HomeFaire corps ? Depictions and demands of women cartoonists in Europe and the Americas

HomeFaire corps ? Depictions and demands of women cartoonists in Europe and the Americas

Faire corps ? Depictions and demands of women cartoonists in Europe and the Americas

Faire corps ? Représentations et revendications des créatrices de bandes dessinées en Europe et dans les Amériques

Faire corps ? Representaciones y reivindicaciones de las creadoras de cómics en Europa y América

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Published on Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Abstract

This symposium will bring together Humanities and Social Sciences approaches in order to fill the gaps in the research on women and comics. We aim to highlight the part played by women in this cultural and disciplinary field by focusing on their various actions, publications and claims. The focus shall be placed on two cultural areas, Europe and the Americas, along the lines of three major topics outlined as follows in non-restrictive terms.

Announcement

Presentation

This symposium will bring together Humanities and Social Sciences approaches in order to fill the gaps in the research on women and comics. We aim to highlight the part played by women in this cultural and disciplinary field by focusing on their various actions, publications and claims. The focus shall be placed on two cultural areas, Europe and the Americas, along the lines of three major topics outlined as follows in non-restrictive terms.

Topics

1. Europe and the Americas, a comparative study

The crowding out of women from the comic's industry is a phenomenon that is by no means specific to France and Europe. The history of women in the US comics industry has been extensively documented by Trina Robbins. Yet, despite her groundbreaking input, the topic is still under-documented in comics studies. While women creators have been publishing comics since the late nineteenth century, their impact has often been limited to comic books and newspaper strips for women and children (Robbins; 2013). Today, despite an increase in the number of women creators in comic books and the opening up of positions that used to be inaccessible to them, they remain a minority in the industry, still too often confined to hardly visible positions such as colorists, editors or designers. The low number of women in the comic's industry, but also of a change of this status quo in the last two decades, are elements found in other countries across the American continent.

How has the place of women in comics evolved? Which positions are most recognized and why? Is the 9th art a “No woman's land ?” Is it possible to write (or rewrite) the history of the comics’ female pioneers in Europe and the Americas? Which obstacles do women face? What are the constraints that prevent them from being full-fledged comic book creators? Comparative approaches to address these questions will be welcome. Taking into account the history and the role of women in the comic's industry (which vary according to cultural areas), this symposium aims to feature papers focusing upon different eras and countries from Europe and the American continent.

2. Strategies and politics of women in the comics industry

Women creators are de facto a minority in the comic's industry. Since the beginning of the medium’s history, women have been present and established strategies to be accepted into this creative sector. From the invisibilization of femininity (female cartoonists signing with non-gendered or male pseudonyms) to the publication of works by women-only groups (such as the editorial board of Ah! Nana or the magazines Wimmen's Comix, La Bûche...), women have been able to carve out space for themselves in comics. These actions are not all labelled as political and/or feminist, and it will be relevant to document how women creators relate to these concepts. Which connections emerge or can be created within the networks and other social movements resulting from common mobilizations or struggles? What are the strategies that allow to thwart unequal treatment on the basis of sex and gender in the 9th art? Struggles, precariousness, desertions and reconversions: how to make a career in comics and after comics? What are the formats best adapted to propagate minority voices in comics? Self-publishing and fanzine publishing were key spaces of experimentation for committed comics in the United States in the 1970s, but they often turned out to be male-dominated environments. Is this reality replicated in other cultural areas? What about now? What are the arguments used by minority voices to justify their editorial choices?

3. Gendered representations

This last topic addresses the representations of women and gender in comics, especially (but not only) those produced by female creators. We look forward to political readings of comics by women cartoonists, even when they do not claim any political dimension. How are the female characters defined through the stories, in visual or storytelling terms? Are stereotypical men the only models portrayed, or are other forms of masculinities represented and how? In what ways do comics enable us to question notions of gender and sex? Are there works critiquing social bi-categorizations, or do they question intersectionality by integrating other factors of oppression (gender, class, validism, race, etc.)?

Terms of contribution

Proposals in English, Spanish or French including an abstract of up to 200 words and a short bio-bibliographic note should be e-mailed to: lesbrechoises@gmail.com

before February 22, 2022.

A publication will be drawn from the symposium.

Contact

Marys Renné Hertiman - marys.hertiman@gmail.com

Calendar

  • September 22, 2021: release of call for papers
  • February 22, 2022: deadline for submissions
  • March-April 2022: evaluation of proposals
  • May 2022 : announcement of the final program
  • September 2022: symposium proceedings (September 22, 2022 at the MSH Paris Nord and September 23, 2022 at the BnF)

Partnership

This symposium is organized by Les Bréchoises, a study group about women in comics, connected to the association La Brèche. It is supported by Université Paris 8, the EUR ArTeC, the MSH Paris Nord, University Paris-Nanterre, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, EXPERICE, Archives du Féminisme, EFiGiES the LEGS/CNRS. Our international partners are the University of Lausanne, the University of Genoa and the University of Valencia.

Places

  • BNF, Quai François Mauriac - BNF, Quai François Mauriac
    Paris, France (75)
  • MSH Paris Nord, 20 avenue George Sand
    Saint-Denis, France (93)

Event attendance modalities

Full on-site event


Date(s)

  • Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Keywords

  • créatrice, bande dessinée, comic, historieta, tebeo, matrimoine, histoire culturelle, dessinatrice, gender studies, cultural studies, groupe social

Contact(s)

  • Marys Renné HERTIMAN
    courriel : marys [dot] hertiman [at] gmail [dot] com

Information source

  • Marys Renné HERTIMAN
    courriel : marys [dot] hertiman [at] gmail [dot] com

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Faire corps ? Depictions and demands of women cartoonists in Europe and the Americas », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, https://calenda.org/913983

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