leah Misemer, CSS Member at Large and Article Prize Coordinator, presented the Article Prize to, and shared grateful comments from, andre m. carrington, for “Desiring Blackness: A Queer Orientation to Marvel’s Black Panther, 1998–2016,” American Literature 90.2 (June 2018). In addition, Leah presented an Honorable Mention for the Article Prize to Nicholas E. Miller, for “‘Now That It’s Just Us Girls’: Transmedial Feminisms from Archie to Riverdale,” Feminist Media Histories 4.3 (Summer 2018). Nicholas Miller accepted in person, thanking his peers, praising the vital work of up and coming scholars, and noting the importance of supportive community in the often difficult world of academia.

The Charles Hatfield Book Prize: Susan Kirtley, CSS Secretary and Book Prize Coordinator. presented the Book Prize to, and read poignant comments from, Lara Saguisag, for Incorrigibles and Innocents: Constructing Childhood and Citizenship in Progressive Era Comics (Rutgers UP, 2018).

The reception and ceremony ended with closing remarks by First Vice President Matt Smith, who announced the location and theme of our next CSS conference: Comics and Technology, to be held August 5-8, 2020, at Henderson State University in Arkansas, and indeed circulated the CFP<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcomicssociety.org%2Fconference%2Fcfp%2F&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833451442&sdata=QTQbtPD3rdiEM1lJ6xH0Rm7mHhiouuQp9Ae6hSCFUx8%3D&reserved=0> throughout the room!

After the reception, many CSS folk trekked over to the nearby Glad Day Bookshop<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gladdaybookshop.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833451442&sdata=kWfOecVgmwo47nfY2jfVQA%2FuuQP9kJFoK5zFuMfSiGQ%3D&reserved=0>, said to be the world's oldest surviving LGBTQ bookstore, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Bedside Press<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbedsidepress.com&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833461428&sdata=LjMidzVpMykgIjmfckfDhrKhMz0smL2jpU4C6k4rXkg%3D&reserved=0>, founded and owned by publisher, comics historian, and CSS speaker Hope Nicholson. (Hope would go on to speak at the opening reception for the Canadian WW2-era comics exhibit at the Ryerson Library the next night, and indeed she attended the conference and sold books throughout the weekend.)

In all, a memorable evening of scholarship and community!
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Logo for the CSS 3rd Annual Conference by David Stoddard
COMICS and TECHNØLØGY
3rd Annual Conference of the Comics Studies Society
August 5-8, 2020
Henderson State University, Arkansas
www.comicssociety.org

conference at comicssociety.org
#CSS2020
This 3rd annual conference seeks to bring together scholars, artists, and other members of the international Comics Studies community for critical conversations about the intersections between comics and technology across forms, genres, media, experiences, regions, and cultures. We are excited to partner with the Center for Comics Studies at Henderson State University.

Henderson State has been hosting Comics Studies courses for over two decades, features a minor in Comics Studies, and recently christened its Center for Comics Studies. It is also home to the Steven R. Bissette Collection. After successful conferences in Urbana-Champaign and Toronto, we are pleased to continue to diversify the geographical reach of our conference venues by convening in the southeastern United States.

Presentations may take the form of traditional 20-minute research papers or shorter contributions in roundtables organized around a specific theme.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  *   The technologies of comics publishing, translation, distribution, and consumption
  *   Representations of technology within comics, from rayguns to space stations and from photography to smart phones
  *   Science and technology, from atomic comics to mad scientists to climate change
  *   Cyborgs, digital culture, and posthumanism
  *   The histories of comics and technologies of creation and production, from print to digital
  *   Ethics, empathy and technology in  comics journalism, documentary comics, graphic witness
  *   Technology, comics, and the intersections with gender, race, sexual identity, disability, and class
  *   Adaptive technologies and graphic accessibility
  *   Speculative technologies: Afrofuturisms, Indigenous futurisms, and comics in space
  *   Adaptation studies and comics between media technologies
  *   Technology as affordance and/or obstacle in comics discourse, public scholarship, and debate
  *   Graphic Medicine: Technology, science, and the medical humanities in comics
  *   The technologies of comics research, scholarly publishing, academia
  *   Pedagogical technologies, comics in the classroom, literacies
  *   Comics in the digital humanities
  *   Comics in science education
  *   The technologies of comics collecting, preservation, curating, display & exhibition
  *   Comics as techne

Guidelines for Submission

We are accepting submissions for:
1. Individual papers (20 min.)
2. Panels of three papers
3. Roundtables of short (5 min.) presentations by 4-5 presenters followed by discussion

A presenter's name may appear twice in the program.

The deadline for all submissions is January 15, 2020.

Go to the conference website to download submission templates in Word:
http://www.comicssociety.org/conference/<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicssociety.org%2Fconference%2F&data=02%7C01%7Csamantha.langsdale%40unt.edu%7C12f02ab322aa4527571608d73a22e22b%7C70de199207c6480fa318a1afcba03983%7C0%7C1%7C637041793833461428&sdata=B9I6kBZRmurJTdhgWUCTh6%2BVDlA5OjjNK0BL9kfRyS0%3D&reserved=0>

All proposals should be sent as Word files or PDFs by email to:
conference at comicssociety.org

The conference organizers will send out notifications of acceptance by February 15, 2020. Please add our conference email to your trusted senders to ensure email delivery.

Conference presenters need to be current members of CSS in 2020 at the time of registration.

Conference Co-Chairs: Matthew J. Smith (Radford U) & Randy Duncan (Henderson State U)
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