Call for Papers:

Audiences, Fandoms, and Reception: A Kino 313 Conference

deadline for submissions:  

December 10, 2016

conference location/date:

Wayne State University (Detroit, MI); Friday, February 17th, 2017

contact email:  

shelby.cadwell@wayne.edu

keynote speaker:

Dr. Kristina Busse, Ph.D – professor at the University of South Alabama; coeditor of the journal Transformative Works and Cultures; author of forthcoming book Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities (University of Iowa Press, 2017).

"One (of the many) things that fandom and academia share is the ability to have many things be true at the same time." - Kristina Busse, in an interview with Henry Jenkins

The goal of this conference is to continue the conversation about fans and fandoms that has been sparked by scholars like Henry Jenkins, Matt Hills, Jonathan Gray, Kristina Busse, and many others over the years. Since the early ‘90s, scholars have been discussing the role of fans in the consumption, production, and distribution of media. Some common threads throughout these discussions have asked questions regarding how fans and fandom are portrayed in mainstream media (often as pathological or obsessive), how fans interpret and consume media, how fans re-mix, mash up, add to, and subtract from media, and whether or not there is room for meaningful reinterpretation (or what bell hooks would call the “oppositional gaze”) among fans of media. Taking inspiration from Busse's observation that both fandom and academia are invested in creating multiple possible "truths" this conference also seeks to explore how fandoms provide new and exciting tools for consuming, producing, and interpreting media in a multitude of ways.

This conference will feature papers, interactive roundtables, and workshops. Papers will be organized into panels of three and each presenter will be allotted 15 minutes per paper presentation. Workshops and Interactive Roundtables will be can be an hour to an hour and a half long (the allotted time will be contingent on the number of proposals we receive).

Topics might include the following:

*Studies focused on specific fandoms (concentrated around a celebrity, specific media property, franchise, or a form of media in the general sense)

*The reciprocal relationship between stars and fans

*Impact of celebrity and fame on identity construction, reconstruction and sense of self

*The emerging role of the fan/activist (groups of fans who have influenced media producers to include more positive representations of women, people of color, and other marginalized identities)

*The impact of social media on celebrity/fan interaction

*The intersection of stars and fans in virtual and physical spaces (Twitter, Tumblr, conventions)

*The evolution of online fan-oriented spaces (from newsgroups to chat rooms to discussion boards to Youtube channels to Twitter feeds)

*Anti-fans and 'haters'

*Fan shame and fandom policing

*Gendered and/or racial constructions of stars and fans ("fangirls", "fanboys", "blerds")

*Historical studies of fandom and fan/celebrity interaction

*The shifting role of the "acafan" (academic fan)

Paper Proposals: Paper proposals must include an abstract of 300-500 words, a 50-100 word synopsis of presentation to be published in the conference agenda, and a biography of 100 words or less.

Interactive Roundtables: Interactive roundtables may have up to 5 presenters. Interactive roundtable proposals must include a brief explanation of topic (250-500 words), 10-15 discussion questions, a list of presenters which identifies the moderator, and a biography of 100 words or less for each presenter.  

Workshops: Workshops may have up to 3 facilitators. Workshop proposals must include a brief explanation of topic (250-500 words), a list of facilitators, a biography of 100 words or less for each facilitator, and should be formatted as a lesson-plan. Workshop proposals should be skill-focused and can be: creative (related to cosplay, prop design, writing fan fiction, creating fan art, and so on); research (utilizing archives of fan-produced media, discussion boards, listservs, and so on); or pedagogical-oriented (how to teach fandom; integrating fandoms and fan studies into courses).

Please note that acceptance preference may be given to workshops and/or interactive roundtables that have more than one presenter.

Proposals are due December 10th, 2016, and should be submitted to Shelby Cadwell at shelby.cadwell@wayne.edu. Presenters will be notified of acceptance into the conference via email in the beginning of January. Please direct any questions about this conference to Shelby Cadwell (shelby.cadwell@wayne.edu) or Lacey Skorepa (lacey.skorepa@wayne.edu).