CFP: Mechademia 8. Tezuka Osamu: Manga Life

We seek submissions for the eighth volume of Mechademia, an annual, peer-reviewed forum for critical work on Japanese manga, anime, and related arts. The theme of volume 8 is “Tezuka Osamu: Manga Life”

Tezuka Osamu is one of Japan’s most renowned anime and manga creators, often regarded as an origin figure in Japanese popular culture. Published in conjunction with a major exhibit of Tezuk’s work to be held at the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis Minnesota in 2013, Mechademia 8 will attempt to provide some new perspectives on Tezuka, including his context and his legacy–through the broad rubric of Manga Life. We imagine this theme to encompass:

+ Tezuka’s profound interest in the relationship between human and non-human life forms.

+ drawn or animated characters as quasi-autonomous life forms at the center of multimedia franchises or media mixes, a development Tezuka’s work (across manga and anime, for example) helped foster

+ the emergence of professional manga creators; the ability of artists and writers to live a “manga life” as manga production emerges as a viable livelihood.

+ links between popular culture and daily life, with attention to the transformations in everyday life in Japan during the span of the Showa period (1926-1989), which corresponds almost perfectly with Tezuka’s life (1928-1989).

We invite submissions that deepen or complicate our understanding of these areas, centered on any aspect of Tezuka’s work and life, as well as on related artists and work. We particularly welcome essays exploring historical and political implications of Tezuka’s “manga life.”

The deadline for submissions is January 9, 2012 to <submissions(at)Mechademia.org>
Essays may be up to 5,000 words in length, with shorter pieces also welcome, and we will consider submissions in creative, non- traditional formats as well. Further information on the volume and the format for submissions is available on Mechademia’s web page at http://mechademia.org/volumes/

Email: submissions@mechademia.org
Visit the website at http://mechademia.org/2011/08/call-for-papers-mechademia-8/