[Commlist] CFP Edited Collection: Participatory Culture Wars: Controversy, Conflict and Complicity in Fandom

****Call for papers and contributions for an edited collection****

*Participatory Culture Wars: Controversy, Conflict and Complicity in Fandom*

*Edited by Dr Simone Driessen, Bethan Jones, Dr Benjamin Litherland.*

It has become increasingly clear that fandoms and participatory culture 
are sites of controversy, conflict and even complicity, complicating 
earlier assessments that sought to celebrate creativity, collegiality, 
and community. As we continue to make sense of the consequences of web 
2.0, the study of fans – the affective bonds, identities, and productive 
cultures of a highly mediated and networked society – is vital in 
understanding our current moment, whether expressed in debates about 
“cancel culture” or ongoing “culture wars”. Fans have had to rethink and 
reassess their relationships to fan objects, consider their role in 
reproducing global systems of inequality, and reflect on the meaning of 
participation in an era that is marked by both moral ambivalence and 
political earnestness.

Implicitly and explicitly, fannish practices are involved in a variety 
of key social, political, and cultural issues across the globe. They can 
be seen in politics, ranging from QAnon’s role in the storming of the US 
Capitol building, conspiracy theories relating to the covid pandemic, 
and the continued expansion of the global reactionary and populist 
right, from Britain to India to Brazil. They can be seen in new cultural 
terrains produced by networked movements like #MeToo, Black Lives 
Matter, #OscarsSoWhite, and the accompanying activism and responses as 
fans come to terms with the crimes, misdemeanors, and disagreements of 
former faves, like Xiao Zhan, Joss Whedon, or JK Rowling. They are 
expressed in the strategies and tactics of inter- and intra-fandom 
conflicts, whether Meghan Markle and the Royal Family or some Chinese 
fan responses to BTS talking about the Korean war. And, pressingly, fan 
tourism, collector culture, and the energy use of digital culture all 
contribute to the ongoing climate crisis.

Scholars of participatory culture can play a key role in assessing many 
and more of these issues, but they will also have significant and 
ongoing impact on the way we conceptualize fans, fandoms, and 
participatory culture. This work builds on developing themes in the 
field. Ongoing scholarship about racism, sexism, and homophobia in 
prominent fan spaces is vital (Massanari, 2017; Pande, 2020; Scott, 
2019), and Jonathan Gray’s conception of anti-fandom (2003; 2005; 2007) 
is an important moment in indicating the darker underbelly of fan 
cultures. Yet scholarship on QAnon and Trump fandom (Reinhardt, 
forthcoming; Miller, 2020), cancel and commenting culture (Clark, 2020; 
Ng, 2020; Barnes, 2018), reactionary fandom (Stanfill, 2020), ethical 
consumption (Wood, Litherland & Reed, 2020; Tyler, 2021) and serial 
killer fandom (Nacos, 2015; Rico, 2015) pose important questions which 
cannot be answered simply by reference to anti- or toxic fandom.

This collection brings together some of these authors and perspectives 
while developing and extending these debates. We are keen to broaden the 
scope of the issue so that studies of fans of film and television are 
included alongside studies of music, literary, theatre, sports and 
politics. And we are especially eager to include case studies beyond the 
anglophone and global north. We are also interested in the practices of 
organizations in fan-adjacent areas such as marketing, production, 
branding and influencer culture. We welcome traditional essays and 
research papers and non-traditional formats, such as roundtables, 
interviews, and think-pieces, from people inside and outside of the 
academy. Topics might include but are not limited to:

·Conspiracy theories and/as fandom.

·‘Culture wars’, intra- and inter-fan conflicts, and other broader 
disagreements or discontent about the meaning and values of popular 
cultural texts.

·The consequences of anti-fandom and toxic fandom.

·Expressions and practices of ethical consumption, whether via “cancel 
culture”, commodity activism or similar.

·The moral economies of fandom, and their consequences for the media and 
cultural industries.

·The ethical implications of participation, whether through fan 
activism, dark fandom or other.

·The environmental impact of fandom, from NFTs to fan tourism.


Please send an abstract of 300 words, along with a short author 
biography of 150 words to (participatoryculturewars /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(participatoryculturewars /at/ gmail.com)> by 31 July 2021. Please also 
address any queries to this email address.


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