Surrendering authorial agency and practicing transindividualism in Tumblr's role-play communities

Authors

  • Shannon Howard Auburn Montgomery

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.01020

Keywords:

Fan community, Transindividualism

Abstract

The writer who engages in acts of online role-play or make-believe is often thought to promote him or herself as an individual agent. However, when members of Tumblr's role-play communities engage in play, they create scenes together that prompt surrender of authorial agency. In doing so, they engage in transindividual work, which allows them to work across, among, and between other entities until the boundaries of the self become porous rather than fixed.

Author Biography

Shannon Howard, Auburn Montgomery

Shannon Howard is an assistant professor at Auburn University Montgomery, where she studies material and cultural rhetorics, popular culture narratives, and teaching writing.

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Published

2017-09-15

Issue

Vol. 25 (2017)

Section

Theory

License

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