TWC No. 37 released

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 37, “Fandom Histories,” guest edited by Philipp Dominik Keidl and Abby S. Waysdorf.

This issue “explores the role of fans in the making of histories and examines the practices and media fans use to tell stories about the past” and “contributes to the study of historical representations produced by fans and the complex dynamics and impact of these fan-made histories.” The editors highlight five key directions for fan studies’ engagement with history:

(1) The impact fan histories have on fan communities.
(2) The materials and evidence fans collect.
(3) The production of media that presents itself as truthful, accurate, and trustworthy.
(4) The use, or lack of use, of particular platforms for historical work.
(5) The dialogue between fan-made histories and media produced by the heritage and media industries.

This special issue also includes an additional section on FanLIS. As the editors explain:

This special issue also plays host to a collection of papers arising from the FanLIS 2021 Symposium. This symposium, and the resulting works here, aimed to explore the interrelations between fan practice and the field of library and information science (LIS), looking at how fans organize, manage, and use information and what these fan practices can teach the LIS field. These essays, while part of their own separately edited section, nevertheless touch on some of the same issues from the rest of the special issue—archive, preservation, and use—that are at the heart of participatory historical practices.

The next issue of TWC, No. 38, is an unthemed issue slated for release on September 15, 2022.

TWC’s current calls for papers include the following issues:

General issue, September 2022 (CLOSED)
Trans Fandom, March 2023 (CLOSED, contact editors for Symposium)
Chinese Fandoms, December 2023 (July 1, 2022)
General issue, September 2023 (ROLLING SUBMISSION)
Fandoms and Platforms, March 2024 (January 1, 2023)

We accept on a rolling basis submissions for our general issues, which always appear on September 15.