Archive for November 2014

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[ecrea] new book: The Ashgate Research Companion to Fan Cultures

Fri Nov 14 18:24:36 GMT 2014


The Ashgate Research Companion to Fan Cultures

    Imprint: Ashgate
    Published: September 2014
    Format: 244 x 169 mm
    Extent: 318 pages
    Binding: Hardback
    Other editions: ebook PDF, ebook ePUB
    ISBN: 978-1-4094-5562-2
    ISBN Short: 9781409455622
    BL Reference: 306'.1
    LoC Control No: 2014006155


Edited by Linda Duits, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, Koos Zwaan, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands and Stijn Reijnders, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Fans constitute a very special kind of audience. They have been marginalized, ridiculed and stigmatized, yet at the same time they seem to represent the vanguard of new relationships with and within the media. ‘Participatory culture’ has become the new normative standard. Concepts derived from early fan studies, such as transmedial storytelling and co-creation, are now the standard fare of journalism and marketing text books alike. Indeed, usage of the word fan has become ubiquitous. The Ashgate Research Companion to Fan Cultures problematizes this exaltation of fans and offers a comprehensive examination of the current state of the field. Bringing together the latest international research, it explores the conceptualization of ‘the fan’ and the significance of relationships between fans and producers, with particular attention to the intersection between online spaces and offline places.

The twenty-two chapters of this volume elucidate the key themes of the fan studies vernacular. As the contributing authors draw from recent empirical work around the globe, the book provides fresh insights and innovative angles on the latest developments within fan cultures, both online and offline. Because the volume is specifically set up as companion for researchers, the chapters include recommendations for the further study of fan cultures. As such, it represents an essential reference volume for researchers and scholars in the fields of cultural and media studies, communication, cultural geography and the sociology of culture.

Contents: Introduction, Koos Zwaan, Linda Duits and Stijn Reijnders. Part I Re-defining the Fan: Returning to ‘becoming-a-fan’ stories: theorising transformational objects and the emergence/extension of fandom, Matt Hills; Populating the universe: toy collecting and adult lives, Kristen N. Bryant, Denise D. Bielby and C. Lee Harrington; Much ado about Keanu Reeves: the drama of ageing in online fandom, Shenja van der Graaf; Music for (something other than) pleasure: anti-fans and the other side of popular music appeal, Liz Giuffre; A severe case of disliking bimbo Heidi, scumbag Jesse and bastard Tiger: analysing celebrities’ online anti-fans, Nathalie Claessens and Hilde Van den Bulck; Fandom as survival in media life, The Janissary Collective; From interpretive communities to interpretative fairs: ordinary fandom, textual selection and digital media, Cornel Sandvoss and Laura Kearns. Part II Fans and Producers: Fan/celebrity interactions and social media: connectivity and engagement in Lady Gaga fandom, Lucy Bennett; Fans of folklore performances: identifying a new relationship between communication and marketing, Angela Chang; Investors and patrons, gatekeepers and social capital: representations and experiences of fans’ participation in fan funding, Francesco D’Amato; Music fans as mediators in the age of digital reproduction, Arturo Arriagada and Victor Cruz; Celebrity: the return of the repressed in fan studies?, Mark Duffett; Fans who cut their soaps queer: a queer theoretical study into online fandom of gay television representation, Frederik Dhaenens and Sofie Van Bauwel. Part III Localities of Fandom: Transnational cultural fandom, Hye-Kyung Lee; Retreating behind the scenes: the ‘less’-civilizing impact of virtual spaces on the Irish heavy metal scene, Gary Sinclair; ‘Kvlt-er than thou’: power, suspicion and nostalgia within black metal fandom, Ross Hagen; A decade in the life of online fan communities, Ruth A. Deller; Placing fan cultures: xenites in the transnational spaces of fandom, Kaarina Nikunen; Embodied fantasy: the affective space of anime conventions, Nicolle Lamerichs; Watching football in the fan park: mediatization, spectatorship and fan identity, Karin Becker, Robert Kautsky and Andreas Widholm; ‘We’re not racist, we only hate Mancs’: post-subculture and football fandom, Steve Redhead. Index.

About the Editor: Linda Duits is an affiliate researcher with the Institute for Cultural Inquiry at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and publicist specialized in popular culture.

Koos Zwaan is Associate Professor in Media, Culture and Citizenship at the Inholland University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, and co-editor of Adapting Idols: Authenticity, Identity and Performance in a Global Television Format.

Stijn Reijnders is Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and author of Places of the Imagination: Media, Tourism, Culture.

Reviews: ‘This book is special. The collection confidently addresses fan cultures across politics, economics, production, consumption, identity and performance. It covers the diversity of ordinary fans, superfans and anti-fans, on topics from sports and music, to toys and television. If you want to understand fans then get this book.’
    Annette Hill, Lund University, Sweden

‘This volume is excellent evidence of how fan studies have matured and diversified in the past decades. It brings together all the experts in the field, and shows an impressive range of theoretical perspectives and inspiring case studies. Well written and well researched, this is a must-have for scholars of fandom and media culture.’ Liesbet van Zoonen, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Loughborough University, UK


http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409455622
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