Fan tourism, “location vacations,” or pop-culture tourism is a growing industry across the world, changing local economies, culture, and ambiance. Fans of various pop texts and icons have been making pilgrimages to real-world locations for decades, from Abbey Road to Forks, Washington, from 221B Baker Street to Graceland, Tennessee. In Media Res is looking for explorations into fan tourism as a general cultural practice. Investigations can be through a case study of a particular fandom, location, or behavior, taking into consideration the ways that fan tourism can be beneficial and detrimental to real world economies, infrastructures, and local cultures.
Among the topics that might be examined:
Case studies of fan pilgrimages
Economic or industrial investigations of fan tourist trade
Pedagogical approaches toward teaching/studying fan tourism
Impact of fans on “destination locations” (economically/culturally/ecologically)
Proposals may be brief, but do be sure to describe the topic and key question(s) to be explored. Please submit your proposal by February 20th. If interested, please contact In Media Res (inmediares@gsu.edu) with topic proposals or for more information about the theme. Be sure to include the name of the theme week you would like to be involved within the subject line of the email.
Academics, journalists, critics, media professionals and fans are all welcome to submit proposals.
The actual piece will include either a 30-second to 3-minute clip, an image, or a slideshow that will be accompanied by a 300 to 350 word response to/contextualization of your clip, image, or slideshow. In addition to your piece, you will be expected to engage the other pieces presented that week to encourage discussion and further flesh out the individual topic in relation to the week’s theme.
About In Media Res: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/
The Fan Studies Network 
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