Half-Day Seminar: Politics of Fandom

Welcome to the half-day seminar

Politics of Fandom: Affect, Activism, and the Limits of Agency

The International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC) at the University of Turku and the research project Intersectional Reading, Social Justice, and Literary Activism (INTERACT) funded by KONE Foundation, organize a seminar on fan studies at the University of Turku.

Date: Friday, 3 Nov 2023

Time: 13.00-17.00

Venue: Calonia building (Caloniankuja 3), room 1006

In an early essay on fan studies, Lawrence Grossberg argued that the defining characteristic of the sensibility of fandom is affect – that which gives colour, meaning and intensity to experience. Grossberg also emphasized that the affective charge of fandom opens possibilities for political struggle. In the decades since Grossberg’s essay was published, forms of fandom have changed in many ways. The internet and social media have made fandom more visible and mainstream, and also of greater economic interest to the cultural industries.

We warmly welcome you to listen to presentations and discuss new directions in fan studies!

Program:

13. 00 Mari Pajala: Opening words

13.15 Zoë Jay: Vernacular Spectacular: Eurovision Fans and the Everyday Politics of Cultural Diplomacy

14.15 Janne Salminen: Giving Fans what they Want: Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the Rise of Hypermasculine Auteur

14.45 COFFEE

15.15 Eija Niskanen: Working Fan – The Parasocial Relationship Between Artist and Audience in K-pop

15.45 Lin Zhang: Recalibration Resistance: Everyday Resistance of Boys’ Love Fans in China

16.15 Fabienne Silberstein-Bamford: Negotiating Boundaries of Authority in Fanfiction Communities

16.45 Closing discussion