Le Imperial War Museum de Londres lance un appel à communication intitulé : « Comics and Conflict ». Débouchant sur un colloque (prévu les 19 et 20 avril prochain) à Londres, celui-ci nous invite à réfléchir sur la « façon dont les bandes dessinées du monde entier représentent l’expérience et l’impact de la guerre et des conflits ». Faisant directement écho à un colloque de Cerisy organisé en juin 2010 (« Guerres et totalitarisme dans la bande dessinée »), cette proposition nous invite à considérer nombre de problématiques et d’œuvres que nous ne saurions toutes citer ici (Gen d’Hiroshima, La Guerre d’Alan, Gaza 1956…). Il est à noter que la collection « La BD de classe en classe » éditée par le CRDP Charente-Poitou propose plusieurs titres proposant un usage pédagogique d’œuvres portant sur la guerre : Enseigner la souffrance et la mort avec C’était la guerre des tranchées de Tardi, Dessiner l’indicible autour d’Auschwitz de Placal Croci ou encore La guerre d’Algérie avec Azrayen de Lax et Giroud. Il est sans doute possible, s’appuyant sur ses publications, de formuler une piste de recherche originale qu’il s’agira de concevoir avant le 31 mars prochain.
The Comics & Conflicts Conference will be held on 19-20 August, 2011 at the Imperial War Museum in London, and is aimed at comics scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts. Invited conference speakers and guests will include: Pat Mills (Charley’s War); Martin Barker and Roger Sabin on Doonesbury; Garth Ennis (Troubled Souls, War Story); Jacques Tardi (It Was The War Of The Trenches) and Jean-Pierre Verney (Putain de Guerre), the latter two subject to confirmation.
Papers for the conference are welcomed that explore the ways in which comics around the world represent and articulate the experience and impact of war and conflict. For example, topics may include:
- Depictions of conflict in comics created for children.
- Representations of trauma in comic books, graphic novels, manga & other forms of international comics.
- Visual representations of conflict in such places as Afghanistan, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, The Middle East, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam.
- Journalism, biography, and memoir in comics on conflict.
- Focus on key practitioners such as Guibert, Kubert, Mills, Sacco, Satrapi, Spiegelman, Tardi & Trudeau.
- Comics as a space to depict/critique national ideology.
- Comics as tools of propaganda, both of the state and of protest organisations.
In the first instance please email abstracts of 250 words, with a brief author biography, to a.kahn@roehampton.ac.uk, including ‘Comics & Conflicts 2011’ in the subject heading. The deadline for submissions is 31 March, 2011.
The Comics & Conflicts Conference is organised by Ariel Kahn (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University), Alex Fitch (presenter of Panel Borders, the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics) and Paul Gravett (Comica Director).
The Comics & Conflicts Conference will form part of a literary festival being held from 13-21 August 2011, which accompanies the Imperial War Museum’s new exhibition Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children. For more information about the exhibition and the festival visit the Imperial War Museum web site.
Further details of this very special event (including details on the keynote speakers, special guests and registration) will be announced right here on the Comica News Blog.