International Journal of Cultural Studies

If you want to know more about transcultural fandom, read the full special issue here: journals.sagepub.com/toc/icsa/29/2

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Transcultural fan studies with a ‘Queer Asia’ focus in the 2020s. Jamie J. Zhao (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong).

Highlighting relevant changes in academic and social worlds, this paper advocates for a paradigm shift in which Asia is recognized as the origin—imaginatively and figuratively—for gender and sexual discourses in transcultural fandom studies.

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Beyond belonging: A conversation on inauthenticity, third-culture kids, and fandom. Lori Morimoto (University of Virginia, USA), Haerin Shin (Korea University, Republic of Korea), Sangita Shresthova (University of Southern California, USA)

Moving across personal narratives and scholarly reflection, this dialogue situates fandom as a contact zone shaped by asymmetrical power relations, affective attachments, and performative negotiations of identity.

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Dialogue on creator and wanghong studies: Conceptual challenges and global approach. Jian Lin (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), David Craig (University of Southern California, USA)

This dialogue explores the conceptual and terminological challenges inherent in “creator and wanghong studies,” particularly regarding the global diversity and local specificity of the emerging creator and wanghong cultures.

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Meaningfully playful: Gender, sexuality, and civic imaginations in Korean and Chinese fandom cultures. Do Own (Donna) Kim (University of Illinois Chicago, USA), Fang Wu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)

The authors discuss South Korean and Chinese fandom cultures’ intertwinement with civic engagements, the role that gender and sexuality play in this process, and how such civic imaginations emerge domestically and transculturally.

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Precarious utopia: The affective politics of transcultural entertainment in K-pop Random Play Dance. Kedi Zhou (University of Southern California, USA), Yuqi Yang (University of Southern California, USA), Xinyue Zhang (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong).

This research examines K-pop RPD as a precarious utopian space, where global pop culture is reinterpreted within local contexts to produce fleeting yet affectively powerful moments of joy, collectively, and self-expression.

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Feminist fan engagement and collective agency: A case study of Barbie in China. Xinyao Yuan (Tsinghua University, China), Ruoyu Yang (City University of Hong Kong, China), Zheng Zhang (Tsinghua University, China)

To understand how Chinese fans use Barbie—a symbol of Western culture—as a tool for feminist expression, this study examines their motivations, strategies, and the cultural tensions they navigate.

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When transcultural fandom meets nationalism: Chinese cosplayers’ identity negotiation between global flows and local places. Zituo Wang (University of Southern California, USA), Haoyu Huang (Wuhan University, China).

This study investigates Chinese cosplayers within the tensions between transcultural fandom and nationalism, proposing a framework that distinguishes between the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of identity negotiation.

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Fan-driven paratextuality in the audios: Film and television podcast in the post-fansubbing era of Chinese translational fandom. Dingkun Wang (The University of Hong Kong, China), Xiaochun Zhang (University College London, UK)

This paper explores the rise of fan podcasting, examining how fan podcasters reconfigure media translation by mobilising audio practices that traverse linguistic, cultural, and technological boundaries.

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Where Disney and Hallyu collide: Fashioning transcultural selves through hanbok sartorial fandom. Yoonsuh Jung (Korea University, South Korea), Tiara Wilson (University of Southern California, USA), Ying Wang (Shanghai University, China).

By analyzing Koreanified Disney Princesses and non-Korean “hanbok princesses” on social media, this study shows how performers use hanbok to express fan interests, materialize affective affinities, and fashion transcultural selves.

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"Fixing" race across the Pacific: Transcultural reinterpretations in the Genshin Impact fandom. Yvonne Gonzales (University of Southern California, USA), Fanxi Feng (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), Samantha Tecson (University of Southern California, USA), Kirsten Crowe (University of Southern California, USA).

This paper follows the reinterpretation of Genshin Impact to show how the fluidity of concepts of race allows fans to reconstruct local racial hegemonies in their practices.

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Wheels on the ground, worlds in motion: an introduction to transcultural fandom in East Asia. Guest editors: Henry Jenkins and Kedi Zhou (University of Southern California, USA)

This article introduces the special issue "Transcultural Fandom", with a focus on China, Korea, and broader contexts beyond East Asia, bringing together researchers to explore how fandom travels across cultural, linguistic, and political borders.

Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1177/1367...

International Journal of Cultural Studies, volume 29, issue 2, 2026. Special issue: Transcultural Fandom.

Have you read our 29.2 issue yet?

We would like to thank guest editors Henry Jenkins and Kedi Zhou (University of Southern California, USA) for bringing together this special issue on Transcultural Fandom.

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References: Aouragh, M., & Chakravartty, P. (2016). Infrastructures of Empire: Towards a Critical Geopolitics of Media and Information Studies. Media Culture & Society, 38(4), 559–575. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716643007 Arora, P. (2024). From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech. HarperBusiness. Athique, A. (2019). Media, civilization and the international order. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(3), 334-351. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919888923 Baishya, A. K. (2024). Viral nationalism: Right wing media and the aesthetics of distributed participation. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(3), 597-616. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241302489 Chouliaraki, L. (2010). Post-humanitarianism: Humanitarian communication beyond a politics of pity: Humanitarian communication beyond a politics of pity. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(2), 107-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877909356720

Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2018). Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s Relation to the Contemporary Subject. Television & New Media, 20(4), 336–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476418796632 Fornäs, J. (2020). Cultural studies: Crossing borders, defending distinctions. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(3), 298-309. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919891443 Guimarães Corrêa, L. (2023). Four Concepts to Think from the South. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(2), 143–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779231218395 Hartley, J. (2014). Housing cultural studies: A memoir of Stuart Hall, Richard Hoggart and Terence Hawkes. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 18(2), 185-207. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877914561832 Jaramillo-Dent, D., & Arora, P. (2025). An Antropofagia approach to AI and creativity: Lessons from Latin America to rethink collectivity, process and meaning in creative value. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(6), 1210-1230. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779251346959 Lehuedé, S. (2024). The Double Helix of Data Extraction. Technology and Regulation, 2024, 84–92. https://doi.org/10.71265/awqfar53

Madianou, M. (2024). Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good is Harmful. London: Polity. Moylan, K. (2022). ‘Welcome to a Coronavirus production’: Beyond Bows and Arrows’ Indigenous on-air community-building during lockdown. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26(1), 52-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779221123079 Ong, J. C. (2019). Toward an ordinary ethics of mediated humanitarianism: An agenda for ethnography. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(4), 481-498. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919830095 Ong, J., Lanuza, J., Jackson, D., Alves, M., Grohmann, R., Recuero, R., & Tavares, C. (2024). Custom Built / Feito Sob Medida: Reforming Tech & Democracy Programs for the Global Majority. Global Technology for Social Justice Lab at UMass Amherst. https://glotechlab.net Poell, T., Duffy, B. E., B. Nieborg, D., Mutsvairo, B., Tse, T., Arriagada, A., de Kloet, J. & Sun, P. (2025). Global perspectives on platforms and cultural production. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(1), 3-20. Ricaurte, P. (2019). Data Epistemologies, the Coloniality of Power, and Resistance. Television & New Media, 20(4), 350–365. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419831640

Schorch, P., & Hakiwai, A. (2013). Mana Taonga and the public sphere: A dialogue between Indigenous practice and Western theory. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(2), 191-205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877913482785 Szulc, Ł. (2022). Culture is transnational. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779221131349 Tse, T., Zhang, Y., & Van Noord, N. (2024). China as Data Coloniser? Rethinking Cultural Production, Cultural Mediation, and Consumer Agency on Kenyan and Chinese E-commerce Platforms. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(1), 278–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241292077 Udupa, S. & Dattatreyan, E.G. (2023). Digital Unsettling: Decoloniality & Dispossession in the Age of Social Media. New York: New York University Press.

Important dates Extended abstracts due: April 7, 2026 Acceptance decisions: May 1, 2026 First draft of papers: September 15, 2026 Submission guidelines 1200-word Extended Abstracts are due April 7, 2026. Please email the abstract along with 300-word author bios to ijcseditorong@umass.edu with the subject heading “Special Issue: Decoloniality in Media and Cultural Studies”

About the journal: The International Journal of Cultural Studies aims to be the flagship outlet for critical cultural scholarship in media, communication and cultural studies. Founded in 1998 by John Hartley and edited by Jonathan Gray from 2017 to 2025, the journal has become widely recognized for advancing globally minded analyses of cultural texts and processes across local, national, and transnational scales of power and action. The journal’s traditional strengths are in critical theories and qualitative methodologies as applied to current and historical debates in media and cultural studies. We especially welcome submissions grounded in critical frameworks such as feminist analysis, critical race theory, postcolonial critique, political economy, queer theory, transnational analysis, intersectionality, planetarity, and posthumanism, among others.

The journal’s current editorial leadership is shared between Laura Guimarães Corrêa (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Wen Jin (East China Normal University, China) and Jonathan Corpus Ong (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA). They are especially dedicated to promoting alternative critical perspectives produced in the global South and diverse sites of critical discourses. The journal publishes six issues annually and receives over 1,000 submissions a year from around the world. Our lead time is approximately four weeks until first notification of desk rejection or activation of the peer review process. Our acceptance rate is 4.5% (as of Fall 2025). For special issue inquiries, please email all three editors at ijcseditorong@umass.edu, ijcseditorjin@gmail.com, ijcseditorcorrea@gmail.com.

In this light, we welcome submissions that reflect on the past, present and future of decolonial perspectives and analysis in media and cultural studies. Articles are encouraged to address the following questions, though are not limited to these: De- and anti-colonial theories: What are diverse global and indigenous expressions of decolonial thought and critique? How do these ideas circulate and travel across time and space? What are more—and less—radical expressions of decolonial thought? How are they differently vulnerable to co-option and hijacking? How do theories on race, gender, class—and other elements of power—influence and intersect with decolonial perspectives?

Theory and practice: How are theories and principles applied and institutionalized? What does a successful practice look like? Thinking critically about the field, what are ambivalences and contradictions of adopting decolonial perspectives in the Global North? Is it possible to do decolonial research in/from large institutions? How can researchers, in their/our practices, avoid the exploitation of less privileged groups? What are the limitations and challenges of carrying decolonial research? Assessing concepts: What is the analytical purchase of concepts such as decoloniality, anti-colonial, postcolonial, counter-colonial; Orientalism; intersectionality; Amefricanidade; pact of whiteness; epistemic disobedience; cultural imperialism; coloniality of power; pluriversality; data and techno-colonialisms? Citation politics: Who can be cited in decolonial research? Can the subaltern be a reference? Can a settler think decolonially?

Global/transnational collaborations: How do we share or redistribute resources in global collaborative projects? What are examples of centers and networks in media and cultural studies that have successfully navigated situations of political conflict and instability, and what survival strategies can we learn from them? How can our discipline’s governance bodies and associations guard against tokenism and knowledge extractivism? Challenging US hegemony: While we advocate for more bottom-up, situated approaches, we also recognize the need to critically attend to the global dominance of major US-based media and tech companies as well as of their cultural and creative industries. Conflict, repression, and resistance: What are the challenges for cultural studies researchers in times of concrete neo-colonization and violence, such as ongoing conflicts in Europe, in the Middle East or the recent attacks on South American countries?

The geopolitics of the internet: How can we account for the human and environmental costs of AI in increasingly digitized and datafied societies? How can we examine these unequal global power relations without reverting to a universalist and techno-solutionist mindsets that only reifies the centrality of US tech corporations and regulatory agencies? Can we decolonize data? Is China a data colonizer? What are the promises—and pitfalls—of trends toward digital sovereignty advanced by Global South “middle powers”? Contemporary global cultural practices: How can we study the global circulation and “contra-flows” of such cultural forms as K-Pop and South African pop through the lens of decolonial theory? What are the affective and geopolitical implications of these cultural forms? How do distributed social networks enabled by social platforms establish new hierarchies and how do global cultural practices both conform to and subvert such hierarchies?

Over the past two decades, there have been many calls to decolonise and de-westernize research in media and communication. While these efforts have generated valuable reflections, as well as academic centers, community-driven projects, and South-to-South networks, the field is still dominated by universalist perspectives based on Global North perspectives. Often the Anglo-American world is taken as the primary or only frame of reference in research on many topics. Even when the empirical material is in other regions, usually the theoretical framework and the references are the ones validated from/in hegemonic groups, places, and institutions. Consequently, there is continuous friction between the main conceptual frameworks in the field and the theories, experiences, interests, and concerns from the Global Majority world (Aouragh & Chakravartty 2016; Arora 2024; Guimarães Corrêa 2023; Lehuede 2024; Ong et al 2024; Poell et al 2024; Ricaurte 1029; Udupa & Dattatreayan 2023).

Applying de- and anti-colonial principles into practice—whether through institution-building, advocacy, or activism—is another matter: what do we actually gain by invoking decoloniality in our scholarly and advocacy efforts if we cannot always walk the talk? Considering that the discussions about inequalities and exploitation are fundamental to the understanding and changing of the contemporary world, this special issue invites critical conversation about diverse initiatives of applying and practicing decolonial perspectives in media, communications and cultural studies. We are concerned that decolonization remains a specialization, rather than a force that transforms the field as a whole. Such a transformation is important for stakeholders around the globe.

Universalism shuts out research and initiatives from most parts of the world in developing knowledge frames and proposing policy solutions. Simultaneously, it prevents Global North researchers from critically reflecting on the particularity of Global North institutions, communicative practices, and cultural forms. Across these emphases, we remain attentive to raced, gendered, and sexed formations not only as objects of study, but also as methodological, theoretical, and citational frameworks that remain marginalized within critical cultural studies. Our special issue also wants to pursue more reflexive conversations about the various ways that decoloniality has also become hollowed out, co-opted, and/or de-radicalized when invoked in academic programs. This collection also builds on conversations from the panel “Mainstreaming Decolonality in Media and Communication” in the 2025 Aoir, co-organized by Thomas Poell and Jonathan Corpus Ong, which gave particular focus on applying decolonial principles when building global networks and centers.

Since its first issue nearly 30 years ago, the International Journal of Cultural Studies has been a consistent home for decolonial analysis in media and cultural studies. We have published papers and special collections about indigenous media and cultural production (e.g., Jaramillo-Dent & Arora 2025; Moylan 2022), critical geopolitics (e.g., Anthique 2022), right-wing nationalisms (e.g., Baishya 2024), theoretical dialogues between Western and non-Western theory (e.g, Schorch & Hakiwai 2013; Fornas 2020; Szulc 2022), global suffering and vulnerability (e.g., Chouliaraki 2010; Ong 2019), and the place of critical theory and cultural studies in global academia (e.g., Hartley 2014).

Call for papers Special issue Decoloniality in media and cultural studies: Looking Back, Looking Forward. Special issue editors: Jonathan Corpus Ong (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA), Laura Guimarães Corrêa (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Wen Jin (East China Normal University)

🗣️🔊 We are proud to announce the Call for Papers for the next special issue, "Decoloniality in Media and Cultural Studies: Looking Back, Looking Forward".

Share this with your network and @ that colleague who can make a great contribution to decoloniality in media and cultural studies! 👩🏾‍🏫🧑🏻‍🏫👨🏽‍🏫

You can also read the full issue here: journals.sagepub.com/toc/icsa/29/1

Everyday nationhood and digital media: Tracing identity among Japanese cultural migrants. Yuiko Fujita (The University of Tokyo, Japan)

This study adopts an ‘ethnographic returning’ method to further develop the theory of long-distance nationalism, examining how Japanese cultural migrants negotiated their sense of national identity.

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Rewriting Chineseness: Chinese American films through Chinese eyes. Sebastian Yuxi Zhao (York University, Toronto, Canada)

This study investigates reviews of Chinese American films and TV shows, discussing critiques of stereotypes and limited portrayals as well as celebrations of hybrid identities and the global reach of Chinese American experiences.

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“I don’t want my parents to know I do videoclips”: Managing familial relations to pursue creative work in Accra, Ghana. Nii Kotei Nikoi (North Carolina State University, USA)

This study demonstrates the utility of using relational work to highlight how managing familial connections fundamentally shapes creative participation in spaces of pervasive precarity in the Global South.

Read the full article here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Abot kamay: Embedding digital transactions in the Philippines. Adrian Athique (University of Queensland, Australia), Jozon A. Lorenzana (Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines).

Highlighting the Filipino concept of abot kamay, this article discusses how digital transactions are given meanings within established social and cultural norms that combine processes of remuneration, redistribution and reciprocity.

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Drivers of global civil repair: Social media users witnessing distant suffering in the aftermath of the 2017 Mexico City earthquake. Gabriela Müggenburg Rodríguez Vigil (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain), María Luengo Cruz (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain).

Drawing on cultural trauma theory, the study investigates audience responses to mediated distant suffering from three user profiles of different nationalities and locations, to analyse their cosmopolitan disposition.

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Digital fashion ideology: Towards a critical public sphere. YeSeung Lee (University of Westminster, UK)

Digital fashion communities are often portrayed as radical challengers to mainstream fashion, viewing technology as a liberating force. This study examines if they truly embody such revolutionary ideals.

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Finishing the business: Disentangled narratives of gendered success, diasporic citizenship and the ongoing quest for balance. Radha Sarma Hedge (New York University, USA).

This article extends the critique of neoliberal feminism by analyzing how Indra Nooyi's memoir and public persona disrupt the racial exclusivity of the discourse on women and work while aligning with a post-feminist vision of success.

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The creator function, post-structuralism, and the perils of terminological dissonance. David Craig (University of Southern California, USA), Tanner Mirrlees (Ontario Tech University, Canada).

This essay analyzes the content creator, platform-based cultural producer, influencer, precarious worker, and celebrated entrepreneur to assess their functions, dysfunctions, possibilities and limitations.

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Rethinking watching: A viewer-centred approach to understanding the changing audience experience. Amanda D. Lotz (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), Catherine Johnson (University of Leeds, UK), Jonathan Gray (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)

This article draws from studies of contemporary watching to reframe screen audience studies to manage the behaviours, modes, and motives of watching that transcend television, streaming, and social media.

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Digital compassion: Moody citizenship and an ethics of care. Tim Markham (University of London, UK)

This article explores the relationship between mood, compassion and public values in digital media. Its opening gambit is that mood shouldn’t be seen as a reaction to the state of our public realm, but as constitutive of publicness.

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International Journal of Cultural Studies volume 29, issue 1, 2026

Have you read our 29.1 issue yet?

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