Anime News Network brings news of a possible first: Brandeis University professor Kerridwen Luis (actually a grad student) has adopted the manga Rica ‘tte Kanji!? by Rica Takashima as a textbook in her anthropology course. Here’s just the first sentence of Luis’s description of her course:
This class will cover some (not all!) of the current ethnography dealing with non-heteronormative sexualities cross-culturally.
(The course syllabus is here.) Here’s how David Welsh described the book in a Flipped column last July:
Fed up with the “forbidden love” nature and downer endings of much of the lesbian manga she’d read, Rica Takashima decided to take matters in her own hands. She wanted to read a happy story about girls in love, even if she had to write and draw it herself.
David managed to write seven whole paragraphs about the book without ever using the term “non-heteronormative sexualities,” which may explain why I enjoy his columns so much.
Elsewhere in the ivory tower, hushed preparations are being made for the first issue of Mechademia, which bills itself as “An academic journal for anime, manga, and the fan arts.” Unlike the blogosphere, academia moves at a stately pace: The first issue is due out in Fall 2006, and they are currently accepting submissions for the Fall 2008 issue. (Hat tip: Manga Talk.)
For the truly hard-core comix wonks, there is the Comics Scholars Discussion List, but be warned, they sound serious. Anyone who uses emoticons probably need not apply.
