Announcement: Graphic Justice Discussions 2017

The GJRA is delighted to announce that on 4-5 July 2017 we will be hosting our first Graphic Justice conference at St Mary's University, Twickenham, London. Please see the poster here: and circulate as widely as possible. The CfP ends on 23 April 2017.

The full details are as follows:

The intersections of comics and legality represent a burgeoning area of concern within, without, and between legal, cultural, and comics communities. But what directions or distractions do comics bring to the project of justice? Are comics a valuable and important resource, or are they mere entertainment and intellectual amusement? Are comics for fun, rather than for rigorous analysis as part of the serious task of law and justice? Does visual storytelling inevitably distract us from the judicial project?

Engaging with these provocative questions, and the intersection of comics and law more generally, Graphic Justice Discussions 2017 seeks to explore the potential, possible, and plural value of comics for the understanding and practice of justice, morality, and the regulation of human life.

A limited, but in no way limiting, indication of relevant concerns follows:

·         representations and critiques of law, justice, and morality, or of institutions, actors, and processes, in comics and related visual media

·         comics and related visual media analysed in contexts such as power, meaning, politics, difference, violence, rights, justice, governance, sovereignty, morality, ethics, bioethics, judgment, or any other relevant field

·         visuality, aesthetics, or multimodality of knowledge, communication, and the popular presentation(s) of law and justice

·         the value or use of popular, visual, and ‘geek’ media in understanding law, justice, and related concerns

·         comics as an object of regulation, embroiled in e.g. free speech and copyright

Submission information:

·         Papers are welcomed for submission on any aspect of graphic justice. Papers concerned with the wider value of such endeavours, and the trajectories it might take, are particularly encouraged.

·         Submissions for a poster/comics competition are also invited.

·         Papers will be allocated 20 minutes by default (plus discussion/question time); submissions are welcome for alternative formats (workshops, interviews, etc).

·         Paper and poster/comic submissions require a 250 word abstract, 3 keywords, and a 50 word biography. Panel submissions require a 150 word panel abstract alongside paper abstracts etc. Other forms of session should be outlined in a 250 word abstract and include any relevant bios, information, or visual material.

·         Panels will be 90 minutes; posters/comics should be single-sided up to A2 size.

·         Email submissions to thomas.giddens@stmarys.ac.uk by 23 April 2017.

·         Please email to discuss potential submissions if you have any queries.