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Glocal Polemics of ‘BL’ (Boys Love): Production, Circulation, and Censorship
When: 22nd & 23rd January 2011
Where: Oita University (Japan, Oita city near Fukuoka)
The genre of male homosexual narratives written by and for women, commonly called ‘BL’ (Boys’ Love), has recently been acknowledged as a significant component of Japanese popular culture by Japanese and non-Japanese scholars alike. This workshop investigates the different ways in which BL genres, aesthetics and styles have been taken up, deployed and transformed by female fans transnationally. The way in which Japanese products, styles and images are received in different cultures as well as the (sub)cultural ends to which they are deployed will be investigated, as will the impact of the fandom on the changing nature of consumerism, participatory fan culture and particularly gender in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
In particular the workshop will focus on:
- Censorship, as exemplified by anti-BL discourses in areas as diverse as Japan, China, Canada, the US, and Australia
- The problematic representation of ‘gay men’ in female-oriented sexual fantasies
- Social and media responses to BL and its female fans (e.g. the over-popularised concept of fujoshi)
- Local ethnographies of BL production, distribution and use
- The integration of research on BL subcultures into a wider discussion of social theory, discourses, and globalisation.
Confirmed keynote speakers
Dr. Mark McLelland (University of Wollongong)
Mark McLelland is Associate Professor in the Sociology program at the University of Wollongong and was the 2007/08 Toyota Visiting Professor of Japanese at the University of Michigan. He is well known for his work on sexual minority history and culture in Japan and has recently published on problematic social and legal issues occasioned by the spread of BL and other sexualized manga and anime genres to Australia and the West.
Dr. Kazumi Nagaike (Oita University)
Kazumi Nagaike is an Associate Professor at the Center for International Education and Research at Oita University, Japan. She has published articles on female acts of fantasising male-male eroticism, both in literary works and in popular culture. Her most recent research interest is the semiotic analysis of male homosexual bodies, as represented in live-action BL films for female audiences.
Confirmed discussant
Professor Vera Mackie (University of Wollongong)
Professor Vera Mackie is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Well known for her pioneering work into feminist history in Japan, Vera's current research focuses on Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific region.
Please submit a 250-word abstract, a short C.V. and a statement outlining what you hope to gain from the workshop and how it articulates with your research plans to Dr. Kazumi Nagaike (nagaike@cc.oita-u.ac.jp) and Dr. Katsuhiko Suganuma (suganuma@cc.oita-u.ac.jp) by 30 June 2010. Registration at the event is free. A limited number of partial bursaries covering accommodation at the event will be available.
Selected papers from this workshop will be considered for publication in an edited volume or a themed journal issue.
Attendance at this event is by invitation only. Each presenter is expected to submit their workshop papers for circulation among the participants by the end of November 2010.
This event is sponsored by the Center for International Education and Research at Oita University http://www.isc.oita-u.ac.jp/ and The Centre for Asia-Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS) at the University of Wollongong.
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