Immigration, Emigration, and the Diaspora Experience

The biggest turning points in comics have featured stories about immigrants and immigration. From Superman to Maus to the Katzenjammer Kids, immigration, emigration, and the diaspora experience have been explored through allegory and literal narratives in countless political cartoons, comic strips, superhero comics, and graphic memoirs. The sixth volume of the Journal of Comics and Culture seeks to explore these themes of immigration, emigration, migration, and the diaspora experience as portrayed in comics throughout the rich history of the form.

Potential topics for proposals include but are not limited to the following:
Depictions of immigration in political cartoons
Autobiographical comics about the refugee experience
The Silver Surfer and exploration of the “foreign”
The intersections of migration and gender
The Jewish-American experience and the birth of the superhero
The X-Men and clashing perspectives on marginalization, the creation of Genosha
Post-colonialist narratives and decolonialism in comix and zines
Shifts in the depiction of immigrants in comics from the 50s to today

Please upload a short bio and your abstract of 250-300 words to this google form by April 1, 2021. We are interested in a broad range of voices and are happy to hear from both academic and independent scholars. We have a particular interest in centering the voices of scholars of color and scholars of marginalized genders.

All scholarly essays published in the Journal are peer reviewed; other contents are editorially reviewed. Authors whose submissions are accepted for publication will be required to secure permissions for any images that are reproduced.

Please direct any questions or inquiries to Tiffany Babb at tbabb0621@gmail.com or Ioana Atanassova at iatanassova@pace.edu 


Proposals Due: 4/1
Notification of Acceptance: 4/20
Completed manuscripts due: 7/1

Acceptance of articles will depend on the fit and strength of the final piece.