Other Panels at MLA 2016 that include presentations on comics

  1. Francophone Media(na)tions

Thursday, 7 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 401, JW Marriott

Program arranged by the forum LLC Francophone

Presiding: Miléna Santoro, George Washington Univ.

  1. “Crossing Trenches in Le cœur des batailles by Jean-David Morvan and Igor Kordey: Textual Analysis of ‘La Marne’ (2007) and ‘Verdun’ (2008),” Anne Cirella-Urrutia, Huston-Tillotson Univ.
  2. “Frontiers, Conquests, and the (Re)Birth of the Nation: The Rise of the Comics Western in France at the End of Empire,” Eliza Bourque Dandridge, Duke Univ.
  3. ” Fast-Forward Massilia: From Claude McKay to Moussu T (e lei Jovents),” Danielle Marx-Scouras, Ohio State Univ., Columbus


  1. Graphic Interventions: Visual Cultures of the Arab World

Thursday, 7 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 402, JW Marriott

Program arranged by the forum LLC Arabic

Presiding: Hoda El Shakry, Penn State Univ., University Park

  1. “Doaa El-Adl and Cartoon Artists from Egypt,” Aisha Nasser, Oregon State Univ.
  2. “Women, Art, and Revolution in the Streets of Egypt,” Nevine El Nossery, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
  3. “‘The Walls Are Talking to Me’: Beirut Graffiti and the Reappropriation of Public Space,” Nadine Sinno, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ.

Responding: Ghenwa Hayek, Univ. of Chicago


  1. The Counterpublics of Underground Comix

Thursday, 7 January, 5:15–6:30 p.m., 10B, ACC

A special session

Presiding: Margaret Galvan, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York; Leah Misemer, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison

Speakers: Ian Blechschmidt, Northwestern Univ.; Jonathan W. Gray, John Jay Coll. of Criminal Justice, City Univ. of New York; Aaron Kashtan, Miami Univ., Oxford; Joshua Kopin, Univ. of Texas, Austin; Samantha Meier, independent scholar; Lara Saguisag, Coll. of Staten Island, City Univ. of New York

Session Description:

In the 1970s and 1980s, underground comics provided an opportunity for less dominant groups to form communities by representing alternative kinds of experience. Panelists aim to open up the conversation on underground comics to include the ignored voices, such as those of women, minorities, and LGBT communities in San Francisco and elsewhere in the United States.


  1. Print, Materiality, Narrative

Thursday, 7 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., 4BC, ACC

A special session

Presiding: Jeannine DeLombard, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara

  1. “The Politics of Format in Early Black Print Culture,” Joseph Rezek, Boston Univ.
  2. “Personifying Periodicals: Big Magazines and Modernist Form,” Donal Harris, Univ. of Memphis
  3. “‘Something to Hold Onto’: Materiality and the Graphic Novel,” Hillary L. Chute, Univ. of Chicago


  1. Developments in Comics Pedagogy

Friday, 8 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 8A, ACC

A special session

Presiding: Keith McCleary, Univ. of California, San Diego; Derek McGrath, Stony Brook Univ., State Univ. of New York

Speakers: Maria Elsy Cardona, Saint Louis Univ.; Susan E. Kirtley, Portland State Univ.; Elizabeth Mathews Losh, Coll. of William and Mary; Elizabeth Nijdam, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Joe Sutliff Sanders, Kansas State Univ.; Nick Sousanis, Univ. of Calgary

For abstracts and biographies, visit www.dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com.

Session Description:

Participants discuss how they have used comics and graphic novels to design unique courses in composition, language, literature, and new media, offering overlapping perspectives in program creation, multimodal integration, gender and cultural studies, and project-based learning. The session welcomes audience participation to discuss new approaches in teaching comics.


  1. Old and New Media in Puerto Rican Literature and Culture

Friday, 8 January, 10:15–11:30 a.m., 205, JW Marriott

Program arranged by the forum LLC Puerto Rican

Presiding: Radost Rangelova, Gettysburg Coll.

  1. “Art and Power: The Reemergence of Comics in Puerto Rican Literature,” Elena Valdez, Christopher Newport Univ.
  2. “Constructing a Transnational Etiquette of Female Sexuality,” Martin Ponti, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago
  3. “Necromedia in the Puerto Rican Debt State,” Jason Cortés, Rutgers Univ., Newark
  4. “Un café vespertino: Sediment and Privilege in the Isles of San Juan, Puerto Rico,” Mario Mercado Díaz, Univ. of Texas, Austin


  1. New Work in Language Theory

Friday, 8 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 305, JW Marriott

Program arranged by the forum TM Language Theory


  1. “Creating and Translating Ideophones in Italian Disney Comics: A Linguistic and Historical Inquiry,” Pier Pischedda, Univ. of Leeds
  2. “An Aspect of Interdigitations: Lexical Blending in Language Contact,” Keumsil Kim Yoon, William Paterson Univ.


  1. Fables, Folktales, Games, and Comics: Folklore and Visual Media

Friday, 8 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 407, JW Marriott

Program arranged by the American Folklore Society

  1. “Representing Black Folk: Jeremy Love’s Bayou and African American Folk Culture,” Jonathan W. Gray, John Jay Coll. of Criminal Justice, City Univ. of New York
  2. “Animal Terrorism: Adam Hines and the Crisis of the Animal Fable,” Christopher Pizzino, Univ. of Georgia

Responding: Alexandria Gray, Univ. of Washington, Seattle


  1. Dystopia and Race in Contemporary American Literature

Saturday, 9 January, 10:15–11:30 a.m., 4A, ACC

Program arranged by the College English Association

Presiding: Francisco Delgado, Stony Brook Univ., State Univ. of New York

  1. “The Direction from Which the People Will Come: Shifting International Borders in Leslie Marmon Silko and Karen Tei Yamashita,” Francisco Delgado
  2. “Sickness and Cities: Octavia Butler, Speculative Fiction, and the Rise of Neoliberalism,” Myka Tucker-Abramson, Univ. of Warwick
  3. “Redrawing Race Relations: The Use of the Graphic Novel to Rewrite American History,” Scott Zukowski, Stony Brook Univ., State Univ. of New York
  4. “Which Faction Are You? The (Dis)Abled Coding of Race in Divergent,” Jennifer Polish, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York