Call for papers
Fan Studies Network 2014 Conference
Regent’s University, London, UK
27-28 September 2014

For two years the Fan Studies Network has provided a fruitful and enthusiastic space for academics interested in fans and fandom to connect, share resources, and develop their research ideas. Following the success of our first symposium in November 2013, we are delighted to announce the FSN2014 Conference, taking place over two days at Regent’s University London from 27-28 September 2014.

FSN2014 will feature three fantastic keynote speakers. The first will be Dr Paul Booth, author of Digital Fandom: New Media Studies (Peter Lang, 2010), Time on TV: Temporal Displacement and Mashup Television (Peter Lang, 2012) and editor of Fan Phenomena: Doctor Who (Intellect, 2013). His newest book, Media Play: Pastiche, Parody, Fandom, is forthcoming from University of Iowa Press. The second keynote will be Dr Rhiannon Bury, author of Cyberspaces of Their Own: Female Fandoms Online (Peter Lang, 2005) and currently writing her second book for publication with Peter Lang, entitled Television 2.0: New Perspectives on Digital Convergence, Audiences, and Fans. We are also incredibly delighted that Mr Orlando Jones, an American film and television writer, producer, and actor who currently plays Captain Frank Irving in Sleepy Hollow (Fox, 2013-) and vocal proponent of fan culture, will be joining us via Skype to participate in a virtual Q&A session.

We invite abstracts of no more than 300 words for individual 20-minute papers that address any aspect of fandom or fan studies. We also welcome collated submissions for pre-constituted panels. We encourage new members, in all stages of study, to the network and welcome proposals for presentations on, but not limited to, the following possible topics:

– Activism and fandom
– Producer-audience interactions
– Non-Western fan cultures
– Ethics in fan studies
– Defining fandom
– Anti-Fandom and Non-Fandom
– Fan use of social media platforms
– Fandom (and) controversies
– The future of fan studies

We also invite expressions of interest (100-200 words) from anyone wishing to host a short session of ‘speed geeking’. This would involve each speaker chairing a short discussion on a relevant topic of their choosing, and then receiving extensive feedback, making it ideal for presenting in-progress or undeveloped ideas. If you have any questions about this format of presentation, please contact Richard McCulloch at mccullochr[at]regents.ac.uk.

Please send any enquires/abstracts to: fsnconference[at]gmail.com by 1 June.

Notifications of decisions will be sent out w/c 16 June.

You can find out more information on http://fanstudies.wordpress.com or talk about the event on Twitter using #FSN2014.