Friday 23 August, 2019
10:00am BST - 5:30pm BST
Knowledge Centre, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
What is Manga? Exploring Japanese manga and visual narratives
The Japanese and British governments are holding a ‘Japan-UK Season of Culture 2019-20,’ bridging the Rugby World Cup 2019 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020. A number of events have been organised, with the Citi exhibition Manga at the British Museum (23 May – 26 August 2019) initiating the year-long celebration. The manga exhibition explores the growing appeal of this form in historical and social contexts, exploring its links to the past, revealing its present manifestations and exploring its trajectories into other related trajectories. The day-long workshop will coincide with the exhibition in its final days and provide an opportunity for participants to attend both the event and view the exhibition.
Manga, anime, and video games have gained a great deal of attention in Europe over recent years. And although manga has become a major global art form that is increasingly recognised outside of Japan, there has been a distinct East-West separation in the field of comic studies and related academic fields. This symposium will create a space for dialogue on manga in a global context.
To address these interrelated issues in a fresh international context, this symposium brings together manga scholars, artists and industry affiliated members from Japan with international comics and manga scholars to engage in a productive dialogue to discuss definitions, reach and impact of manga in the round. The symposium should contribute towards an understanding of the reach and conditions of Japanese manga’s influence not only on comic expression but also more widely on contemporary material culture.
Presented by the Japan Foundation and Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, in collaboration with the British Library.
The programme has been created with the support of the British Museum.
Click here to view the day’s programme.
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