The Fan Studies Network

Australian fans have access to a wide array of popular culture content from around the world, developing relationships with these products that are as rich as fans from other parts of the globe. Until recently access to media products is limited by temporal
and spatial distance from countries of origin. Yet, at the same time practices from diaspora communities to preserve cultural identity introduces a multitude of global media content to a wider Australian audience. Australian fans thus engage with a mixture
of ‘conventional’ and ‘niche’ media products that places them both within the margins and in the mainstream.  While there may be parallels between Australia and other nations with multicultural communities, the geographical location, history and cultural mix
of Australian society give rise to unique contexts shaping the consumption and practices of Australian fans.
 

We thus ask the question: What makes the Australian fan experience unique? What influence does geo-political location have on the consumption and appropriation of popular culture in the Australian context? What impact does Australian multicultural society
have on exposure and access to popular culture? What drives Australian fan interaction with global popular culture, and how does this interaction intersect with narratives of ‘Australian-ness’ in local and globalised contexts?

This book seeks to explore the specific and unique experience of being fans living and Australia.

We seek authors to contribute critical chapters for an edited volume to be submitted to University of Iowa Press. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Online fandom
• Offline fandom (including convention attendance, fan-celebrity interaction etc)
• Fan perceptions of celebrity brands/identities/public persona
• Fan fiction
• Cosplay culture
• Anime culture
• Manga culture
• Subcultures of fandom
• Transcultural fan practices (e.g. fan Subbers)
• World cinema fandom
• Cult cinema fandom
• Comic book fandom
• Distribution practices including Fast tracked television, Streaming services and Netflix
• Fandom and national identity

Please email 300 word abstracts and your
CV to both Celia Lam and Jackie Raphael by
August 31 2016. Proposals should be for original chapters that have not been previously published (including conference proceedings), and are not under consideration from other journals or edited collections.

Dr. Celia Lam is Lecturer in Media and Communications, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney (celia.lam@nd.edu.au)

Dr. Jackie Raphael is Lecturer in Design, School of Design and Art, Curtin University (J.Raphael@curtin.edu.au)

Adventures in Shondaland: Identity Politics and the Power of Representation

Editors:          Rachel Alicia Griffin, Ph.D., University of Utah

                        Michaela D.E. Meyer, Ph.D., Christopher Newport University

At this time, we have 12 confirmed and drafted chapters for our collection. Due to unforeseen circumstances, a few spaces have become available
for additional chapters. As described in our original call below, our collection is framed by three sections pertaining to Shondaland: (1) Industry, (2) Text, and (3) Audience. To compliment the strong chapters we currently have in each section, we are specifically
seeking out proposals that address:

Identity Politics (especially ability, religion, and/or nationality)

Audiences (reactions, interpretations, engagement, communication and relationships with Rhimes herself and/or Shondaland actors,
e.g., Jesse Williams via Twitter and BET)

Private Practice

The Catch

Social justice and activism

Social media activism

Proposals are due by Monday August 1^st 2016 and accepted proposals will be notified
soon after. The anticipated deadline for full chapter drafts ismid to late fall, so authors who are able to make their chapter a priority in the near future or who have projects already in progress are likely the best fit for this call. Please follow
the guidelines below outlined in our original call for proposal requirements, and send proposals to
rachelag@siu.edu by
Monday August 1^st 2016 with “SHONDALAND” in the subject line.

ORIGINAL CALL: 

Communication approaches to the study of television tend to be constrained by arbitrary divisions between text, audience, and production, and thus,
we often limit our engagement with the interrelationship between textual representation (rhetorical approaches), audience interpretation (cultural studies approaches), and production strategies (industry perspectives). Building upon recent works that blur
the distinctions between text, audience, and production (e.g., Holmes, 2004; Meyer, 2007; Watts & Orbe, 2002; H. Wood, 2005) to further theorize the communicative function of television, communication scholarship needs to integrate its approach to contemporary
television studies.

This edited collection aims to bridge these divides by focusing on the television legacy of Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes is the creator and/or producer
of Grey’s Anatomy (2005-), Private Practice (2007-2013), Scandal
(2012-), How to Get Away with Murder (2014-), and, most recently, The Catch (2015-2016 season pilot debut). Her narratives capture large audiences in coveted primetime slots and continue to be highly economically successful. As the most powerful
Black woman in the history of network television, Rhimes’ primetime network influence via ABC shapes the landscape of how we understand television representation, interpretation, and production in the 21^st century. Simultaneously, as an influential
public figure, her success, candor, humility, and intentionality significantly shapes discussions of identity/ies and diversity in current network television. Further indicative of Rhimes’ presence/audibility/visibility/influence in public discourse, @shondarimes
boasts 961K followers, and her tweets often address identity politics and the power of representation. This influence is not limited to Rhimes herself, as the fans, actors, and writers working with/following Rhimes also contribute heavily to our public understanding
of what is at stake in current television narrative and practices.

Our goal in this collection is to offer a complex reading of “Shondaland” by interrogating: representation, audience responses to Rhimes’ narratives/public
discourse, and larger industry issues such as casting and the emergence of new media technologies.

We are currently seeking proposals to augment our collection that address the following topics:

Complex textual readings of any of Rhimes’ narratives (listed above).

Audience-centered approaches to Rhimes’ work such as focus groups, interviews, autoethnography, or analysis of fan discussion/response to particular narratives/storylines/characters.

Cultural critique of industry norms and practices that influence Rhimes’ work such as representation, casting, writing, and/or industry scandal (e.g., Washington/Knight scandal
on Grey’s, the use of Rhimes as an “all encompassing” spokesperson for diversity on television, etc.).

We are
especially interested in proposals that embrace audience-centered approaches, critique industry practices and political economy, and analyze identity politics that include a focus on ability, age, transgender and gender queer identity, nationality, religion,
and racial and ethnic identities beyond the Black/White binary.

Proposals should operate theoretically and methodologically from critical approaches to the study of television.
Via a 500-750 word abstract, each proposal should make clear: (1) the chapter’s purpose framed in relation to the call,
(2) how the chapter is theoretically/conceptually and methodologically anchored,
(3) the chapter’s primary text(s)/trajectory for analysis/argument, (4)
the scholarly conversations the chapter is contributing to, and (5) the provocative questions raised and/or addressed by the chapter. Proposals should also include a bibliography of at least 15 working sources for the chapter proposed, as well as
a brief biography for each author (150 words or less). Proposals are limited to a 1500 word maximum (not counting the bibliography and bios).

Overall, for our planning purposes, each abstract should include an explicit indication of the chapter’s focus
on text and/or audience and/or production. Although we embrace the distinctions between text, audience, and production, we also see these as fluid and simply need to know which elements will be emphasized in the chapter.

Inquiries about the call or this project can be directed to either of the editors: Rachel Alicia Griffin (rachelag@siu.edu)
or Michaela D.E. Meyer (mmeyer@cnu.edu ).Please
include “SHONDALAND” in the subject line of all correspondence with the editors.

The extreme profitability of Mel Gibson’s
The Passion of the Christ in 2004 came as a great surprise to the Hollywood establishment, particularly considering its failure to find production funding through a major studio.  Since this time, the big-budget mainstream biblical epic, long thought dead in terms of widespread marketability, has become a viable Hollywood studio product with regards to seeking both profits and critical acclaim, as well as outlets for auteurist ‘passion projects’ such as Gibson’s film, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah (2014), and Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings.  With this year seeing two new fiction films featuring depictions of Jesus, the crucifixion, and resurrection [Risen (dir. Kevin Reynolds) and Ben-Hur (dir. Timur Bekmambetov)], academic consideration of the modern biblical epic is both timely and highly relevant.

This is a preliminary call for papers and proposals for an edited collection using a broad range of approaches in the analysis of these films and this phenomenon specifically.  Proposals can address, but are not limited
to:

Stylistic and narrative analysis

Considerations of genre

Historical and political contexts

Industrial efforts to capitalise on this trend (see the short-lived Fox Faith studios in the mid 2000s and its products)

Critical viability and acceptance

Intersections of, or discord between, faith and fandom

Representations of race and gender

Auteurist analyses of these films

Philosophical and more broadly theoretical approaches to these films and this trend.

Proposals and abstracts of approximately 300 words with a short bio can be submitted to Wickham Clayton by 31 August, at wickscripts@hotmail.com.  Also feel free to email for expressions of interest and questions regarding the project.

CFP: Geek Feminism (edited collection)

Geek girls exist. But it wasn’t until a packed San Diego Comi-Con panel in 2010 actually entitled “Geek Girls Exist” that the ramifications of this fact began to be realized. Women’s increased visibility in science and technology, pop culture fandoms, sci-fi and fantasy storytelling, gaming, and other geeky endeavors has brought to the foreground a resistance to acknowledging a geek culture that isn’t straight, white, and male. On one level, geek feminism emerged to combat this oppressive atmosphere determined to discourage and erase the participation of geeks whose identities deviated from that norm. But on every other level, that fight is just a footnote to the myriad ways in which geek feminism is a unique (and frequently joyful) manifestation of what happens when the radical and imaginative potentiality of 1980s scientific, creative, and communications technologies intersected with the identity-conscious third wave feminism that emerged in the 1990s. While several books exist that detail first-person experiences and offer collections of resources for geek girls, this anthology will be the first book-length collection of scholarship exploring the ways in which geek feminism is expressed and practiced.

Submissions should draw on current work in fan studies, critical race theory, queer theory, feminist theory, jurisprudence, media studies, and transnational studies. While part of the anthology will need to be focused on feminist critique of geek culture, we encourage submissions that focus on the generative and imaginative aspects of geek feminism.

Potential topics and areas of interest could include:

The history of geek feminism
Analysis of geek fictions and characters
Speculative justice: when fictions correct fact
How to spot a geek girl: identity formation and performance
Cyber vs. IRL geek feminist praxis: the convergence of imagined, online, and “real” spaces
Geek-tivism as a response to systemic oppressions
The creative, productive, joyful practices of geek feminism
The business of geekdom: examinations of the creation, marketing and crafting of geek artifacts and products
And, of course, miscellaneous weird stuff

Send 300-word abstracts and short bios to Amy Peloff at apeloff@gmail.com and Nancy White at ncwhite@uw.edu with subject line “CFP – Geek Feminism.” Since geek feminism is a relatively undefined term, we ask that each submission also include a brief attempt (c. 100-150 words) to define geek feminism within which to situate your proposed chapter. Our hope is to draw on the community of contributors to develop a definition of the term.

Abstracts should include title, author name, and institutional affiliation, as well as contact details. The editors will ask the authors of selected proposals to submit their final chapters no later than March 1, 2017.

Timeline
Abstracts by October 1, 2016
Decision by November 1, 2016
Papers by March 1, 2017

Editors
Dr. Amy Peloff, Independent Scholar
Dr. Nancy C. White, University of Washington

Contact Info:
Amy Peloff at apeloff@gmail.com and Nancy White at ncwhite@uw.edu

CFP: Tolkien and Jackson Fan Studies Special Issue (10-01-16)

Proposals are sought for fan studies scholarship on any aspect of fan production, creation, or activities relating to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium and/or Peter Jackson’s live-action film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

The editors hope to co-sponsor at least one dedicated paper session at the national Popular Culture Conference (San Diego, April, 2017), and then to develop those papers to submit to a special theme issue of Journal of Tolkien Research the same year.

NOTE: There is no requirement that scholars must present at the Popular Culture conference in order to submit proposals to the journal, nor does participation at PCA mandate submitting to the journal issue.

However, this option, we believe, will allow for multi-disciplinary dialogue among and between scholars in the preparatory stages of thinking about the special issue.

JTR is an open-access, electronic, peer-reviewed journal: 

http://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/

Timeline:

Popular Culture Submissions:  July 1-October 1, 2016

Popular Culture Conference: April 12-15th, 2017

Deadline for submission to editors:  June 1, 2017 (Proposal or First Drafts)

Deadline for submission to JTR: September 30, 2017 (Final Drafts)

Co-editors:

Katherine Larsen klarsen@gwu.edu
Robin Anne Reid robin.reid@tamuc.edu