Agenda

07 Apr 2026 11:30

A Contextualized History of Boys Love (BL) Manga: A Peek into Transfiguring Women [...]

Online

CONFERENCE
A Contextualized History of Boys Love (BL) Manga: A Peek into Transfiguring Women in Late Twentieth-Century Japan

James Welker
Professor at the Faculty of Cross-Cultural and Japanese Studies at Kanagawa University

Tuesday, April 7, 2026.
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 a.m. (CET)
The lecture will be held in English, online on GMeet.

Abstract: In the early 1970s, Japan saw the emergence of several dynamic and overlapping communities of women and adolescent girls who challenged Japanese gender and sexual norms, the most salient of these being the women’s liberation (ūman ribu) movement. While largely invisible at the time, the establishment of the lesbian community is often traced back to the same period. Finally, while the media they produced and consumed had a noteworthy presence in the commercial and amateur publishing, the sphere comprised of artists and fans of queer shōjo manga (girls’ comics) similarly received little public attention. The emergence and cultural importance of these three communities are the focus of James Welker’s Transfiguring Women in Late Twentieth-Century Japan: Feminists, Lesbians, and Girls’ Comics Artists and Fans. As he shows, individually and collectively, they problematized the normative understanding of the category “women” by transfiguring ideas, images, and practices selectively appropriated from the “West”—while remaining primarily focused on the local. In this talk, Welker will introduce this book with a focus on the history of fans and artists of queer shōjo manga, particularly the emergence of the genre widely known in- and outside Japan as boys love (BL).

Online registration is available until April 6 2026 at 8 p.m. (CET) through this link
You will receive a participation link on April 6 after 9 p.m. (CET).
If you do not receive the link, please send an email to gesshin@unive.it

Organized by Angelica Stevanato, Student Association GESSHIN, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
For more information and reservations
Instagram: gesshin_cafoscari 
Facebook: Gesshin – Associazione studentesca Università Ca’ Foscari 
Youtube: GESSHIN Ca' Foscari University
E-mail: gesshin@unive.it

This initiative has been financed through Ca' Foscari University’s funds for student activities.

Lingua

L'evento si terrà in inglese

Organizzatore

Department of Asian and North African Studies; Associazione Studentesca GESSHIN, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia

Allegati

Poster - Programme 967 KB

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