SCMS COMICS STUDIES SCHOLARLY INTEREST GROUP

Mission Statement

It is the mission of the Comics Studies Scholarly Interest Group (CSSIG) to encourage and advance research and/or teaching relating to all aspects of comics studies, emphasizing but not limited to manga, comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels (collectively referred to as "comics”), both in print and digital media. CSSIG aims to promote the study of comics as an integral component of media studies, furthering the defining principles of SCMS as a scholarly organization dedicated to the study of all media. To achieve this goal, the Group operates under the following core principles:

1) CSSIG seeks to expand critical analysis of all aspects of comics production, circulation, and reception through original research and teaching practices.

2) CSSIG promotes research and teaching directed at cultivating knowledge of the history of comics, present practices, and potential futures.

3) CSSIG encompasses production and reception of comics media within and across national borders. CSSIG encourages the study of comics from a transnational perspective.

4) CSSIG promotes an understanding of the historical trajectory of comics studies as an academic discipline in order to contribute to its growth.

5) CSSIG is dedicated to examinations of all levels of comics production, from mass to individually produced.

6) CSSIG encourages multi-genre and cross-genre approaches to comics studies, including but not limited to autobiographical, adventure, romance, superhero, humor, crime, horror, and science fiction.

7) CSSIG emphasizes the interrelationship of comics to other media, including film, television, radio, print, web-based media, and advertising.

8) CSSIG advocates the study of both institutional and popular discourse on and reception of comics.

9) CSSIG welcomes intellectual diversity and so does not advocate any single approach to the study of comics. CSSIG instead encourages research and teaching that is continually open to, and strengthened by, multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives.

Goals and Objectives

1) To represent and promote the interests of comics focused research and teaching within the Society.

2) To establish a network hub enabling communication and intellectual exchange among those members of the Society engaged in research and teaching of comics.

3) To provide a forum to facilitate collaborative working, including joint research projects, the sharing of expertise, the organization of conferences and symposia, the formation and endorsing of pre-constituted conference panels or workshops, and the editing of journal forums or special issues.

4) To foster, wherever appropriate and possible, a critical dialogue between the academic community and practitioners working in comics industries and institutions, and comics audiences.

5) To develop a web resource for use by members and to communicate the purpose of the Group, and to explore other forms of output.

6) To attract a membership reflecting the full social, cultural and international diversity of the Society.

Bylaws

1) All members of the Media Industries Scholarly Interest Group shall be members in good standing of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

2) Annual meetings of the Group will be convened at the SCMS conference.

3) Two members from the Group shall serve as Co-Chairs for staggered terms of three years each. Election of the Co-chairs shall be conducted at the first annual meeting of the Group during the 2012 conference with the outcome reported to the SCMS Board of Directors.

4) It will be the responsibilities of the Co-Chairs to

i. communicate with the membership

ii. organize the annual meetings and prepare minutes of the business discussed

iii. report annually to the SCMS Board of Directors on the Group’s activities and attendance figures for the last meeting

iv. advise on the maintenance of the website.

5) Each year the Co-Chairs will submit a request to the Program Committee of the SCMS conference for a time and space to meet (in response to the annual call made by the Committee to SIGs).

6) At all meetings of the Group, ten members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The vote of the majority of members present at a meeting at which a quorum is present constitutes the action of the Group.

7) When issues are submitted to the members of the Group for vote via e-mail, the members shall have seven business days to respond. The subject line of the e-mail shall contain the word "vote” to alert members to act.

8) Action on behalf of the Group may be taken without a meeting if a majority of the members of the Group provide consent by writing or e-mail. The written consents shall be filed with the minutes of the next meeting.