Since the creation of the first manga magazine, Eshinbun Nipponchi, in Japan in 1874, manga evolved and came a long way. After manga became a widely-accepted form of popular culture in Japan, it was exported to countries like the US and has become an international phenomenon. Manga is no longer a mere source for entertainment for the general public, but also it is a serious subject of academic inquiry.  However, while manga became mainstream and global, its sales in the US have recently been in decline. Although some publishers attribute the sales drop to the market stabilization and maturation, it is clear that manga is at a crossroads. Through two manga symposia, the origin of manga and future directions of this unique art form that started in Japan will be reexamined. The first symposium on March 6, 2015 focused on classical manga. This second symposium on April 4, 2015 is dedicated to diversification and globalization of manga. The participants will also learn about the OSU’s manga materials accessible to them and find out how they can incorporate manga into research, teaching, and learning.

Symposium 2: Manga at a Crossroads: Development & Globalization of Manga

Saturday, April 4:
1:00 pm – 5:30pm, Jean and Charles Schulz Lecture Hall (Room 220), Sullivant Hall
Flyer (pdf)

Schedule: 

1:00 pm:   Opening
1:10 pm:   Prof. Masami Toku (California State University, Chico)
“World of Shōjo Manga!: Mirrors of Girls’ Desires”
2:10 pm:   Prof. Jennifer Prough (Valparaiso University)
“Local Texts, Global Audiences: a View from within the Shōjo Manga Industry”
3:15 pm:   Prof. Kerim Yasar (Ohio State University)
“Marketing Manga in the U.S.: Translational Strategies, Transnational Flows”
4:15 pm:  Prof. Casey Brienza (City University London)
“Global Manga: ‘Japanese’ Comics without Japan?”
5:30-7:00 pm:   Reception and gallery opening for World of Shojo Manga! Mirrors of Girls’                               Desires 

Sponsors:

East Asian Studies Center, Institute for Japanese Studies, Ohio State University Libraries, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Department of History of Art, Department of Arts Administration, Education & Policy,Division of Arts and Humanities, Association for Asian Studies, Japan Foundation, and US Department of Education (Title VI)

For more information and printable flyers click here: http://easc.osu.edu/manga2015

Image: Collage of H.J. Lewis cartoons created by Garland Martin Taylor

Sculptor and curator Garland Martin Taylor will be joining us for an evening lecture at OSU to share his research on Henry Jackson Lewis, a nineteenth-century African American political cartoonist. Born a slave, Lewis as a freeman became a self-taught artist whose landscape drawings and editorial cartoons regularly appeared in both white and black newspapers; he was the director of the art department at a black illustrated newspaper, the Indianapolis Freeman. Although some of Lewis’s drawings are now held at the Smithsonian Museum and the DuSable Museum in Chicago, key details about Lewis’s life and work remained unknown until recently.

Garland Martin Taylor sheds new light on Lewis’s life, his controversial drawings, and his historical importance as an African American visual artist in periodical culture. This event will appeal to audiences with interests in communication, cartoon history, art and art history, literacy studies, print culture, African American studies, and a range of other topics. This event is FREE and open to the public.

This program was made possible with the help of The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, University Libraries, The School of Communication, History of Art, African and African American Studies, and Literacy Studies.

Please join us for a short symposium on the events of January 7, 2015, when the Parisian satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by armed assailants, leaving a dozen individuals dead including five cartoonists. Bringing together scholars working in French comics, popular culture and identity, global media and the middle east, and the history of radical satire in comics and alternative publications, this symposium seeks to provide both context and preliminary thoughts towards answering some of the big questions raised by the event.

Some of these questions include: Why was a cartoon magazine with relatively small circulation targeted? Does an increasingly global media landscape challenge some of the historical freedoms and practices of print media? What is the past, present and future of satirical cartooning in the tradition of Charlie Hebdo? How will the lives of people in France and beyond be impacted by the events of January 7th, including defenders of the French secular principles of laïcité, the  French Muslim community, and others caught in the crossfire?

Lecture by MARK MCKINNEY (Miami University), “Race, Religion and Charlie Hebdo“

Followed by a roundtable with:

DANIELLE MARX-SCOURAS (French & Italian, OSU)

Erik Nisbet (School of Communication, OSU)

YOUSEFF YACOUBI (Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, OSU)

JARED GARDNER (English and Film Studies, OSU)

JENNY ROBB (Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum)

Q&A/discussion

This event will take place in the Jean and Charles Schulz Lecture Hall, Room 220, Sullivant Hall and is FREE and open to the public. Additional information is available on Facebook

Sponsored by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and Popular Culture Studies.

Celebrate the opening of King of the Comics:  William Randolph Hearst and 100 Years of King Features, an upcoming exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, guest-curated by Brian Walker. Join us for a weekend of celebration featuring some of your favorite King Features cartoonists in conversation, a curator’s tour, films, and an opening reception to kick off the 100th Anniversary of King Features Syndicate.

Join in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act with An Evening with U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Nate Powell, and Andrew Aydin, a discussion of the Civil Rights Movement and the experience of telling Congressman Lewis’s story in the graphic memoir March. Selections from March: Book One and Book Two are on display in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum’s  exhibit The Long March: Civil Rights in Cartoons and Comics currently on view until November 30, 2014.

The award winning a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock will enhance the program with music that addresses critical issues of democracy, freedom, racism, and economic and
social justice.

This event takes place at the Archie M. Griffin East Ballroom in the Ohio Union. Free and open to the public. Open seating, no tickets required. Nearby parking available in the Ohio Union South Garage, Arps Garage and the South Campus Gateway Garage.

Book signing to follow the event. Books will be available for purchase.

Co-sponsored by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum; Office of Diversity and Inclusion; College of Arts and Sciences; The Ohio State University Libraries; The Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise; The Office of Student Life  and Student Life Multicultural Center; U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Ohio; Wexner Center for the Arts; Wexner Medical Center; Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity; Department of African American and African Studies; and the Moritz College of Law.