Comics Studies Society Conference

Description

The Comics Studies Society

The Comics Studies Society (CSS) is an interdisciplinary society open to all who share the goals of promoting the critical study of comics, improving comics teaching, and engaging in open and ongoing conversations about the comics world.

CSS is the first professional society of comics scholars in the US to be supported by members’ dues while emphasizing professional development opportunities for students and the exchange of best practices among teachers and practitioners. 

Creative Microhistories, Difficult Heritage, and Dark Public History Curating A Graphic Novel, VR and a Video Game on Ireland’s Last Mass Witchcraft Trial

The team will showcase a variety of creative outputs associated with a unique and collaborative public history project dedicated to uncovering the importance of the trial of eight women and one man in 1711 County Antrim, Ireland. It is a story that brings to mind the Salem witch trials and The Crucible, and of a time when the stoking up of superstition could reap terrible consequences. All of the accused were said to have “diabolical appearances,” some were physically disabled, and others swore, drank alcohol, and engaged in sex work. All were poor. The local male authorities believed their accuser because she was beautiful, educated and from a respected family. This story of murder, of hysteria, and of how the ‘witch craze’ that claimed thousands of lives in Europe between 1300 and 1750 played out on Irish shores, has generated little historical re-examination in the last three centuries and is still stirring up controversy in Northern Ireland. Today, McCollum and Sneddon are bringing this hidden piece of Irish social and cultural history to wider audience, at a times when women’s rights are in danger of being stripped away again, with tensions over sexual and reproductive rights; harassment; discrimination; stigma; criminalisation; and physical violence.

Period	26 Jul 2023
Event type	Conference
Location	Dallas, United StatesShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International