Category: Activities

Transcultural Studies of Humour in Cartoons and Comics

Programme:

14:00-14:15 Welcome and Introduction
14:15-15:15 Keynote: “Ancestors, Anarchists and Stolen Beer: Exploring Humor Across
the Transnational Audiences of Moomin Comics and Cartoons” – Essi Varis
15:15-15:30 Coffee
15:30-17:00 “Question Marks instead of Punchlines: Queering Graphic Humour in
Brazillian Comic Strips” – Greice Schneider
“From Snowman to Excreman: Translating Sentiment into Disgust and Dark Humour.” – Kin-Wai Amelia Chu
“Breaking Free from Trauma using Humour: Changing Cancer Narratives” – Pinelopi Trouva

Talk by Silvia Gianni, Dystopian Adaptations from Literature to Comics (17 June 2026, 3:00 to 4:00 pm)

Visiting scholar Silvia Gianni will give a talk on 17 June, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm in the Camelot room (3rd floor of the Blandijn).

All are welcome!

 

Dystopian Adaptations from Literature to Comics: Theory, History, and Poetics

This research investigates literary adaptations into comics and graphic novels within the dystopian genre, focusing on their aesthetic and cultural status. While film adaptations are often recognised as autonomous artistic works, comic adaptations continue to be viewed primarily as derivative versions of literary classics. This asymmetry raises important questions concerning both adaptation theory and the cultural legitimacy of comics.

The project aims to examine whether and how dystopian comic adaptations can be understood as aesthetically autonomous works, capable of generating meanings and forms that are not reducible to their source texts. In doing so, it revisits key issues in comics studies and adaptation theory, including the relationship between comics and literature, the artistic autonomy of the medium, the role of the graphic novel in processes of cultural legitimisation, and the tension between originality and convention in intermedial adaptation.

The research begins with a mapping and systematisation of dystopian comic and graphic novel adaptations, analysing their production, circulation, and reception. It then reconstructs the history of dystopian comics as a tradition with influences, developments, and aesthetic conventions distinct from those of dystopian literature. From this perspective, adaptations are examined not only as derivations from literary works but also as contributions to the evolution of dystopian comics.

Finally, through a series of case studies, the project explores how adaptations negotiate originality and convention, particularly in their representation of alterity, a central feature of dystopian poetics. The study ultimately seeks to offer a more nuanced understanding of adaptation as a creative practice and to highlight the specific contribution of comics to the construction of contemporary dystopian imaginaries.

Professor Bad Trip, Il pasto nudo, Shake, Digital edition.

Erfgoeddag – Heritage day

Heritage Day: A Century of Comics Humor

Sunday, April 26, 2026 | 10:00–17:00
Faculty Library, Arts & Philosophy, Magnel Wing, Rozier 44, 9000 Ghent

Heritage Day (Erfgoeddag) explored the theme HAHA Humor through three unique comics collections at Ghent University.

Exhibition: A Century of Comics Humor (10:00–17:00)

Which comic heroes made people laugh a century ago? This exhibition showcased iconic characters like Spirou, Mickey Mouse, and Popeye alongside forgotten strips. Librarians and researchers guided visitors through the world of comics humor..

Featured collections:

  • Laga Collection: Rare American newspaper strips shown publicly for the first time

  • Van Passen Collection: French and Belgian comics magazines

  • Dumbruch Collection: Popular petits formats

Workshop: Comics, Memes & Zines (10:00–17:00)

Lou Braibant, Sofie Vandepitte and Kin Wai Chu helped young visitors create DIY zines using images and text from exhibition comics. CHildren photocopied and displayed their zines

Talks (Library Lab Magnel)

Graphic Satire
Nineteenth-century political cartoons as satire, journalism, and heritage. How magazines like Punch offered sharp commentary during imperialism and circulated globally to colonial Asia.
Speaker: Kin-Wai Amelia Chu

Slapstick on Paper
Why is spraying someone with a hose so funny? Discover slapstick humor in Franco-Belgian children’s comics before 1950, exploring connections with silent film and early animation.
Speaker: Eva Van de Wiele

Humor in Spirou
How Spirou magazine’s humor evolved under editor Yvan Delporte (1955–1968), from classic slapstick to self-aware “comics modernism” that influenced later works.
Speaker: Yasco Horsman, Leiden University

Webinars on comics and graphic novels in language education

Comics and Graphic Novels in the Language Class in Secondary Education – Ghent Uni Societal Value Fund

From January 2025 until December 2025 Eva Van de Wiele is working on a side project, inspiring teachers to use comics in language education.

Since 2017 the Netherlands has a “Graphic Novels voor de Leeslijst” , a selection of “literary comics” with which Margreet de Heer hoped to inspire teachers and pupils. The pedagogical advantages of comics in language education have been promoted by scholars (Amann & Walner 2022) and teachers. Lesson plans made by teachers for teachers focus on making comics or on approaching the literary aspects of graphic novels (Klascement). Still, comics appear in a plethora of formats and materials (zines, webcomics) and reach their diverse publics through diverse distribution channels. To help language teachers with a background in literary and linguistic studies, this project develops workshops and a webinar on comics as a medium, with attention for multimodality, publication format and implied audience. The corpus will provide teachers with a multilingual corpus (Dutch, French, German, English, Italian, Spanish).

Enroll for Eva’s workshops ->Strips en beeldromans in de taalles | Humanities Academie

Watch the webinars for inspiration

 

Thanks to Ghent University BOF fund for financing this project!

Thanks to Robbe Wulgaert for helping record and finetune the webinars!

Strips in de taalles en rondleiding in de Van Passen collectie

 

Ben je taaldocent in het secundair onderwijs? Dan ben je misschien geïnteresseerd in onze volgende activiteiten op 30 april en 23 oktober 2025:

Deze studievoormiddag combineert een workshop over strips in de taalles met een rondleiding in de uitgebreide stripcollectie van de Faculteitsbibliotheek.

In anderhalf uur behandelt dr. Eva Van de Wiele in een workshop hoe je strips en graphic novels in de taalles kan gebruiken. Aan de hand van verschillende strips in verschillende formaten en verschillende talen, proberen we elke taaldocent inspiratie te bieden. Je leert ook de belangrijkste vaktermen en hoe je die in jouw doeltaal kan doorgeven aan je leerlingen.

Prof. Maaheen Ahmed neemt je aansluitend mee door de boeiende en uitgebreide Van Passen collectie van de UGent.

Inschrijven 

PatrimoniaLitté séminaire: Périodiques de jeunesse (21 février, 14h-16h)

La deuxième séance du séminaire PatrimoniaLitté sur la patrimonialisation des cultures populaires et médiatiques aura lieu à la bibliothèque de la Faculté des Arts de l’Université de Gand (Library Lab Loveling), 21 février du 14h à 16h.

 

Périodiques de jeunesse

Maaheen Ahmed (UGent), “(Re-)mettre en boîte : les plusieurs vies de la collection Van Passen”

Hélène Veilhan (MSH Clermont-Ferrand), “L’intention patrimoniale de Jean et Michel Bastaire, collectionneurs de littérature populaire”

 

Tous les séances du séminaire sont en mode hybride. Merci de contacter benoit.crucifix@kuleuven.be pour obtenir un lien de connexion.