fan studies and fandom

EXTENDED DEADLINE: Abstracts due February 13, 2017.

Joss Whedon’s short-lived series Firefly developed a fierce following while it aired from 2002 to 2003. After its cancellation, fans cried foul and demanded more, which eventually led to the 2005 feature film follow-up Serenity, along with several tie-in comic books. The series and film were celebrated for their mixing of science fiction and western iconography, dystopic settings, progressive gender representations, underdog storylines, and clever and fast-paced dialogue.

One of the defining themes of the CW’s Supernatural is its interest in fiction and storytelling. The longest running genre series on American television, it has, throughout its twelve seasons, broken the fourth wall in a way that no other TV show likely has. From making Supernatural itself (and its fandom) exist within the world of the narrative to the unique relationship between canon and fanon, fans and creators, Supernatural is a groundbreaking look at the way narratives are created, told, and retold. Yet most scholarship dedicated to Supernatural has omitted thoroughly exploring this crucial aspect of the series.

Conference website:  http://www.utdgsaraw.com

University of Texas at Dallas
Arts & Humanities Graduate Student Association

 utd.gsa@gmail.com


February 24 and February 25, 2017


Keynote speakers: Dr. Nnedi Okorafor and Dr. Stephen T. Asma

 Theme: Hybridity and Monstrosity


Submission Deadline: December 31 , 2016

Romance is one of the most beloved genres of media around the world. Catherine Roach describes fans of romance fiction as ‘ludic readers... who read for play and pleasure’ (2016, 32). According to Roach, romance fandom is both ‘intensely private, as the reading experience can be, but also powerfully communitarian’ (32). Despite the popularity of romance media, romance fandoms remain relatively unaddressed within fan studies. Traditionally, the relationship between “shipping” and romance has been cast as either oppositional or ambivalent. Catherine Driscoll argues that romance “generally appears as a mute field” in studies of fan fiction (2006, 82). Romance is framed as a force that sexually explicit fan fiction responds to or acts against.

The Cartoon Network television series Steven Universe (2013- ), created by Rebecca Sugar, the first woman to create a show for the network, has attracted both media acclaim and a devoted fan following for, among other things, its progressive portrayals of queer characters and blended families in a story driven by members of a rigid caste society who rebelled in order to halt their civilization’s colonization of Earth. Despite Steven Universe offering rich analytical opportunities, very little scholarship has yet been published on the show, and we are seeking submissions for an edited collection, titled Keep Beach City Weird: Theorizing Steven Universe

that will remedy that lack.