During the pandemic, we, fans, have been able to rely on some of our already existing coping mechanisms to deal with the increased strain of our mental health due to the global crisis. Participants in a study about the mental
Back to school edition: “So you want to be a Fan Studies scholar?” (aka “My 2¢, YMMV”)
As a professor, I often supervise undergraduates who are interested in fan studies topics, often as independent studies or senior theses. Some of these students want to go on to do graduate work in fan studies–but that can be complicated,
Radio, Radio!
I almost didn’t write this post for fear that you guys will think I’m even more of an old than I even am, but a) fuck it and b) there’s a way in which everything old is new again, so
“The ‘Fanfic Lens’: Fan Writing’s Impact on Media Consumption,” by Fabienne Silberstein-Bamford
These excerpts are from Fabienne Silberstein-Bamford’s article, “The ‘Fanfic Lens’: Fan Writing’s Impact on Media Consumption,” which can be read for free here! Silberstein-Bamford writes that the internet has allowed people to move from solely passively consuming to also participating
The Classics of Fan Studies: Camille Bacon-Smith – Enterprising Women
The next work in our exploration of the classics of fan studies is Camille Bacon-Smith’s Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth. It was published in the same year as Textual Poachers and the two have often
Thinking Through Feels
One of the amazing perks of my job is that I often get to read, review, or blurb fan studies work in progress, so I can give you a sneak peek of books that are forthcoming. One of these is
“Teaching trans studies through fan fiction in college English classrooms,” by Peizhen Wu
This excerpt is from “Teaching trans studies through fan fiction in college English classes” by Peizhen Wu. It can be read for free on Transformative Works and Cultures! Wu argues that trans studies should be taught widely, not just in
The Classics of Fan Studies: Henry Jenkins – Textual Poachers
“Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk.” Today we’re continuing our exploration of the classics of fan studies with
The End Of Reading (?)
There have been a lot of academic books and high-journalism opinions about the end of English Literature as a discipline or, even more alarming, the end of Reading itself. As both an English professor and a fan studies person, I
An Intimate Sound–Podfic and Confluence
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about podfic, i.e.., audio versions of fanfic, read out aloud. Podfic, as an audio-based medium, sits at the confluence of disability accessibility, performance, and of course, simply being a new form of narrative