Section Head Election 2016 - Candidate statements

Comic Art Working Group

The Comic Art Working Group is looking for candidates to co-chair its future activities. Elections will be held during the working group's business meeting in the upcoming IAMCR conference in Leicester.

The Comic Art Working Group has a tradition of decades and is most probably the oldest working group in IAMCR, having been founded by Professor John A. Lent at the 1984 conference in Prague. The group has a substantial membership and from its launch, it has been dedicated to finding a niche within mass communication scholarship for Comic Art, which it has succeeded in doing in a spirit of serious and pleasurable study and cooperation.

Candidates should be committed to the ongoing development and maintenance of the Comic Art Working Group and provide direction and support during the yearly meetings.

Interested candidates should send their name, institutional position and a statement (maximum 500 words) to the current vice-chair,  Geisa Fernandes <geisaf[at]hotmail.com>, with a copy to IAMCR General Secretary Maria Michalis <M.Michalis[at]westminster.ac.uk> and to the IAMCR secretariat <membership[at]iamc.org>. The deadline for submitting candidacies is July 13.

The rules governing the elections of Section and Working Group officers are published at http://iamcr.org/governance/swg-rules

The duration of all mandates is 4 years, and Section and WG Officers may be re-elected at their position only once. It is possible to be elected chair after an 8 years mandate as a vice-chair and vice-versa.

Candidates and statements

Statements

Jorge Salvador Anaya Martínez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

I am applying the Vice-Chair position at the Comic Art Working Group because I believe I have found an important feedback through my experience as an attendant to the IAMCR Conferences since 2010. The Working Group has given me the opportunity to find new strategies to improve my research about animation.

Since I began attending the IAMCR Conferences, I could find colleagues that have done important contributions and observations to my papers. Those recomendations have made possible to increase my skills to get my PhD this year.

My participation on the conferences has been posible thanks to the Political and Social Sciences Posgraduate Program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). This University has been encouraging students and researchers  for getting into this topics not traditional considered for disertations, and being and important part of the Working Group can contribute to reinforce this believe.

I can offer the group my dedication to promote its activities and to impulse researchers to attend and participate sending papers and ideas to get it grow even more. I would like to encourage all the attendants to contribute reciprocally to create richer contribution to the topics we are interested in.

In conclusion, being Vice-chair I could retribute some of the things the Working Group has given to me.

Geisa Fernandes, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil

Application for the position of Chair of the Comic Art Working Group.

I firmly believe that my experience as a co-chair of the group since 2014 has prepared me for this position, since it involved a great deal of independent actions and required initiative, self-motivation and a wide range of skills, from providing direction and support to group members during the yearly meetings to following the leading guides established by  Professor John A. Lent.

I have the enthusiasm and determination to ensure the ongoing development and maintenance of the Comic Art Working Group as a niche within mass communication scholarship for Comic Art and I should be very grateful for the opportunity to progress to the position of chair.

Mikhail Peppas, Durban University of Technology, South Africa

Herewith my candidate statement for consideration as vice-chair of the IAMCR Comic Art Working Group.

I originated The Frameside Lounge (FSL) that is presented by the Comic Art Working Group in pop-up or side event versions at IAMCR conferences since 2012. The FSL serves as a ‘comic-comfort’ space for delegates to exchange ideas and storylines around comics, graphic novels, cosplay and board games.

I joined the Comic Art Working Group committee at the IAMCR 2013 Dublin conference. I am committed to the ongoing development and maintenance of the Comic Art Working Group and provide direction and support during the yearly meetings.

I present papers in the Comic Art Working Group at yearly meetings and actively participate in the Facebook group.

Damien Tomaselli, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

I believe I may offer value to the CAWG in my pursuit of aligning practical based research with academic merit. I am currently undertaking my PhD which considers the use of space and time as a narrative device in audio-visual media. I believe that aligning my efforts in this area with the CAWG would have mutual benefit for myself as well as the group. I feel the contributions of both practice and research from other members of the CAWG are valuable to me and that the CAWG is a worthwhile investment of time and energy. I hope you will consider me for a seat of chair. I hope to make a valuable contribution in the years to come.

Sections and Working Groups