Fan Studies Pedagogies (3/15/21; 1/1/20)
The expansion of fan studies as an academic field, and the growing visibility of fandom and fan activities in popular culture, have led to more instructors using fannish activities and engagement in the classroom, and teaching fan studies as a disciplinary focus. Teaching fandom and fan studies means drawing from a multidisciplinary spectrum of methodologies and foci. Yet, as fan studies itself is often a “moving target” -- refusing, in many instances, of becoming “disciplined” enough to match traditional academic units -- it becomes imperative to discuss the various contributions, methodologies, ethics, and lacunae of the field in a classroom setting. The specific pedagogical needs of the fan studies classroom require sustained interrogation because of the changing field of fan studies itself.
This special issue seeks submissions that specifically address the pedagogical methods, styles, contributions, and concerns of the fan studies course, classroom, and online space(s). We are particularly interested in pedagogical methods drawn from fan studies, fan studies’ application to the academic environment, engagement with students’ fannish affect for pedagogical purposes, and explorations of how fan studies itself is taught. We also seek papers that directly address the epistemological and ethical stakes of operationalizing fans’ approaches to their media texts for use in academic contexts, and best practices for securing permissions for student contact with fan texts themselves. In addition, we seek pieces that explore how teaching fandom/fan studies engages (or doesn’t) the demands of the university institution itself.
We also welcome shorter pieces focused on particular projects/pedagogies that have worked in the classroom, hybrid, or online setting, or particular assignments with specific ties to fan studies methodologies. We seek to develop the Symposium section as a useable set of lesson plans, assessment techniques, and methodological interventions with immediate pedagogical application. Hybrid approaches, detailing the stakes and theory behind a particular lesson, or describing the implementation of a fannish technique, would also be welcome here.
* Potential topics include but are not limited to:
* Student or Instructor fan engagement
* Fan studies methodologies in the classroom
* Fandom itself as pedagogical method
* Administrative reaction to fan studies pedagogies
* Global fan studies in the classroom
* LMS (learning management systems) and their roles in the fan studies classroom
* Teaching fandom versus teaching fan studies
* Engaging with race and fan studies in the classroom
* Student demographic changes and fan studies
* Corporate engagement with/cooptation of fandom as pedagogical opportunity
* Fandom as model for the academic system
* The hybrid course as relational mode in fan studies classrooms
* The ethics of assessing affective engagement
* Methods of assessing the creative fan studies project
* Collective assignments and the expression of fannish ethics
* Leveraging students’ existing fan-expertise throughout a course
Submission guidelines
Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and to promote dialogue between the academic community and the fan community. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms that embrace the technical possibilities of the Web and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.
Theory: Conceptual essays. Peer review, 6,000–8,000 words.
Praxis: Case study essays. Peer review, 5,000–7,000 words.
Symposium: Short commentary. Editorial review, 1,500–2,500 words.
Please visit TWC's Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor AT transformativeworks.org).
Contact—Contact guest editors Paul Booth and Regina Yung Lee with submissions, questions or inquiries at FandomPedagogy@gmail.com.
Due date—January 1, 2020, for estimated March 15, 2021 publication.
