Events

Cultures of Image and Word: Perspectives on the Histories of Comics and Children’s Literature

Wednesday 18 September 2024, University of Turku, Publicum, Pub 209, Assistentinkatu 7, Turku

This one-day symposium showcases current research on comics and children’s literature in their various historical and social contexts in Finland from the late 1700s until today. What does the history of Finnish comics look like if it is written with the focus on minorities, their comics and the representations of minority issues and identities? How were illustrations and other visuals used in early nineteenth-century books for children and young people? How has illustration been approached in Finland-Swedish reviews of children’s literature?

The program includes a keynote address by Anna Nordenstam, Professor of Comparative Literature at University of Gothenburg, and presentations by researchers from the three Turku/Åbo-based projects Diversity in Finnish Comics History: Minorities and Self-Representation, Becoming a Reading Nation? Children’s Books and Educational Literature in Finland, 1790–1850, and Tippelill – Swedish Children’s Literature Research and Critique in Finland. The symposium is the inaugural seminar of the Diversity in Finnish Comics History: Minorities and Self-Representation project and organized jointly by the three projects.

The work of the three projects is enabled by the generous support of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, the Kone Foundation, and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

The symposium is open to the public. Please, register to the symposium by 11 September 2024 through this link: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/EP/439CEF65E77A339A.

Welcome!

Program:

10.15-10.30 Ralf Kauranen: Opening words
10.30-11.45 KEYNOTE Anna Nordenstam: ”How to Cure a Feminist”: Comics, Archives and Historiographies

11.45-13.00 Lunch

13.00-13.30 Heidi Hakkarainen: Conveying Knowledge, Evoking Emotions: Illustrations in Early Nineteenth-Century Books for Children and Young People
13.30-14.00 Leena Romu: Making Them Visible: Writing the History of Female Comics Artists in Finland
14.00-14.30 Tuuli Hypén: What Does a Bear Look Like? The Illustrator’s Role in Education

14.30-15.00 Coffee

15.00-15.30 Maria Lassén-Seger: “Inga bilder är bättre än fula och otympliga, emedan barnens skönhetssinne icke får kränkas”: Image and Child in Swedish Children’s Literature Reviews in Finland
15.30-16.00 Reeta Kangas: Of Foxes and Crows: Transcultural Influences and Adaptations in 19th Century Finnish Fables
16.00-16.30 Anna Vuorinne: Information, Humour, Activism and Advertising in Rainbow Colours: Exploring the Beginnings of Finnish Queer Comics in LGBTIQA+ Organisations’ Magazines

16.30-16.35 Thank you!

PREINVITATION: SAVE THE DATE – WED. 18.9.2024 – SAVE THE DATE

Cultures of Image and Word: Perspectives on the Histories of Comics and Children’s Literature

Wednesday 18 September 2024, University of Turku, Publicum, Pub 209, Assistentinkatu 7, Turku

This one-day symposium showcases current research on comics and children’s literature in their various historical and social contexts in Finland from the late 1700s until today. What does the history of Finnish comics look like if it is written with the focus on minorities, their comics and the representations of minority issues and identities? How were illustrations and other visuals used in early nineteenth-century books for children and young people? How has illustration been approached in Finland-Swedish reviews of children’s literature?

The program includes a keynote address by Anna Nordenstam, Professor of Comparative Literature at University of Gothenburg, and presentations by researchers from the three Turku/Åbo-based projects Diversity in Finnish Comics History: Minorities and Self-Representation, Becoming a Reading Nation? Children’s Books and Educational Literature in Finland, 1790–1850, and Tippelill – Swedish Children’s Literature Research and Critique in Finland. The symposium is the inaugural seminar of the Diversity in Finnish Comics History: Minorities and Self-Representation project and organized jointly by the three projects.

The work of the three projects is enabled by the generous support of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, the Kone Foundation, and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

The symposium is open to the public. A detailed program will be published in August.

Welcome!