Daijoubu

Um, when I think of yaoi fandom I think of young teenagers running around screaming “Yaoi,” wielding yaoi paddles, damaging sakura trees, blocking the manga isle in bookstores and causing general disruption. Now, I don’t mean to say that all yaoi fangirls are like this, but these are the overly vocal ones who make the general impression that the world at large encounters first hand. But on a larger level, it seems the academics have become interested in yaoi fandom, as the following “call for papers” reveals. I hope someone writes about “Yaoi and Immaturity” or something…

CALL FOR PAPERS

Girls Doing Boys Doing Boys: Japanese Boys’ Love Anime and Manga in a
Globalized World

Edited by Antonia Levi, Mark McHarry, & Dru Pagliassotti

This edited, interdisciplinary volume seeks to examine the new
representations of same-sex attracted males in boys’ love and/or yaoi
– that is, male same-sex romance or erotica as featured in manga,
manwha, anime, videogames, fanfic, fanvids, artwork, and other media
derivative of the genre’s Japanese origins. The collection’s primary
focus will be the ways in which fans in countries and cultures other
than Japan interpret and use these genres, although the editors are
open to contributions about boys’ love fandoms in Japan as well. We
want to provide a broad overview of scholarly essays and research in
yaoi / boys’ love studies and so encourage work from all disciplinary
perspectives. Scholarly work about slash fiction is welcome, too,
insofar as the genre is discussed within the framework of boys’ love /
yaoi.

Papers should be between 5,000 to 20,000 words in addition to any
illustrations and well-grounded in theory and methodology. Shorter
works will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Potential approaches might include:

o Controversies and Legal Issues
o Fandoms and Fanfic
o Theoretical Models of Gender and Sexuality
o Genre Development and Adaptation
o The Publishing Industry
o Concepts of “Race” / Ethnicity in Yaoi and Boys’ Love
o Queer / Gay Discourses of Yaoi / Boys’ Love
o Comparison of Boys’ Love and Yaoi Expressions in World Regions

Submissions must be previously unpublished (conference presentations
are acceptable) and in English. Manuscript format, especially
citations and references, should accord with the Chicago Manual of
Style — see ChicagoManualofStyl e.Org.

We encourage you to submit preliminary proposals by July 31, 2008,
although these are not mandatory. Notification of preliminary
acceptances will be sent by August 30. Manuscripts and artwork must
be complete by November 15. Please note that all final decisions will
be made upon seeing completed works, not proposals or abstracts.

Proposals, papers, and questions should be emailed to . Further information and discussion can be found
at www.YaoiResearchWiki.com.

The collection will be published by McFarland & Co. in 2009.

Sources: amrc-l and here too.