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[ecrea] CFP: Transformative Works and Fan Activism (second call)
Wed Dec 29 18:55:08 GMT 2010
<http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/announcement/view/16>http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/announcement/view/16
Special issue: Transformative Works and Fan Activism (March 2012)
Transformative Works and Fan Activism
March 2012
Edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova,
University of Southern California
How might research on fandom and participatory
culture inform our understanding of citizenship
and activism? Cultural theorists have long
speculated about how our fantasy lives and
cultural engagements might inspire broader forms
of public participation. In his book
Understanding Popular Culture, for example, John
Fiske describes one potential route which might
lead a young woman from fannish interest in
Madonna towards the resources, skills, and
identities she needs to contribute to social
change. Fan studies have long located localized
resistances within the cultural productions and
practices associated with fandom, looking at how
fan fiction, say, might lead to new
understandings of gender, sexuality, and race.
Yet there has been less work that examines how
these imaginative practices, at times
facilitated by digital media, might lead to an
enhanced sense of agency or a new vision of
social change, or how the skills developed
through fandom might be mobilized for getting
people out to vote, protesting public policies,
or encouraging contributions and volunteerism around emergency situations.
In Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins describes
how popular culture, and more broadly
participatory culture, can function as a civic
playground, where lower stakes allow for a
greater diversity of opinions than tolerated in
political arenas. Jenkins argues, "One way that
popular culture can enable a more engaged
citizenry is by allowing people to play with
power on a microlevel...Popular culture may be
preparing the way for a more meaningful public
culture." Building on these observations, we
begin with the premise that participatory
culture, like popular culture, encourages active
participation, lively discussion, and even
mobilization around particular topics and
issues, leading to civic engagement. Clearly, a
fan group online is apt to be far more diverse
in its perspectives than a group defined around,
say, a political candidate or a social issue.
This is not to suggest that fan communities do
not form firm consensus perspectives that block
some other ideas from being heard, but they form
them around different axes, such as desired sets
of romantic partnerships between characters,
which may or may not reflect ideological
schisms. Our understanding of these synergies
between participatory culture and civic
participation creates many possible intersections with grassroots activism.
We seek contributions premised on a dynamic
understanding of citizenship that will help us
understand how participatory culture
interactions encourage people to create,
discuss, and organize as a way of engaging with
specific civic issues and events, and whether
(or how) these interactions may lead to new
forms of social organizing and action.
Researchers have long noted that people who
participate in after-school programs or who
contribute to the arts are more likely to become
involved in other civic activities; we are just
starting to understand whether or not
interest-driven activities, such as fandom,
which typically occur outside of formal
educational settings, may have a similar impact
on individual trajectories toward public
participation. A growing number of groups, such
as the Harry Potter Alliance, and specific
campaigns, such as Racebending, are seeking to
mobilize fans as potential political agents. In
the process, these groups may support the
development of long-term civic identities as
well as the applied skills of fan activism, such
as letter-writing campaigns to keep programs on
the air. Both are likely to be useful for future
civic and movement mobilization.
This special issue emerges from work being done
by the Participatory Culture and Civic
Engagement Project
(<http://sites.google.com/site/participatorydemocracyproject/>http://sites.google.com/site/participatorydemocracyproject/)
at the University of Southern California (Henry
Jenkins, Principal Investigator).
We seek articles and other work that explores
the continuities between online participatory
culture and civic engagement, including, but not limited to:
* Case studies of U.S.-based and
international fan communities who have moved
toward civic engagement (including efforts to
protect or promote the fandom, charity efforts,
and direct forms of political activism).
* Examples of how practices from fandom and
participatory culture are informing more
traditional activist organizations and political debates.
* Examinations of how fan discussions flow
into more overtly political conversations, with
constructive or destructive consequences.
* Interdisciplinary explorations of ways in
which participatory cultures may encourage some
forms of civic engagement, as well as the
possible limitations of such engagement.
* Considerations of how work in fan studies
might contribute to ongoing discussions in
cultural studies about the relationship between
audiences and publics, consumers, and citizens.
* Theoretical discussion relevant to the
trajectories that exist between participatory culture and civic engagement.
* Reflections on how a focus on "cultural
citizenship" might challenge more traditional definitions of civic engagement.
* Analyses of digital media participatory
practices in the context of civic engagement.
* Methodological discussions of how we might
study the shifting relationship between
participatory culture and public engagement.
* Investigations of how participatory modes
of civic engagement intersect with questions of
race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class.
* Mappings of the dynamics of the local and
mediated in communities that form around
participatory culture in the context of new media technologies.
* Discussions of how fiction and fantasy can
captivate us on an emotional level, providing a
narrative structure that can motivate us to seek change in the real world.
Writing from fans, independent researchers,
community leaders, and practitioners is actively
encouraged. We are especially interested in case
studies that deal with these fan practices outside of the United States.
Submission guidelines
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.
Contributors are encouraged to include embedded
links, images, and videos in their articles or
to propose submissions in alternative formats
that might comprise interviews, collaborations,
or video/multimedia works. We are also seeking
reviews of relevant books, events, courses, platforms, or projects.
Theory: Often interdisciplinary essays with a
conceptual focus and a theoretical frame that
offer expansive interventions in the field. Peer
review. Length: 5,000?8,000 words plus a 100?250-word abstract.
Praxis: Analyses of particular cases that may
apply a specific theory or framework to an
artifact; explicate fan practice or formations;
or perform a detailed reading of a text. Peer
review. Length: 4,000?7,000 words plus a 100?250-word abstract.
Symposium: Short pieces that provide insight
into current developments and debates. Editorial
review. Length: 1,500?2,500 words.
Submissions are accepted online only. Please
visit TWC's Web site
(<http://journal.transformativeworks.org/>http://journal.transformativeworks.org/)
for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail
the TWC Editor (editor AT
<http://transformativeworks.org>transformativeworks.org).
Contact
You are encouraged to contact the guest editors
with advance inquiries or proposals:
Henry Jenkins, hjenkins AT <http://usc.edu>usc.edu
Sangita Shresthova, sangita.shresthova AT <http://usc.edu>usc.edu
Due dates
Contributions for blind peer review (Theory and
Praxis essays) are due by April 1, 2011.
Contributions that undergo editorial review
(Symposium, Interview, Review) are due by May 1, 2011.
Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC), ISSN
1941-2258, is an online-only Gold Open Access
publication of the nonprofit
<http://transformativeworks.org/>Organization
for Transformative Works copyrighted under a
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/>Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported
License. Contact the
<http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/about/contact>Editor
with questions.
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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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