The Fan Studies Network

http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/announcement/view/34

Over the past five years, more and more English language transformative fandoms have gravitated to the social networking site Tumblr, moving from online communities such as LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, and Yahoo! Groups. Thus many fan communities have shifted organization structures to adapt to Tumblr’s multiple points of entry and seemingly anti-hierarchical framework. Some fans describe Tumblr as a fandom free-for-all without clear rules for engagement. Others describe this uncertain multiplicity as one of the platform’s strengths. Still others have pointed to Tumblr’s comparatively more visual interface as enabling greater global participation in heretofore monolingual fandom spaces. All of which is to say, Tumblr means many things to many people, encompassing a diversity of fandom experiences.

This special issue of TWC seeks to explore Tumblr as a (not infrequently contested) fandom platform, in which cultures of age, gender, sexuality, race, dis/ability, class, nationality, religion, language, and so on connect and sometimes clash in the contact zones of fandoms. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

* Tumblr’s influence on the production and consumption of fan fiction
* Transcultural and/or transnational fan practices and interactions on Tumblr
* Convergence of fandom and social justice concerns on Tumblr
* Tumblr fandom as a site for media literacy
* Tumblr fandom and non-normative/socially marginalized identity and community
* Marketing, media producers, and Tumblr fans
* Media discourse surrounding Tumblr fandom
* Developing aesthetics of fan work on Tumblr
* Tumblr’s role within transmedia fandom flow across platforms
* Tumblr’s cultural/discursive positioning as a youth/millennial fandom platform
* History and politics of transitioning from fandom communities (e.g. LiveJournal) to Tumblr
* How Tumblr’s interface has impacted and/or driven inter-fandom interactions and transfandom (e.g. Superwholock)

Submission guidelines

Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and to promote dialogue between the academic community and the fan community. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms that embrace the technical possibilities of the Web and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

Theory: Conceptual essays. Peer review, 6,000–8,000 words.

Praxis: Case study essays. Peer review, 5,000–7,000 words.

Symposium: Short commentary. Editorial review, 1,500–2,500 words.

Please visit TWC’s Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor AT transformativeworks.org).

Contact—Contact guest editors Lori Morimoto, Louisa Stein, and Allison McCracken with any questions or inquiries (tumblrfandomtwc AT gmail.com).

Due date—May 1, 2017, for estimated June 2018 publication.

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