The Fan Studies Network

Call for Papers

“I’ll See You Again in 25 Years: The Return of Twin Peaks and Generations of Cult TV”

A two-day international conference.

School of Arts and Media, University of Salford, UK

21st- – 22nd May 2015

Confirmed keynote speakers:
• Professor David Lavery (Middle Tennessee State University, USA)
• Cristina Alvarez (Barcelona based independent video artist)
• Dr Adrian Martin (Monash University, Australia)

Proposals are invited for a two-day international conference on the return of the popular cult television series Twin Peaks. The conference presents a timely reconsideration of the critically acclaimed programme with the announcement of its return to television after a twenty five year hiatus. In the meantime, cultures of television production, circulation and viewer practices have changed dramatically; the US cable sector in this period becoming the primary site for a model of auteur-driven, big-budget offbeat serial drama that Twin Peaks served as prototype for, with this trend underpinning Showtime’s recommissioning of this series of broadcast network origin. But alongside such transformation, the cultural prominence of this landmark programme has endured, as the considerable enthusiasm among critics and fans for the series’ return demonstrates.

This conference seeks to address the issue of Twin Peaks’ significant influence and lasting appeal from a number of multi-disciplinary perspectives. We welcome proposals from scholars in the fields of cultural studies, television studies, film studies, visual arts, popular music studies, sound studies performance studies, digital and social media and related disciplines.

Proposals are invited on (but not limited to) the following topics:

Twin Peaks and fandom
Twin Peaks and generations of cult television
Music and sound design in Twin Peaks
Set design and visual style
The use and subversion of the crime and melodrama genres
Feminism and gender relations
Seriality in Twin Peaks and contemporary television
Camp performance styles in Twin Peaks
David Lynch and televisual auteurism
Twin Peaks and social media
Generations of quality television
Intertextuality between television, film and literature
Comic and melodramatic performance styles
Film and television convergence
Twin Peaks and the contemporary television industry

Deadline for abstracts: 31st January 2015

300 word abstracts plus a 100 word biography should be sent to the conference organisers:
Kirsty Fairclough K.Fairclough@salford.ac.uk
Michael Goddard M.Goddard@salford.ac.uk
Anthony Smith A.N.Smith@salford.ac.uk

As we open a new volume for 2015, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship would like to invite all authors to submit contributions to the journal.

We welcome submissions from graduate students, scholars, artists, teachers, curators, researchers, publishers and librarians from any academic, disciplinary or artistic background interested in the study and/or practice of comics or other related cultural expressions. Submissions can cover any thematic field and approach as long as they fulfil The Comics Grid’s editorial guidelines, available here: http://www.comicsgrid.com/about/submissions

For 2015 we have also identified 15 priority general thematic areas we encourage authors to consider:

Online comics, digital comics and comics in non-print platforms
Comics and print culture; comics and history of the book; comics and caricature
Comics and cultural value
Comics and libraries, archives; comics preservation; comics and the digital humanities
Data research on comics; data science and comics
Comics and international development; comics and human rights
Comics in languages other than English
Comics and translation
Comics as educational resources
Long-form and short-form non-fiction comics and comics journalism
Comics and science or scholarly communication
Comics fan networks on line and off line; amateur comics as fan fiction
Academic engagement with comics in comics or other visual forms
Women in comics; comics scholarship and feminism, gender studies
Comics and multimodality and transmedia; comics as immersive documents

The Comics Grid publishes one issue per year, with rapid publication as soon as articles are ready. Submissions can be sent throughout the year, however editorial deadlines are:

March 31st
October 31st

http://www.comicsgrid.com/announcement

Distributors, Discs and Disciples: Exploring the Home Media Renaissance

23rd May 2015, University of Worcester

Rationale:

Distribution is often been seen as the “invisible link” in the media industry, in terms of facilitating how films, television shows and other texts reach audiences. The rise of digital platforms, such as online rental services and bit torrents, recently changed this view and digital distribution is the focus of several recent publications. However, there has not been a mass shift towards purely digital media, and physical media releases are still sought out by fans and consumers. Special editions and box-sets for DVDs and Blu-Rays are frequently hyped up on social media, and from many countries around the world. Past formats also make for collectible items, such as VHS, Laserdisc, and HD-DVD. Terminology related to physical media hugely affects perceptions of exhibition and consumption, such as ‘box-sets’, ‘binge-watching’, and ‘marathon’.

Distributors have been recognised as the ones making all this possible. Media distribution labels often promote their own actions; or their actions are reported on by critics and journalists; or fans and consumers directly respond to their releases and related activities. Such activity takes place within a variety of contexts – from film festivals to conventions and Q&A sessions; from social media, to dedicated websites and themed public attractions. This also occurs in relation to a variety of media texts – from newer releases to older titles; from films previously unavailable, to those regularly watched and celebrated by many.

The result of the raising of the profile of distributors has been a Home Media Renaissance. This exists not only as an alternative to online digital media exhibition options, but as one that occurs alongside them. In addition to the recent academic study of legitimate and illegitimate methods of online downloading and streaming, the simultaneous desire to own physical media is prevalent.

The aim of this symposium is to discuss and debate how and why distributors are becoming so prolific in an increasingly digital age. Is this activity a reaction to shifts towards downloading and streaming? Are consumers increasingly attracted to these forms of media, or are distributors desperate to maintain their interest? Can it last?

Case studies and observations of particular titles are encouraged – whether they are films, television shows, or other media – and concern a particular genre, national context, authorship figure, or other categorisation. This can take the shape of a 20 minute paper, or a shorter presentation – for example, as part of a panel of lightning talks or speed-geeking.

Other potential topics could cover, but are not limited to:

Distribution Labels
Home Media Formats
Exhibition Methods
Consumption Habits
Fandom (e.g. social media, blogs, communities and groups, etc)
Marketing and Promotion
Creativity and Production within Distribution and Marketing
Critical Reception and Other Reactions
Awards and Recognition

All topics proposed will also be eligible for inclusion within an edited collection. The subject of the symposium has already gained early interest from some publishers.

Proposals should be sent via email to jlwroot@googlemail.com. Proposals should be no more than 200 words, with a brief biographical statement (100 words) attached. The deadline for these is 30th January 2015. Decisions of acceptance will be sent out by the end of February/early March. There will be the opportunity to extend the length of the symposium, and potentially host it at a different location, depending on the number of proposals.

Dr Jonathan Wroot
Sessional Lecturer, Film Studies,
Institute of Humanities and Creative Arts,
University of Worcester.
PhD awarded by UEA
Email: jlwroot@googlemail.com

46th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association
April 30 – May 3, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

The queer-, trans-, and geek-focused webcomic “Riot Nrrd” once joked about how disorienting it was to be at a geeky convention because there was no way to tell from the attendees’ appearance whether they were queer or just straight nerds. This confusion between identities points toward a much larger convergence of queer and geek cultures. Practices such as cosplay, fanfic (particularly slash), the foundation of homosocial communities (as with gamers) and other forms of geek/fan labor closely resemble those of camp, drag, and what Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick calls “reparative reading.” In fact, Sedgwick paves the way for this convergence with her suggestion that “queer” need not necessarily imply gay or lesbian but perhaps does fundamentally refer to shame, stigma, and practices of responding to those feelings with exuberant, performative adventures and deep attachment to cultural objects as resources of self-making and survival—especially in a world inimical to the people who do not conform to its expectations. Non mainstream sexual and gender expression, as well as creative experiments with post-human and other transformative identities or alter-egos, comprise important elements of various geek cultures. Meanwhile, the canard of the “fake geek girl” (like the pejorative “fag,” when applied to nerds and other outsiders in order to emasculate) reveals the deep strains of misogyny—as well as homophobia and white supremacy—that also run through geek culture. We seek papers that theorize queer and geek subcultures, identities, and practices with regard to their intersecting possibilities.

Deadline for abstracts: September 30

According to the new guidelines set by NeMLA, no abstracts will be accepted through email. Instead, interested scholars should submit abstracts through the NeMLA website.

Please submit 300-500 word abstracts and a brief CV through the NeMLA website here: https://nemla.org/convention/2015/cfp.html#cfp15202

For questions about the new system, you can contact NeMLA web support here: websupport@nemla.org.

Organisers: Alec Magnet & Balaka Basu
amagnet@gc.cuny.edu, bbasu@uncc.edu

As the popularity of this year’s San Diego Comic Con proved, fan spaces are increasingly important culturally and financially. Media creators and producers have come to acknowledge the significance of their fans and the need to communicate with them, particularly through social media. Fans, however, also insist upon their own self-contained spaces where they can share their opinions and observations, as well as transformative and fan works, without the threat of censorship or harassment. These spaces exist both physically (as in, for example, in the form of fan conventions and fan meet ups) and virtually through social media platforms such as Tumblr, twitter, and Ao3.

I am looking for papers on virtual and physical fan spaces for a panel in the Fan Studies area at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) conference in New Orleans April 1-4, 2015. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

-virtual fan spaces including Tumblr, Archive of our Own, and fanfiction.net
-creating or delineating fan spaces
-physical fan spaces including meetups and fan conventions
-for-profit conventions such as DragonCon or SDCC
-fan run conventions such as Otakon, 221bCon, or GallifreyOne
-policing and harassment in fan spaces
-fan spaces functioning as or failing to function as “safe spaces”
-cosplay and crossplay
-language of fan spaces

Priority will be given to papers that go beyond introductory level treatment of their topics.

Submissions should be sent directly to my email (ejnielsen@northwestern.edu) and should include the author’s CV, short biography (100-150 words), and abstract (100-250 words). If papers are chosen for the panel, they must be submitted to the PCA’s website at http://ncp.pcaaca.org. Please indicate at that time whatever audio/visual needs you may have.

Deadline: No later than Oct. 1, 2014

PCA/ACA Conference website: http://pcaaca.org/

Email: ejnielsen@northwestern.edu

POPULAR CULTURE ASSOCIATION
FAN CULTURE AND THEORY
APRIL 1-4, NEW ORLEANS

CALL FOR PAPERS
DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 1, 2014
Proposals for both panels and individual papers are now being accepted for all aspects of Fan Culture and Theory, including, but not limited to, the following areas:

•Fan Fiction
•Fan/Creator interaction
•Race, Gender and Sexuality in Fandom
•Music Fandom
•Reality Television Fandom
•The Internet and Fandom – Live Journal, IMDB and beyond
•Fan Communities
•Fan Media Production – icons, fanvids, fan art and filk.
•Fans as Critics
•Fan videos
•Fan crafts
•Fan pilgrimages

Please submit abstracts of 100-250 words with relevant audio/visual requests online. Click here for instructions.
Panel proposals should include one abstract of 200 words describing the panel,
accompanied by the abstracts (250 words) of the individual papers that comprise the panel. Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals.
All Proposals & Abstracts Must Be Submitted Through The PCA Database.
Please submit a proposal to only one area at a time. Exceptions and rules

Please send all inquires to:
Katherine Larsen
The George Washington University
Ames Hall 223
2100 Foxhall Road NW
Washington D.C. 20007
(202) 242 5090
klarsen@gwu.edu

Deletion—Deviation: The Perversions of Science Fiction

Call for Papers

Science Fiction exists in a state of tension between the pleasurable and the perverse — of the pleasure gained from its fictive forms, and the perversions of facts and flesh within its speculative futures, imagined worlds and creative appropriations of technological innovation.
There is an immutable thread that runs throughout science fiction, that which “distinguishes its fictional worlds to one degree or another from the world in which we live” (Roberts, 2000), worlds perhaps characterised by Darko Suvin’s ‘estrangement’ or Samuel Delaney’s ‘reading/writing effects.’ The ways in which this distinction is maintained traces the nebulous line between the pleasurable and perverse in science fiction. How does the pleasure of its fiction collide with the perversions of the ‘world in which we live’?
This symposium looks to the very edge of science fictional possibilities, at the many perversions and pleasures that can take place when pushing the boundaries of science fictional imaginings.

Possible topics for papers may include:
Perversion(s) of science fact in science fiction
Environmental perversions in science fiction
Perversions of the body in science fiction
Queer imaginings in SF
Sex in SF
Perverse pleasure in science fiction
Trauma in SF
Perverse greed in SF
SF and psychosexuality(s)
Acts of violence in SF texts
Trans-humanism
The perverse imagination and science fiction
Perverse characters/perverse worlds
Perversions of form in science fiction cinema
The perverse “What If?”

Deletion—Deviation: The Perversions of Science Fiction will take place February 19th and 20th at Deakin University’s City Prime location, 3/550 Bourke St. Melbourne.

We invite contributions that address any of these areas around the deviant or perverse in of literature, film, gaming, art, and science and technology, and any other field with an investment in the deviant or perverse in science fiction.

This symposium will allow for a future edited collection on the open access online forum for science fiction studies Deletion (www.deletionscifi.org), aiming for publication in mid 2015.
We welcome abstracts of 300-350 words, along with a short biography, emailed to grady.hancock@deakin.edu.au or leon.marvell@deakin.edu.au by Friday October 31st. Notification of acceptance of articles will be by Friday November 18th.

Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
Hosted by the Cultural Transformations Research Group, Aarhus University.
November 21-22, 2014
LOCATION: AARHUS UNIVERSITY, DENMARK.
*NEW EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR CALL FOR PAPERS*: SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Keynote speaker:
Matt Hills, Aberystwyth University –
“Fans as Celebrities, Celebrities as Fans: The Rise of an Affective Economy?”

The notions of otherness and transgression play an essential part in the cultural work and practices celebrities and fandoms perform inasmuch as these concepts are inseparable from the celebrity and fan cultural processes of social in/exclusion, identification and dissociation, uniformity and diversification,
and forces both drawing and disrupting demarcations between normalcy and deviance. To the extent that these processes are actively shaped by and partake in shaping our desires, contempt, ways of thinking and being, otherness and transgression constitute pertinent sites for critical exploration within
the two overlapping fields of research, Fan and Celebrity Studies.
A complex and multivalent term, otherness is conventionally signaled by markers of “difference” and the unknown. As difference remains a condition for any determinate sense of identity, otherness is also inevitably implicit and complicit in considerations of subjectivity, identity, and sameness rendering it a pivotal aspect in discussions on both their constitution and impossibility. Likewise, in the field of Fan and Celebrity culture – where categories such as class, gender, race, sexuality, and age dynamically intersect and interact in manifold ways – the identity work, social meanings, and cultural preferences informing both these cultures’ production and consumption of cultural and media texts are also
constantly negotiated. Reflexive of the values, biases, and tensions of the social body, they are useful indicators of contemporary configurations and devices for othering; for example, the ways in which the discourses of immorality, pathology, monstrosity, impropriety, and cultism, among others, inform the construction of difference, and function as vehicles for othering that additionally cut diagonally across various imbricating “-isms,” such as racism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, and lookism.
As difference often implies the perception of deviance, otherness is accompanied by the constant impending threat of transgression, to undo and redraw the differentiating limits determining the
provisional identities of entities, behaviors, and bodies. While transgression refers to a violation and exceeding of bounds, it also ambiguously realizes and completes these boundaries as it helps define them and reaffirms a given social order by designating the illicit. This dialectic of the de/stabilizing
effects of transgression summons further inquiry in relation to fandoms and celebrity cultures, in which deviance is an attractive commercial component. Construed as particularly excessive, both celebrity personas and subcultural fan practices are defined by their distance from the norm, but where celebrity
culture concerns the consumption of transgressive content and narratives of extraordinary personalities, in the case of fan culture, consumption itself is purportedly transgressive. Celebrities are conventionally conceptualized as power-saturated signs seductively reinforcing cultural norms – either
through glossy portraits of charismatic individuals advertizing luxurious lifestyles and the censure of celebrities in the scandal genre respectively – and fandoms, conversely, as subversively contesting these norms through the fetishistic appropriation of cultural icons, media products, and playful textual poaching. However, hardly homogenous, both celebrity power and fandoms channel a multitude of contradictory and inconsistent ideological inflections, and entail a complex mesh of conformity and heterogeneity, which informs, for example, the social interaction among fans and their interpretive communities, whose internal fractions struggle over affect and meaning, as well as the pervasive circulation and currency of certain im/proper celebrity images and fan identities. Accordingly, the need to study, explain, and analyze the semiotic labor invested in the celebrity sign and by the fan in a given media product respectively only becomes greater.
In light of today’s new socio-political subjectivities, prosumer and participatory culture, new technologies and distributive modes, expanding networks, and means of communication enabling transcultural proximity between individuals from different parts of the world, new encounters, expressions, and understandings have emerged and with it, transformed nuances of othering, saming, and transgression. As a result, Fan and Celebrity cultures, are in need of a reappraisal in which the new fickle and permeable boundaries between identities, cultural practices, private and public spheres, products and consumers, celebrity and fan bodies, intimacy and estrangement are investigated.
Refracting otherness and transgression from overlapping prisms, the pleasures, representations, productions, and affects of celebrity and fan cultures opens up a fruitful and invigorating space for further research.
It is this variety of formulations which this conference wishes to convene on from divergent disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The Cultural Transformations Research Group at Aarhus University therefore invites submissions exploring celebrity and fan cultures within the scope of the critical spaces and contexts offered by otherness and transgression.

WELCOME TOPICS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:
The Intersection of Celebrity and Fan Studies
Sex, Gender, Sexual Differing, and Queering the Fan / Celebrity Body
Cross-Over Celebrities; Ethnicity, Hybridity, and Fandom in Transcultural Contexts
Celebrity Representations of Dis/ability and through Fan Works
The Intersectionalities of Social Categories in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
Notoriety, Infamy, Scandal, Deviance, and Excess
Social Media and the Construction of Celebrity as Other
The Construction of Otherness in Fandom and Fan Works
Monstrosity, the Abject, and Uncanny in Fan Fiction, Fandoms, and Celebrityhood
Pathology, Addiction, Cultism, Confession, and Therapy
Mashing and Vidding: Viral and Violating
Authenticity, Secrecy, Intimacy, and Publicity
Post-feminist Celebrity Narratives and Cultural Forms
Power, Prosumerism, and Participatory Culture
New Modes of Self-Other Relations within Para-social Contexts
Fan and/or Celebrity Shaming
The (Im)Material Other Worlds of Fandoms and the Alternative Spaces of Fan Communities

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES
We are pleased to announce that qualified research papers are considered for prospective publication in a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Otherness: Essays and Studies,
http://www.otherness.dk/journal/. Submitted articles will follow the standard review process of the journal.

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS
The conference is open to scholars and students of all disciplines. Those wishing to participate in the conference are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to the organisers at otcelebrityfan@gmail.com by 5 September, 2014. The convenors will have reviewed the
abstracts and notified the authors of whether their proposals have been accepted no later than
September 12, 2014. Papers may be given in English with citations in any language, and are limited to 20 minutes.
All questions regarding conference content (abstracts, presentations, speakers etc.) may be directed to the organizers at otcelebrityfan@gmail.com.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:
Matthias Stephan, Ph.D. scholar Claus Toft-Nielsen, Ph.D.
Lise Dilling-Hansen, Ph.D. scholar Susan Yi Sencindiver, Ph.D.