Posts in Transformative Works and Cultures

Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 48

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 48, a special issue on Disability and Fandom guest edited by Olivia Johnston Riley and Lauren Rouse. The essays in this special issue focus on disability both as a marginalised identity and as a critical scholarly approach to fandom and fan studies. It is a rich collection, featuring theory, case studies, and fannish meta on a broad array of issues and fandoms; there is also a review of Katherine Andersen Howell’s Disability and Fandom (U. Iowa, 2025). Other articles include: Contemplating the Neuroaffirmative Potential of Fandom Studies Digital Disability Aesthetics: Queer-Disabled Practices in Oral Notfic Fan fiction, disability,… Read more

Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 47

Transformative Works and Cultures has released Issue No. 47, a special issue on Gaming Fandom guest edited by Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones. Essays in this issue explore fan creativity in gaming fandoms and discuss a number of fan-made works and productions, including fanfiction, fanart, cosplay, mods, and fan-made games. Each issue includes articles representing theory, fannish meta, and book reviews, such as: Video game modifications as an extension of Jameson’s postmodernism: The case of Fallout: London The power of queer: Reimagining sexuality of female characters in “Genshin Impact” Slash fiction to mainstream: An analysis of strategies used for queering characters in League of… Read more

Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 46

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 46! In the opening editorial of this issue, the editors explain that the journal is focused on diversifying fan studies by diversifying “the scholarly grounds upon which we do our work” to work against “the existence of a sort of canon of fan studies scholarship”. Over the last year, the editors goal has been to “make room for the fandom killjoys (Pande 2018) and troublemakers who can unsettle those foundations” and this general issue continues to engage with that work. Each issue includes articles representing theory, fannish meta, and book reviews, such as the following: Disordered eating, disordered… Read more

Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 45

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 45, a special issue on Sports Fandoms, guest edited by Jason Kido Lopez and Lori Kido Lopez. This issue “explore[s] both unconventional sports fan objects and underexamined sports fan expressions.” As the editors of the special issue explain: “When sports fandom is understood from the center outward, hegemonic assumptions about who fans are and how they engage with sports often go unquestioned. By shifting our focus to the boundaries, we uncover insights that complicate and expand our understanding of sports fandom as a whole. With this approach, this issue demonstrates that the intersections of sport, media, and fandom… Read more

Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 44

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 44, “Centering Blackness in Fan Studies”, guest edited by Alfred L. Martin Jr. and Matt Griffin. This issue “brings together scholars working across an array of disciplines to center Black fandom” and “responds to [a] lack of privilege shown to Black fans.” As the editors of the special issue explain: “The articles in this issue examine Black fandoms on their own terms to examine how these audiences engage with popular culture, regardless of what the mainstream or official fandoms would say. These authors use Black fandom not as an object of comparison or a niche group but study… Read more