[Commlist] Call for Chapters: Mental Health Issues in Fandom

*Call for Chapters:**Mental Health Issues in Fandom*

Editors: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard (Dominican University), Ben Abelson 
(Mercy College) and Allison R. Levin (Webster University)

Rationale: Before the concretization of fan studies as an academic 
discipline, fans would routinely be labeled and treated as “fanatics” -- 
people with excessive love for something or someone that could lead them 
to engage in maladaptive, even dangerous, behavior. Over time the term 
mental health disorders developed to mean a condition that affects a 
person’s behavioral, and emotional well-being. As both fanaticism and 
mental health are framed as being all about how people think, feel, and 
behave, public discourse framed fandom as a mental health issue. Along 
with being problematic due to class, racial, gender and other issues, 
this positioning meant that fandom was not well understood until the 
recent couple decades.

Now, scholars return to this idea of mental health and fandom, but for 
the purposes of understanding how being a fan relates to their own 
mental health. This collection explores what fans learn about mental 
health from their fandoms and how their fandoms can impact their own 
mental health, for better or worse. Discussing these issues and 
intersections will further our understanding of the complex ways in 
which fandom weaves into people’s lives.

Fans experience and express issues with mental health in various ways. 
The theoretical and empirical essays intended for this collection 
demonstrate the importance of neither deriding nor lauding fans and 
fandom. Instead, they engage with fans to understand how their fandom 
operates as another component of their lives, which can have positive 
and negative impacts on their mental health. Such examinations can 
further reduce any lingering stigma associated with fandom as well as 
highlight true areas of concern that fans and their communities would 
benefit from better understanding.

We are looking for empirical essays that consider the mental health 
issues experienced by fans, within fan communities, and/or related to 
fandom. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  * Prevalence of mental health issues within fan communities
  * How fans negotiate mental health issues
  * How fandoms cause mental health issues
  * Using fandom as a therapeutic tool
  * Representation of fans’ mental health issues
  * Fan activity as therapy
  * What causes mental health issues within fans, fan communities, fandoms
  * How fandom helps people cope
  * How fans learn about mental health issues
  * How fans talk about mental health issues
  * Negative aspects of mental health issues in fandom
  * Positive aspects of mental health issues in fandom

Chapter guidelines

  * Seeking empirically-based essays of 6000-7000 words, inclusive of
    references (APA citation style)

Current timeline:

  * First chapter drafts due June 30, 2021
  * Peer reviews due by July 31, 2021
  * Final chapter drafts due by September 30, 2021
  * Final manuscript submitted by October 31, 2021 for consideration

Contact CarrieLynn Reinhard with any questions: (creinhard /at/ dom.edu)


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