Each week, the OTW’s ‘This Week in Fandom’ roundup presents some of week’s most interesting fannish occurrences. We link articles about fandom, embed examples of fannish social media trends, and we always ask you to contribute your experiences in the comments. This week is all about how you (yes, you!) can contribute to the growing and glorious field of fan studies.
Since 2008, the OTW has published a peer-reviewed academic journal called Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC), which seeks to promote scholarship on fanworks and practices. The journal currently has three open calls for papers, which means that there’s never been a better time for you to submit your work!
- Romance/Fans: Sexual Fantasy, Love, & Genre in Fandom
- This special issue aims to examine the romance/fan relationship. We seek to examine the relationship between fan works and romantic storytelling today. We want to explore what constitutes a romance fan or romance fandom. Finally, we want to consider the figure of the romance fan and its construction.
- Submissions are due 31 December 2017
- Social TV Fandom and the Media Industries
- This special issue aims to put emerging research on social media platforms and ongoing work on online fan culture in conversation to consider the impact the proliferation of those platforms is having on our understanding of the consumption and negotiation of television in era of on-screen hashtags, cast livetweets, Periscope, and the new world of “Social TV.”
- Submissions are due 1 March 2017
- Tumblr and Fandom
- This special issue of TWC seeks to explore Tumblr as a (not infrequently contested) fandom platform, in which cultures of age, gender, sexuality, race, dis/ability, class, nationality, religion, language, and so on connect and sometimes clash in the contact zones of fandoms.
- Submissions are due 1 May 2017
For each issue, TWC is accepting conceptual essays of 6,000–8,000 words, case study essays of 5,000–7,000 words, and short commentary of 1,500–2,500 words. If you’d like to contribute, please read the submission guidelines in their entirety.
Need some inspiration before you start writing?
- Check out The Root‘s ‘Culture’ section for articles like this one by Jonathan P. Higgins, Ed.D., on the rise of Black superheroes
- Read Black Girl Nerds‘ review of Rogue One, by Joelle Monique… and then read everything else on the site.
- Listen to Fansplaining, ‘[t]he podcast by, about, and for fandom, hosted by Flourish Klink & Elizabeth Minkel.’
- Get analytical with The Learned Fangirl. Their latest article keeps things light by discussing fannish ‘comfort food’ to get you through the end of a difficult year. (I strongly agree that Animal Crossing is chicken soup in video game form!)
- Practice your acafan skills by making an account on Fanlore, the OTW’s fannish wiki. We need YOU to add and edit articles on popular fandoms, ships, communities, and events.
- And finally, be sure you read through some previous TWC pieces, like this Praxis piece by Amber Davisson about ‘the viral video “Rebel Girl,” released in 2015, which was produced by fans of Hillary Clinton’. Then, tell us about what you read in the comments here!
We want your suggestions! If you have a story you think we should include, please contact us! Suggestions are welcome in all languages. Submitting a story doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a TWIF post, and inclusion of a story doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.