A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies [Hardcover]

A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies offers scholars and fans an accessible and engaging resource for understanding the rapidly expanding field of fan studies. International in scope and written by a team that includes many major scholars, this volume features over thirty especially-commissioned essays on a variety of topics, which together provide an unparalleled overview of this fast-growing field.

Separated into five sections—Histories, Genealogies, Methodologies; Fan Practices; Fandom and Cultural Studies; Digital Fandom; and The Future of Fan Studies—the book synthesizes literature surrounding important theories, debates, and issues within the field of fan studies. It also traces and explains the social, historical, political, commercial, ethical, and creative dimensions of fandom and fan studies. Exploring both the historical and the contemporary fan situation, the volume presents fandom and fan studies as models of 21st century production and consumption, and identifies the emergent trends in this unique field of study.

Notes on Contributors xi

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction 1
Paul Booth

Part I Histories, Genealogies, Methodologies 11

1 Fandom, Negotiation, and Participatory Culture 13
Henry Jenkins

2 Foundational Discourses of Fandom 27
Daniel Cavicchi

3 Literature Fandom and Literary Fans 47
Alexandra Edwards

4 The Fan Experience 65
Karen Hellekson

5 Soap Fans, Revisited 77
C. Lee Harrington and Denise Bielby

6 Not My Lifeblood: Autoethnography, Affective Fluctuations and Popular Musl“)