Graphic Justice Discussions 2018: Law, Comics, Justice: CALL OPEN

#GJD2018

The Graphic Justice Research Alliance (GJRA) is delighted to announce a call for papers for its 2018 annual conference at St Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. The conference will be held on 20 October 2018, and promises to be an exciting event that is accessible and relevant to scholars, artists, practitioners, policy-makers, writers, and the general public alike. The GJRA is a multidisciplinary research network exploring the crossover between law and justice and comics of all kinds.

The theme for the 2018 Graphic Justice Discussion is ‘Law, Comics, Justice.’ Figured broadly, this theme draws attention to the connections and ruptures between and among each of these elements, in theory and in practice, as well as the ways in which they are invoked across cultural, institutional, public, and private domains. In this way, it continues some of the conversations from the inaugural conference in 2017, while exploring new trajectories and avenues of inquiry.

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.

Submissions: by 10 July 2018

Contact: nphillips@sfc.edu