“Bridges to Animé: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studying Animé "

Mark J. P. Wolf (Professor in the Communication Department at Concordia University Wisconsin)
This keynote address attempts to find connections bridging various fields and subfields of Media Studies to the study of anime, asking how one might situate Anime Studies within the larger context of Media Studies and other related disciplines, including such areas as Animation Studies, Film Studies, Comics Studies, Television Studies, Video Game Studies, and Visual Studies, as well as the study of Narrative Theory, Genre, Graphic Design, Imaginary Worlds, and Transmedial Franchises. These areas of study provide bridges which may lead to useful exchanges and influences, helping to shape, and perhaps even redefine, what Anime Studies might possibly become.

Bio: Mark Wolf's books include The Medium of the Video Game (2001), Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation (2012), The World of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (2017), Exploring Imaginary Worlds: Essays on Media, Structure, and Subcreation (forthcoming), World-Builders on World-Building: An Exploration of Subcreation (forthcoming), and over twenty edited collections and anthologies related to video games, transmedia, and imaginary worlds. He is also the founder and editor of two different book series. He has been invited to speak in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Second Life; has had work published in over half a dozen major journals; and is on several advisory and editorial boards related to games and e-media curation and publication. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife Diane and his sons Michael, Christian, and Francis.