Graphic Justice @ SLSA 2016

Call for papers: Graphic Justice Theme for SLSA 2016

Convenor: Thomas Giddens

This stream invites submissions exploring the crossover between law and justice and comics of all kinds.

A growing area of research, comics and graphic fiction are of huge significance to law, justice and legal studies. On the level of production, comics are a complex art-form, with multiple creators working in individual, group, commercial and industrial contexts, raising questions of ownership and exploitation. On the level of culture, comics are historically embroiled in debates of free speech whilst today inspire countless pop culture adaptations to television and cinema, and can be seen to reflect and shape popular visions of justice, morality and law. On the level of content, from mainstream superhero narratives tackling overt issues of justice, governance and authority, to countless themes related to morality, justice and humanity in stories beyond the mainstream, comics are replete with legal material. On the level of form, the comics medium’s unique and restless blending of different media and types of representation (text, image, visuality, aesthetics, inter alia) radically opens up discourse beyond the confines of the word, enabling greater critical engagement amidst our increasingly visual age. In short, comics bring rich cultural, practical and aesthetic contexts and mediations to long-standing and emerging legal problems and settings. Broad questions framing this ‘graphic justice’ intersection might include:

• What are the relationships between comics and law—culturally, socially, theoretically, jurisprudentially...?
• How can we use comics in law—in practice, education, theory, research...?
• Can we consider comics as an object of legal regulation in their own right—raising issues of definition, ownership, consumption, value...?

The crossover between law and comics is an expansive and open one. The examples above are merely indicative of possible issues and questions; submissions are welcome for papers that traverse any potential intersection between law and comics—both broadly defined.

Abstracts may only be submitted via the Easy Chair Platform. They must be no longer than 300 words and should include your title, name and institutional affiliation and your email address for correspondence.

The deadline for submissions is Monday 18th January 2016.

See SLSA 2016 site/call here.

Comics Forum 2015: Some Notes

Hi all! Just back from Comics Forum 2015 (and the associated Thought Bubble convention) in Leeds, UK. A thoroughly splendid two days of comics discussion and antics (and another wonderful two days at Thought Bubble, with yet more antics and great comics discoveries)! In lieu of a formal write-up, let me placate you instead with scans of my visual notes from all the panels I attended. There were two streams for the most part, so this is only half of the interesting variety of papers given. To make things more fun, I have not grouped these notes in their respective panels, choosing instead letting each image/summary speak for itself.

Apologies to anyone I have depicted for the general lack of likeness, and for my reductive misrepresentations of what were detailed and rich discussions on a wide range of topics. I hope, nonetheless, these give some flavour of the event.

BCCS Comics/Cake Day Report

The British Consortium of Comics Scholars (BCCS) 'Comics Day and Tea Party' took place yesterday, 30 May 2015, at the University of Sussex in Brighton (see here for more details). It was a rip-roaring day of academic and creative comics revelry!

The day began at a very civilised 11:30 am, with tea and coffee in the luxurious surroundings of a Moroccan Tent, perched on the campus lawn amidst trees and institutional concrete building. Nicola Streeten (@NicolaStreeten), co-founder of the glorious 'Laydeez do Comics' (@laydeezdocomics) opened proceedings with a very warm welcome, before we delved headlong into a critical report on this year's Angoulême festival.

But this insight into one of the world's largest comics gatherings was a mere precursor, an aperitif, for the rest of the day.

We had a lovely lunch (still in the Moroccan Tent), complete with mystery salad and pick-n-mix bread, before migrating across the lawn, amidst the trees and concrete, to a shiny lecture theatre. A very orthodox academic space, which we appropriated (and, at one stage, queered) for our nefarious comicsy ends. The afternoon began with a session on comics and academic research, with Will Brooker (@willbrooker) giving us a world premier of the kickstarter for My So Called Secret Identity vol 2, Matt Green leading us through his critical insights into the nature of academic research and the place of comics within it, Janette Paris displaying her development of Arch, and Ernesto Priego (@ernestopriego) expounding the intricacies of the open access academic publishing being promoted at The Comics Grid (@ComicsGrid).

After this tour de force, the main event took place: CAKE! And it was delicious. There was an apple one (that was the one I had), and there was a blueberry one (which I now regret not having). The cake was enjoyed with tea and coffee, and much conversation. We then returned to the shiny lecture theatre, to be confronted with the reality of what we had just ingested. This was no ordinary cake—but feminism cake! Famous feminist quotations had been cunningly baked into the cakes on sheets of icing paper, in an act of critical aesthetic genius. In retrospect, the cakes became slightly tastier...

We were then treated to another tour de force, this time from artists and creators talking about the role that comics-making has played in their lives and the relationships between living and comicsing. Annie Lawson talked about her early career at art school in the '70s, and how her artistry had evolved across her life. Kate Evans (@cartoonkate) shared her politically fuelled early works, inspired by legislation, activism, amongst other things (worth checking out as quintessential examples of graphic justice, I would suggest!), and her later works inspired by childbirth and motherhood. Still on a graphic justice theme, Sofia Niazi outlined her work, highlighting the DIY Justice project that takes place at the Rich Mix, which uses arts and comics to tackle issues of social justice. Rachael House (@RachaelLHouse) then queered the space and shared her back catalogue of transgressive and norm defying zines, before Steven Appleby recounted a charming insight into his comics obsessions, from transvestitism, to science fiction, to death, to sex, to hidden fears.

The day closed with yet more cake, and also wine, and also conversation and a surging increase in the level of revelry. From Morrocan Tent to shiny lecture theatre, to the 'cake space' (later, 'wine space'), the day was a wonderful trip through a cornucopia of comics madness, research, and insight, interspersed with human treats (not least of which was cake). Special thanks goes to the organisers, most notably Nicola Streeten, who helped make the day the warm, friendly and beautiful event that it was.

A delight!

Law and Culture Conference 2015 Call for Papers

Law and Culture Conference 2015: Change

10-11 September 2015, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London

Law and culture are two significant forces in human life, both shaping and influencing the conduct of individuals, communities and societies, and the values they develop. The emergence of values and norms, of traditions and beliefs—of laws—is a chronological phenomenon, taking place through the evolution of history and the influential forces of the present. But these laws are not static: change is an on-going process: a restless development and dynamic interaction of legal, cultural, social, and human reality.

Beyond the multifaceted avenues of change that traverse the history of law and its relationship(s) with culture (changing laws, values and practices; the changing presence and visibility of law in mainstream society and culture; the changing presence of women and others in law; changes in the philosophical grounding of justice), there are also widespread changes afoot in the present of 2015. In Europe, for example, there is the possibility of enormous political change with general elections, with the ebb and flow of the corporate giant, and with the EU facing challenges that may result in its reconfiguration. Beyond politics, present life is also bringing fresh challenges for law and culture globally, such as: the increased use of technology in law and human life (including amongst other challenges the darknet, and the integration of our online and physical selves); the shifting authority of law’s cultural presence and its increasingly complex relationships with science, religion, and society; the challenges of globalisation and transnational crime; the blurring of the first, second and third world; the fluidity of values as our relationship with modernity becomes ever more strained.

The Law and Culture Conference 2015 will engage with this question of change: of how law and value have developed and changed in the cultures of the past; of how it might develop in the future; of the forces and changes acting and taking place in the cultures and societies around law today (locally, globally; nationally, transnationally); of how representations of law and justice in culture (television, film, literature, comics, newsmedia) might be evolving today, yesterday, tomorrow; of how law might respond to or encounter change or changing cultures, or challenges to its authority from other sources of value and justice; of how change might be effected within law, intentionally or otherwise, for good or for bad; of how law and culture could change one another, for better, for worse, or for something else…

These are but indicative examples of the on-going process of change, all of which require fresh perspectives to decipher and understand its significance for law, and for law’s place in contemporary culture. Such questioning also provides new opportunities to visualise and explore the frontiers and changing dynamics of law and culture. Submissions are thus sought from all areas of law and cultural legal studies, engaging in some way with this broad and open question of ‘change’.

Please submit (abstract 300 words plus 3 keywords) by email, no later than 30 June 2015.

The organisers are happy to discuss potential ideas in advance of submission.

Organisers’ contact details:

• judith.bourne@stmarys.ac.uk
• thomas.giddens@stmarys.ac.uk
• mark.mackarel@stmarys.ac.uk

There is an anticipated registration fee for the conference of £100, plus booking.

Costumed Visions: Depictions, Impacts and Ethics of Enhanced Bodies

First Meeting of the ‘Costumed Visions Network’

16 September 2015

Manchester Meeting Place, Manchester

Superheroes and supervillains are human approximations possessed of abilities or capacities beyond those considered species-typical.  These beings may acquire their powers in a variety of ways: divinity (e.g. the Mighty Thor); mysticism (e.g., the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Stephen Strange); fictional forces such as the Power Cosmic (e.g., the Silver Surfer); and more. Of particular interest, however, are those empowered by genetic and/or techno-scientific means. The processes by which they gain their increased capabilities frequently approximate those by which scientists are currently seeking to intervene in our physiology, or the way futurists are anticipating that our physiologies will be modified, and they can be distilled into the following archetypes: 

• Those who experienced an evolutionary jump or germ line genetic mutation at birth (e.g., mutants, or homo superior, such as Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus). 
• Those subject to an induced genetic transformation as a result of ethical or unethical science (e.g., mutated humans such as Captain America, She-Hulk, and Spider-Man).
• Those who rely on implanted or overlaid technology that is somehow integrated with their organic beings (e.g., Deathlok, Misty Knight, and Cable). 
• Those who rely entirely on high technologies, typically worn externally (e.g., Iron Man, Guardian, and Vindicator). 
• Those who are designed and rely on machine intelligence to achieve autonomous awareness (e.g., Danger, the Vision, and the Human Torch).

These archetypes encompass a number of approaches to, and realisations of, the enhanced human or post-human, and they are a useful device by which we can understand and critique different states of being and doing, some of which may be just over the horizon.  Their visions of enhancement and social interaction offer popular and increasingly compelling imaginaries that can be analysed from a number of angles, offering new insights around existing practices, including those around innovation trajectories, social deployment of technologies, ethical and legal control of science and human interaction, and different forms of embodiment.  In short, they offer a novel way to think about contemporary constructions of normative bodies, health, embodiment, and equality; one that is of interest to a wide range of publics not normally engaged with the academy.

The Costumed Visions of the Enhanced Body project, kindly funded by the Wellcome Trust, is a collaboration between the Institute for Science Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, and the JK Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and Law at the University of Edinburgh.  It will explore graphic fiction portrayals of the enhanced body, engaging with questions such as:

• What do the depicted enhancements say about current ideas of treatment and enhancement?
• How are different embodiments treated, and what does that say about value or values?
• How is science and technology portrayed, and are comics useful for science communication?

On 16 September 2015, at the Manchester Meeting Place, the project team (David Lawrence, Shawn Harmon, Gill Haddow) will join with other interested contributors (including Professor Scott Bukatman, Mr Dan Abnett, Professor Andy Miah, Dr Simon Locke, Mr Alan Cowsill, Mr Mik Scarlet, Dr David Kirby, and Dr Thomas Giddens and Dr Yasemin Erden, both of the Graphic Justice Research Alliance), to undertake an interdisciplinary discussion around these questions.  It will serve as a nexus of culture, media and literature studies, and will provide a unique lens through which to focus on persistent academic debates about embodiment and the ethics and regulation of enhancement.  Key outcomes of the project will be (1) the formation of the Costumed Visions Network, which will in future work collaboratively with the Graphic Justice Research Alliance, (2) publication of an edited collection based around the content of the meeting, and (3) the preparation of a proposal for further research at this novel intersection of fields.

Information on the meeting is available on the Mason Institute website http://masoninstitute.org/our-research/.

Attendance at the meeting is free but ticketed, and registration is through Eventbrite (at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/costumed-visions-of-enhanced-bodies-tickets-16885777816). 

If you wish to join the Costumed Visions Network, please contact David Lawrence (david.lawrence@manchester.ac.uk) or Shawn Harmon (shawn.harmon@ed.ac.uk).