This symposium celebrates the richness of women’s comics production and the representations of gender in French-language comics from around the world. Montreal-based artist Julie Delporte, along with scholars from France, Belgium, the US and the UK will present their work on gender throughout the history of bande dessinée.
This program is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Department of French and Italian and is made possible by a generous gift from Engie-Axium.
If you would like to attend, please click the RSVP button below. Please respond by February 14, 2020.
Symposium Program
Friday Feb 28, 2020:
Billy Ireland Museum Galleries open until 6pm
6:00-7:00pm Artist Keynote: Julie Delporte
Introduction: Caitlin McGurk, The Ohio State University
7pm Book signing and reception
Saturday Feb 29, 2020:
Reading room open house 12-1:30, 5-6
Galleries open 12-6
8am-9am Coffee and Tea service – social hour
9am-9:15am Welcome and opening remarks by Maggie Flinn, The Ohio State University
9:15am-10:45am Session 1: Representations: Women in and of History
Chair: Kirby Childress, The Ohio State University
Véronique Bragard, Université Catholique de Louvain, “The Women behind the Woman Behind the Man: Women’s Collective Stories on the Page in Pénélope Bagieu’s Culottées & Emilie Plateau’s Noire” (via video conference)
Isabelle Delorme, Sciences Po Paris “Catel: Portrait d’une artiste féministe du 21e siècle en auteure de biographies dessinées” (Presentation in French)
Jacques Dürrenmatt, Sorbonne Université, Paris, La Sorbonne “Les premières bandes dessinées ont-elles apporté quelque chose de nouveau dans la représentation des femmes (Töpffer, Cham, Gustave Doré)?” (Presentation in French)
10:45am-11:00am coffee break
11:00am-Noon Session 2 Engaged Francophone Feminists in North Africa and the Middle East
Chair: Johanna Sellman, The Ohio State University
Jennifer Howell, Illinois State University “Gender Equality? Hshouma! Women, Sexuality, and Comics Activism in Morocco”
Alexandra Gueydan-Turdek, Swarthmore College, “Revolutionary Comics: Samandal’s Feminist Stance in the Arab World”
Noon – 1:30pm lunch break
1:30pm-3:00pm Session 3 Bodies, experiences, and locations
Chair: Isabelle Choquet, Denison University
Michelle Bumatay, Florida State University, “The Feminine Plural in Africa and the Diaspora: Quartets of Women in Aya de Yopougon and La vie d’Ébène Duta”
Armelle Blin-Rolland, Bangor University, “Female narratives of and from Brittany: gender and environment in contemporary Breton women’s comics writing”
Catriona Macleod, University of London in Paris, “Unveiling IVG: Representations of women’s experiences of abortion in the contemporary bande dessinée”
3:15pm-3:30pm coffee break
3:30pm-5:00pm Session 4 Industry and Audience Histories
Chair: Morgan Podraza, The Ohio State University
Jessica Kohn, Université Paris 3, “Women Cartoonists, a New Avenue to Understand a Little-Known Profession?”
Sylvain Lesage, Université de Lille, “Women in Color: The Ninth Art’s Unknown Colorists”
Benoît Crucifix, University of Ghent, “Between Okapi and Ah! Nana”
5:00pm-6:00pm Reception
6:00pm-7pm Closing Roundtable
Jared Gardner, The Ohio State University
Michal Raizen, Ohio Wesleyan University
Frederick Aldama, The Ohio State University
Lucille Toth, The Ohio State University at Newark
Event Sponsors
Department of French and Italian
