Deaf-initely Ironic…?
“CRIPPING” THE COMIC CON 2016

April 1, 2016
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

This Request for Papers has now closed.  For your information, the content of this Call for Papers will be kept live for reference.  Please contact razubal@syr.edu if you have any questions on this document or this event.

Join us for our fourth annual “Cripping” the Comic Con, where “con” means conference and comics convention. This year’s main themes are irony, humor, and Deaf cultural pride. We wish to explore the ways in which irony and humor reflect and create understandings and interpretations of disability in popular culture.

Each year, the symposium provides participants with the opportunity to engage in a broad array of reflective discussions about the representations of disability that exist “beneath the surface” and explicitly within mainstream popular cultures both nationally and internationally, particularly the popular culture phenomena that are comic books, graphic novels, and manga.

In No Respect (1989), an aptly titled foundational text underscoring the ways in which popular culture is oftentimes perceived as “low culture” and therefore undeserving of scholarly (and popular) attention, author Andrew Ross “…argues that the making of ‘taste’ is hardly an aesthetic activity, but rather an exercise in cultural power, policing and carefully redefining social relations between classes” (Routledge, 2015). Irony frequently serves a parallel function in highlighting power dynamics and issues of marginalization. There are many theories that seek to explain the meaning and purposes of humor.

Rather than taking on only one of many philosophical approaches – the aggression and hostility hypothesis, the catharsis explanation, etc. – we are more interested in examining how humor and irony serve to critique, amplify, and disrupt popular cultural understandings of disability by and about People with Disabilities (PWDs) and our allies and friends. Social critique via humor is famously present in myriad d/Deaf spaces. Many d/Deaf individuals do not identify as PWDs, but as members of a cultural group and community, and/or as a linguistic minority. Some d/Deaf people identify in numerous ways, simultaneously, or depending upon context.

What do humor and irony imply and what emotional labor do they accomplish when considering daily quality of life perceptions, family dynamics, and so on? How are these vital subjects portrayed in numerous facets of popular culture? What new imaginings are possible?

From comic strips to graphic novels to films to games that include and, in some cases, feature characters with disabilities, humor remains a vibrant and creative focus for establishing connections and imagining strategies in the lives of PWDs and allies. In what ways do humor and irony counter, deepen, and complicate issues of stigma and isolation? There are many ways to be Deaf, Blind, Autistic, etc., and diverse experiences need to be addressed by creators of comics, film, and other media. What are some strategies that can be used to politicize the comics and film industries? Aspects of these ideas and questions were articulated during our 2013 post-symposium session, “Disability Activism and Fandom: A Roundtable Strategizing on Fandom as a Target of/Resource for Activism,”

Anyone can participate in “Cripping” the Comic Con. Although some of the language in this Call for Proposals is decidedly “academic,” and some of the folks who participate may self-identify as “academics,” this symposium is really for everyone, and we mean it. All are welcomed; please feel free to submit your ideas for consideration. We seek to promote a culture of inclusion.

Michael Bérubé tells us that “every representation of disability has the potential to shape the way ‘disability’ is understood in general culture, and some of those representations can in fact do extraordinary powerful—or harmful—cultural and political work” (1997, p. B4). These representations encourage audience members to come to an acceptance and understanding of the wide range of differences that exist among us.

Submissions incorporating genres that do not typically receive sustained attention in mainstream scholarly spaces are encouraged. These include but are not limited to the following:

• films, movies, videos, television shows (including reality TV, animated TV)
• advertising, newspapers, magazines
• comic cons, dragon cons, geek cons, movie cons, cosplay, cult fandom, the “geek syndrome”
• games, gaming, toys, action figures comix, anime, motion comics
• digital media and digital effects
• visual arts, painting, photography, deviantART, alternative and alternate art forms
• poetry, expressive arts, popular fiction, imagetext, fanfic, slash, alternative and alternate forms of literacies
• material culture, multimedia, social media, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
• websites, blogs, memes, zines

One of our primary goals as symposium organizers is to create opportunities for all participants—particularly students and emerging scholars—to share their work.

Another of our primary goals is to assure that all information associated with the symposium is accessible and equitable. The symposium organizers and the proposal review committee strongly support the notion that “academics have a responsibility to make their work relevant for the society they exist within” (Jurgenson, 2012); this premise includes making Disability Studies relevant and accessible to members of disability communities (Ne’eman, 2012).

Since representations in popular culture are generally created outside of academic environments, it is especially important for the general public and not just “academics” to engage in conversations about popular culture and disability. Representations have the potential to affect everyone. We all benefit from discussing and learning about disability and popular culture in ways that include and welcome everyone’s participation.

This event is meant not only to address often unmet needs in scholarly spaces and beyond, but also to address these vital areas/concerns:

1. Popular culture studies and literature do not pay consistent or adequate attention to disability; when this attention is paid, it is often via “special issues” of journals, etc.
2. Further, “Popular culture is…the discursive terrain on which larger social issues are played out, often unobtrusively and masked as entertainment–and this is precisely why pop culture needs to be examined even more closely…” (Nayar, 2011, p. 172). These issues include not only our understandings of diverse minds and bodies, but representations and intersections of identities, including but not limited to gender expression, sexual orientation, race, class, ethnicity, size, age, veteran’s status, etc.
3. Popular culture studies and literature continue to have a mixed reception within certain mainstream academic spaces. Because popular culture is still sometimes not taken seriously within some of these spaces (even among some Disability Studies scholars and practitioners), its status remains, for some, “discounted” (at times, popular culture studies may even be perceived as “deviant”). Consequently, this symposium’s organizers aim to:
   a. critique what is often described as “deviant”
   b. question and disrupt what “counts” as academic, mainstream, and normative
4. The symposium will be consistent with values that underscore the disability rights movement: we seek to make collective investments in disability pride, identity, and cultures. In “cripping” the status quo, we assert, purposefully, “Nothing about us without us.” For more information on what we mean by “cripping,” please visit this page on the “Cripping” the Comic Con website: https://crippingthecon.com/more-on-what-cripping-means/.
5.  We will always welcome submissions based upon the variety of issues and strategies that were identified during our 2013 post-symposium session, “Disability Activism and Fandom: A Roundtable Strategizing on Fandom as a Target of/Resource for Activism,” including but not limited to the following topics and questions:

• The relationship between disability rights activism and fandom
• Accessibility of cons and fan-related spaces
• How to engage fandom communities further in the disability rights movement
• Have there been opportunities for change in how fandom communities approach disability? If so, how?
• What are the discourses that are produced when “reboots” happen with comic characters?
• How might we all participate most fully at events during which disability is or is not prevalent, especially when the events involve and in some cases privilege popular culture?
• How and in what ways might cosplay choices be perceived and harnessed as forms of activism, from a disability cultural standpoint?
• How might we take advantage of “teachable moments” in the context of addressing the intersections of disability, fandom, and popular culture?
• The transformative potential of art, and considering ways for “creating representations on our own terms”
• Being aware of the ways in which gatekeepers to traditional media and large independent media may prohibit access to disenfranchised populations, including People with Disabilities

Submission Guidelines and Instructions

Proposal types and formats may include, among others:

1. Individual presentation
2. Panel presentation
3. Discussion/workshop/roundtable
4. Performance/video/film/art entry
5. Poster session

Please note that other forms of proposals are fully welcomed, and the above list is not exhaustive. If you have something particular in mind, please explain the details and parameters of what you imagine, via your proposal submission(s). You are also welcomed and encouraged to submit more than one proposal.

If your submission is a performance/video/film/art entry, you are responsible for securing permissions and rights for public viewing. Videos and films should be open captioned and descriptions of any artwork or other images will be required. Audio descriptions of videos and films may also be required, depending upon the nature and style of the videos/films being submitted.

EXTENDED PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 22, 2016

Each proposal must include:

1. Name
2. Affiliation (if applicable)
3. Contact information (including email and phone/video phone)
   • If there is more than one presenter, please indicate the main contact and lead presenter (if these are two or more individuals, please indicate this information).
4. Title of presentation/activity/etc. (15 words or less)
5. Short description (50 words or less)
6. Full description (1000 words or less)
7. How to submit your proposal(s) — please choose one of the following options:

1. Via our symposium website: https://crippingthecon.com/submissions
2. Via Fax: 315-443-4338. Please indicate CRIPCON SUBMISSION on Fax cover sheet.
3. Via regular mail:
   “Cripping” the Comic Con 2016
   c/o SU Disability Cultural Center
   805 S Crouse Ave, 105 Hoople Bldg.
   Syracuse, NY 13244-2280

Additional Information

Information and content produced as a result of this symposium may be published, with participant and presenter consent, via Beneath the SURFACE (BtS), an open source digital repository on disability and popular culture. BtS is available to the academic community as well as to the general public, and includes an array of resources regarding disability and popular culture.

We will provide a designated time and area for “Open Space.” Open Space is an opportunity for participants to create spontaneous and/or planned topical interactions with each other: a way for you to create your own symposium “sessions.” There will also be vending and exhibition tables, art stations, and other opportunities for networking, gaming, etc. that will follow the thematic tracks of the symposium. The particular tracks will be identified once all submissions have been reviewed by the proposal review committee.

All confirmed participants (whether presenting or not) will receive information on:

1. Completing registration
2. Requesting accommodations
3. Expressing dietary preferences (some but not all meals will be included with registration)

All participants will be responsible for the cost of their own lodging and travel.

To keep informed, please visit us online!

Website for “Cripping” the Comic Con: https://crippingthecon.com

“Cripping” the Comic Con on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CrippingTheCon

“Cripping” the Comic Con on Twitter: @cripcon

References

Bérubé, M. (1997, May 30). The cultural representation of people with disabilities affects us all. The Chronicle of Higher Education, B4-B5.

Jurgenson, N. (2012, May 11). Making our ideas more accessible. Washington, DC: Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved September 19, 2012 from: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/05/11/scholars-must-make-their-work-more-available-and-accessible-essay.

Nayar, P. K. (2011). Haunted knights in spandex: Self and othering in the superhero mythos. Mediterranean Journal of Humanities, 1/2, 171-183.

Ne’eman, A. (2012, May 14). Making disability studies accessible. Washington, DC: Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN). Retrieved September 19, 2012 from http://autisticadvocacy.org/2012/05/making-disability-studies-accessible/.

Ross, A. (1989). No respect: Intellectuals and popular culture. New York and London: Routledge.

Routledge. (2015). About the book: No respect. Retrieved December 4, 2015 from
https://www.routledge.com/products/9780415900379.