Archive for September, 2015

Seminar | Participating in Fiction: Why We Speak Klingon, Play Quidditch, and Shop at Kwik-E-Mart: ACLA 2016 | Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

September 21, 2015

Seminar | Participating in Fiction: Why We Speak Klingon, Play Quidditch, and Shop at Kwik-E-Mart
http://www.acla.org/node/5354

This panel focuses on the intersection of fictionality and participatory culture. Specifically, we will explore the impact of public participation on the reception and ontological status of fictional entities.
As readers and text consumers, we have a propensity to actualize fiction. That is, we regularly interact with originally fictional entities in ways that effectively bring them across the ontological border, rendering them actual. Examples are myriad and multimedial: consider Quidditch (no longer a fictional sport, as it is played on scores of university campuses), Klingon (no longer a fictional language now that it is spoken by non-fictional people), and Buzz Cola (available for purchase outside of The Simpsons’ Springfield). It is becoming increasingly important to foreground the connection between the public and the humanities, and vital to this is a study of how participation and narrative are mutually influential. This session welcomes papers that address the role of participatory culture in the phenomenon of actualized fiction, and situate the reader’s propensity within existing scholarship on fictionality, popular culture, and media studies.
Paper topics could include but are not limited to the following:

 Narratives that come to life in theme parks; theme parks as adaptations
 The use of originally fictional products in marketing stories and franchises (Buzz Cola; Wonka
bars; Spın̈al Tap albums; Radioactive Man comics)
 The proliferation of communication, courses, and books in originally fictional languages
(Klingon; Sindarin; Quenya; Na’vi; Dothraki)
 The International Quidditch Association
 Google Maps’ inclusion of fictional locales such as the TARDIS and Diagon Alley
 Subway maps of fictional locales such as Westeros and Wonderland

Organizer: Rhona Trauvitch, Florida International University

http://www.acla.org/node/5354.
Potential presenters should submit proposals by midnight PST, September 23.

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CFP: Stardom and Fandom, SW PCA/ACA (11/1/15; 2/10-13/16)

September 21, 2015

CFP: Stardom and Fandom, SW PCA/ACA (11/1/15; 2/10-13/16)

Join us for the 37th Annual Southwest Popular Culture and American Culture Association Conference, February 10 – 13, 2016 at the beautiful Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Area Chair for Stardom and Fandom invites paper or panel proposals on any aspect of stardom or fandom.

Proposal submission deadline: November 1, 2015.

The list of ideas below is limited, so if you have an idea that is not listed, please suggest the new topic. We are an interdisciplinary area and encourage submissions from multiple perspectives and disciplines. Topics might include:

Studies of individual celebrities and their fans
Studies focused on specific fandoms
The reciprocal relationship between stars and fans
Impact of celebrity and fame on identity construction, reconstruction and sense of self
Reality television and the changing definition of ‘stardom’
The impact of social media on celebrity/fan interaction
Celebrity/fame addiction as cultural change
The intersection of stars and fans in virtual and physical spaces (Twitter, Tumblr, conventions)
Celebrity and the construction of persona
Pedagogical approaches to teaching stardom and fandom
Anti-fans and ‘haters’
Fan shame, wank, and fandom policing
Gendered constructions of stars and fans
Historical studies of fandom and fan/celebrity interaction

Submit 250 word paper proposals, or proposals for multi-paper panels, to: http://conference2016.southwestpca.org Choose the area “Stardom and Fandom” and input your information as directed. Deadline for proposal submissions: November 1, 2015. Earlier proposals are welcomed!

Please remember that there are monetary awards for the best graduate student papers – we encourage you to apply! Papers in the Stardom and Fandom area could qualify for several awards, including the Diana Cox Award for best paper on images of women in popular culture, Euro Pop Award for best presentation on European popular culture, Peter C. Rollins Award for best paper dealing with a popular culture issue, Richard Tuerk Science Fiction and Fantasy Award for outstanding essay related to science fiction and fantasy, and the Post Script Award in film studies. You can see the full list at: http://southwestpca.org/conference/graduate-student-awards/

Conference hotel:

Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
330 Tijeras
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Phone: 1.505.842.1234
Fax: 1.505.766.6710

Register early for discounted conference registration and hotel rates, and to reserve space at the conference hotel as discounted rooms fill quickly. For more details on the conference, please visit the Southwest Popular Culture/American Culture Association: http://www.southwestpca.org.

Direct questions to:
Dr. Lynn Zubernis
Area Chair, Stardom and Fandom
lzubernis@wcupa.edu

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Transformative Works and Cultures 20th issue celebrations

September 7, 2015

Press release from the Organisation for Transformative Works:

TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS AND CULTURES REACHES 20th ISSUE MILESTONE
Peer reviewed academic journal enlarges the field of fan studies

New York, N.Y. — The Organization for Transformative Works will be celebrating its eighth year this September with another big milestone: the release of the 20th issue of its journal. This special anniversary issue of the journal Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC) comes at a time when fandom and its works – including fan fiction, fan films, and fan art – are becoming more visible.

The OTW will be celebrating throughout September, starting with a feature highlighting a unique aspect of TWC’s publication, the Symposium section, which allows contributors to bridge the gap between academic study and fan dialogue about their own activities.

The issue itself will be released September 15, and it will be followed by reflections from several contributors on its history on the 17th. Celebrations will culminate with a live chat featuring several of TWC’s early contributors on September 19. The chat will be held in The OTW’s public chatroom from 16:00 UTC to 18:00 UTC.

Transformative Works and Cultures is an online peer-reviewed Gold Open Access journal that specializes in articles about transformative works, media studies, and the fan community. It encourages a variety of critical approaches, including feminism, postcolonial theory, and literary criticism, among others. Past issues have covered topics such as anti-fan activism, the interaction of race and gender in fandom activities, and special issues on gaming and fan videos. The TWC also has published The Fan Fiction Studies Reader with The University of Iowa Press. The reader gathered essential foundational works in the field of fan studies in one place, making many of these articles accessible to mainstream audiences for the first time.

Founded in 2007, the Organization for Transformative Works is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. Supported by members and volunteers internationally, the OTW advocates that fan works are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate. More information can be found at http://transformativeworks.org.

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CFP: BAFTSS 2016 Trans/media: Trans/national Screens

September 5, 2015

BAFTSS 2016 University of Reading April 14-16 2016

Trans/media: Trans/national Screens

Individual and Panel Proposals are invited for the April 2016 BAFTSS conference at the University of Reading. At a time when distinctions between national boundaries and between media platforms are increasingly fluid, we wish to interrogate the many ‘in-betweens’ that this fluidity gives rise to. We also want to embrace the very concept of how not only form but identity is in a state of flux and transports us from one position to another. Keynote speakers (to be announced in due course) embrace and question these spaces and networks and, as more academic works from a new generation of screen analysts who identify with neither old nor new media come to the forefront, being trans- seems to encapsulate post-postmodernity. Examples of topics can be found below, but papers are invited examining all screen forms and subjects beyond the thematic list below. 

Transmedia
Adaptation
Transnational stars
International television and the impact of the contemporary epic
Questioning national identities
European identities
Policy, Regulation and Funding
Transnational genres on all screen platforms
Trans… identities
Transnational versus international
Historical transnationality (e.g. early cinema, émigré directors and performers, industry collaborations)

To submit a proposal, email Anna Claydon at eac14@le.ac.uk for a proposal form. The deadline for proposals in October 14th 2015. Proposals will be reviewed and decisions communicated during December.

We aim to keep the conference fee as low as we can and there will be a substantial discount for PGR, non-salaried and retired conference attendees but the conference fee (which will not include accommodation or the conference dinner) will not be announced until we have a rough idea of numbers based on paper submissions and can set the price accordingly.

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