ICAF's Mission
The International Comic Arts Forum is an annual academic conference dedicated to promoting the scholarly study and appreciation of comic art, including comic strips, comic books, comics albums and graphic novels, magazine and newspaper cartooning, caricature, and comics in electronic media. Unique among English-language conferences, ICAF aims:
- to foster recognition of comic art as an international phenomenon, both by seeking common ground between various world traditions and by exploring the crucial differences between them;
- to welcome a multidisciplinary and pluralistic approach to the study of comic art, with due attention to larger cultural, political, literary and artistic contexts;
- to encourage discussion and collaboration among academics, independent scholars, comics professionals, and the wider public;
- to provide an accessible showcase for innovative comics scholarship and comic art, with special emphasis on traditions hitherto neglected in English-language studies.
To achieve these objectives, ICAF actively seeks collaboration with scholars, historians, critics, teachers, journalists, curators, artists and comics professionals from around the world. Each year we aim to create a supportive, collegial environment, one in which discussion can flourish, with the larger goals of enabling new work within the international scholarly community and inspiring greater scholarly and public appreciation of comic art.
This page is maintained by Charles Hatfield. Last updated on 31 January 2009.
