Call For Papers
Mediatised images of Japan in Europe: Through the media kaleidoscope
Cardiff University, UK, 1 – 2 May 2018
Europe and Japan are geographically far removed from one another. However, and increasingly, Japan is also present in a variety of public venues and forms travelling on multiple distribution platforms: print, television, and online media. Inevitably, all these sources provide polyvalent images of Japan as traditional and modern, familiar and alien. The variety, and sometimes conflicting nature of these images can raise questions about their accuracy and how representative of Japan they are. Japan is perceived through the kaleidoscope of the media, as a fragmented and scattered succession of images, forming an ever-changing vision. While air travel has become accessible for the masses, Japan remains distant for many Europeans, and thus their main or only sources of knowledge are those that are available to them in their home country or on the Internet.
Papers for this workshop can fall into, but are not limited to, the following categories:
- Japan in the European media, in the past and currently
- The press: newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines, internet magazines and portals
- Television: variety shows, documentaries released in European TV stations
- Travelogues and carnets de voyage
- European/American cinema and TV shows
- Images of Japan as depicted in Japanese manga and animation (anime, feature films, auteur short animations) as well as Japanese live-action films and TV series released in European countries
- European/American novels, comics, cinema and TV shows
- Accuracy of media portrayals of Japan
- ‘Contradictions’ and ‘paradoxes’ about Japan in European and Japanese media
- ‘Japan’ as a constructed image in/by the media
- Western stereotyping of Japan in the media
Cardiff University’s School of Modern Languages, in co-operation with Mutual Images Association, invite potential speakers to this workshop. Interested presenters are invited to submit a 300-word abstract on topics related to images of Japan through a foreign lens and vice-versa. PhD students and early career researchers are particularly encouraged to submit papers. Panel submissions are welcome, but also all the individual papers will be grouped with others of a similar theme, where possible. All papers presented may be subsequently published in the peer-reviewed journal Mutual Images: mutualimages-journal.org.
Please send your abstract, along with your details (name, position and institution/affiliation), to: mutualimages@gmail.com
The deadline for abstracts is 15th February 2018. Presentations will be scheduled for 20 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of discussion and exchange.
Information about attending as a delegate will be sent out shortly after the deadline. A provisional schedule and details of the keynote will be provided at that time.
Call for Submission- Book Reviews
We currently welcome book reviews for the 5th issue of the Mutual Images Journal (peer reviewed) considering books on the interactions between Japan and Europe both past and present. Email us at mutualimages@gmail.com for more information.
