[ecrea] CFP for edited collection : Transitions, endings and resurrections in fandom

Please see the following CFP for an edited collection on Transitions, 
endings and resurrections in fandom


Periods of transition and change, as well as endings, can have huge 
impact on fans who either engage with texts collectively via fan 
communities or who have more individual connections with fan objects. 
This edited collection seeks to draw on existing work on fandom in this 
area to offer greater insight into how fans respond to and cope with 
transitions or periods of ending such as actors or characters leaving 
television shows; the cancellation of shows entirely; the deaths of 
famous people; the splitting up of bands or the ends of careers of 
musical acts; players leaving particular sports teams, and so on. It 
also examines how fandom continues and changes after these periods of 
transition or cessation, exploring ongoing practices such as fan 
discussion, creativity, or identification, along with cases of fans who 
may abandon favoured objects and move onto new objects of fandom 
entirely. Issues of return and resurrection can also be explored to 
examine cases such as returning television series, the reforming of 
musical bands, or the revival or reboot of a film franchise.


The proposed collection draws on the work being conducted on endings 
more broadly by writers such as Jason Mittell (2013), C. Lee Harrington 
(2012) and Joanne Morreale (2011), and on specific fan studies including 
Bertha Chin’s work on post-series X-Files fandom (2012), Bore & 
Hickman’s (2011) study of post-West Wing fan practices on Twitter, 
Whiteman and Metevier’s (2013) study of the ends of online fan 
communities, and Rebecca Williams’ (2011; forthcoming) work on fan 
reactions to the ends of television shows. However, it seeks to extend 
these approaches and offer new ways of theorising periods of transition 
and change, as well as the concept of the ‘ending’ in fandoms, along 
with broadening the field of inquiry beyond television to consider 
examples including cinema, popular literature, games, sport, celebrity, 
music, TV, media technology (e.g. hardware, consoles) and more.


The collection already has a number of proposed chapters but I now 
invite proprosals on the from other interested contributors. I am 
particularly interested in proposals on the following topics:


• The impact of media production contexts
• Transmedia and multi-platforming
• Fan reactions to deaths of celebrities
• Examples of fan objects on hiatus (where a return is unknown)
• The role of memory and/or nostalgia
• The role of archives and/or memorials
• Fan activism and endings/transitions
• Non-Western case studies
• Endings and transitions in sports fandom


Please send an abstract of 300 words, along with a short author 
biography of 150 words to Dr. Rebecca Williams 
(rebecca.williams /at/ southwales.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(rebecca.williams /at/ southwales.ac.uk)> by 15th February 2015. Please 
also address any queries to this email address.





Dr. Rebecca Williams
Lecturer in Communication, Cultural and Media Studies

Faculty of Creative Industries

ATRiuM

University of South Wales

Adam Street
Cardiff, CF24 2FX

Phone: 01443 668519
Email: (rebecca.williams /at/ southwales.ac.uk)