Call for proposals
The Comic Art (COA) Working Group invites the submission of abstracts for its 2026 conference, to be held from 28 June to 2 July 2026 in Galway, Ireland, hosted by the University of Galway.
The deadline for submission is 3 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC.
Download this call for papers as a PDF file
Theme
IAMCR conferences cover a wide range of topics defined by our thematic Sections and Working Groups (S/WG). Each year, a central theme invites participants to engage in shared reflection across these diverse areas, fostering dialogue and collaboration.
The 2026 central theme, Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation calls for reflection on the shifting relations between centre and margin in contemporary media systems. In an era of global interdependence, profound inequalities, and creative reconfigurations, this theme encourages dialogue about how peripheral spaces—geographical, cultural, political, or conceptual—become sites of innovation, hybridity, and resistance.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme
For the Comic Art Working Group (COA), this offers an exciting opportunity to explore how comics, cartoons, graphic narratives, and visual storytelling operate within, across, and against these boundaries. How they transcend marginality through while shaping media and communication systems. And how they challenge climate change, migration, representation and digital inequalities, among others.
Comic art has long thrived in the spaces between mainstream and underground, local and global, traditional and digital, text and image. Through this liminal position, comics engage with pressing issues of power, identity, and belonging, while generating new forms of connection and meaning.
We invite submissions that investigate the peripheral and connective dimensions of comic art, its transformative capacity, and its contribution to understanding the complex networks of media and communication today. Works may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Peripheral voices and marginalised perspectives in comics and cartoons
- Global networks and transnational flows of comic art
- Comics as media of resistance, solidarity, and transformation
- Decolonial and feminist readings of comic narratives
- Hybridity and cultural translation in global comic practices
- Comics and the reconfiguration of centre–periphery relations
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and new technologies in comic creation and circulation
- Comic art and migration, diaspora, and belonging
- Comics in postcolonial and postdigital contexts
- Comics, visual storytelling, and digital inequalities
- Indigenous, local, or community-based comic productions
- Comics, gender, and intersectionality
- Construction of identity through Comics
- Political cartoons and activism across borders
- The economics of the comic industry in a connected world
- Comics and the ecology of visual media
- Graphic medicine and narratives of health and care
- Comics as educational or didactic tools
- Comic and children consumption
- Preservation and archiving of comic cultural heritage
- Comics journalism and visual reportage
- Webcomics, manga, anime, and emerging visual cultures
- Hermeneutics, semiotics, and philosophy of comics
Academic and independent scholars are equally welcome to participate. The Comic Art Working Group encourages interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and collaborative perspectives. We particularly welcome contributions from early-career researchers, artists, activists, and scholars from the Global South. Together, we aim to illuminate the many ways comic art connects peripheries and redefines media communication in our transforming world.
We are pleased to announce that the Best Paper Award continues: the author(s) of the best paper presented at the conference will have the opportunity to publish it in the International Journal of Comic Art (IJOCA), the legendary publication founded by Dr. John Lent.
Guidelines for abstracts
Abstracts for papers to be presented in person at one of the Comic Art (COA) working group’s conference sessions, should be between 800 and 1000 words. They must be submitted exclusively through IAMCR’s submission system from 28 November 2025 through 3 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Abstracts submitted by email will not be considered.
It is expected that each person will submit only one abstract. However, no author’s name should appear on more than two abstracts, either individually or as part of any group of authors and authors should not submit more than one abstract to any single section or working group. The same abstract, or a version with minor variations in title or content, must not be submitted to more than one Section or Working Group. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected. Authors submitting the same work to multiple Sections or Working Groups may be removed entirely from the conference programme.
Evaluation criteria
Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
- Technical merit
- Readability
- Originality and/or significance
- Use of or contribution to theory
- Depth of knowledge of the research, theory and/or literature related to the proposed topic as evidenced in the submission
- Relevance to the working group and current trends or controversies in its field
Acceptance of proposals may also be conditioned by programme diversity and balance criteria.
Languages
The Comic Art Working Group accepts abstracts in English and Spanish. We recommend that researchers prepare their presentation slides in English to facilitate discussion and engagement across audiences.
Statement on use of AI tools
IAMCR does not encourage or condone the use of generative AI tools to prepare abstracts submitted for consideration for our conferences. IAMCR values originality, integrity, and transparency in academic work, and believes that human-authored contributions best support rigorous and innovative scholarship in media and communication research. Should an author choose to use a generative AI tool in the preparation of an abstract, we require that they include a clear statement within their submission disclosing the tool's use. This statement must specify: (1) the name of any AI tool used; (2) how the tool was used in preparing the abstract, and; (3) the reason for using the tool. Failure to disclose the use of generative AI in accordance with these guidelines may impact the evaluation and acceptance of the submission.
Intention to attend
Each abstract submitted to IAMCR represents a real cost to the Association and contributes to the workload of volunteer reviewers and organisers. As the number of submissions each year far exceeds the available presentation slots, we ask authors to submit only if they genuinely intend to attend and present their work at the conference if accepted.
Deadlines and key dates
The deadline to submit proposals is 3 February 2026, at 23:59 UTC. Other key dates. Dates are subject to change.
About the Comic Art Working Group
Learn more about the work and scope of the Comic Art Working Group
To keep the dialogue flowing, please visit our group page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/iamcrcomicartwg
Contact the Working Group
For further information, please contact:
Chair
Iván Facundo Rubinstein (National Autonomous University of Mexico) - irubinstein@politicas.unam.mx
Vice-chairs
Shamala Ramappa (Central University of Tamil, India) - shamala.cuk@gmail.com
Levi Obonyo (Daystar University, Kenya) - lobonyo@daystar.ac.ke
Citlaly Aguilar Campos (Mexico) - citlaestrella@hotmail.com
