SCMS Fan and Audience Studies SIG

Former SIG co-chair Rebecca Williams is quoted in a recent article in the Atlantic about Netflix, along with SIG member Abigail DeKosnik. We love when the pop press interviews scholars!

I'm really excited that a collection of fascinating work on fandom, fans and AI that @suzannerblack.bsky.social and I co-edited is out today in the new volume of @journal.transformativeworks.org - and as the journal's first 'New Currents' section! Read our editorial here doi.org/10.3983/twc....

The Popular Culture Tourism Stakeholders Summit This summit aims to provide a unique platform for open and interactive dialogue and discussion between policymakers, DMOs, academics, researchers, popular culture creators and fans, local communities,...

Call For Papers

POPULAR CULTURE TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS SUMMIT IN TAIWAN (KAOHSIUNG, 12-14
DECEMBER 2025).

www.thepctss.org

Call for a Themed Issue on “Fan Practices of Memory and Remembrance”! There will also be a workshop on Feb 27th, 2026! Authors are invited to present and develop their ideas in dialogue with peers. The workshop will be in 2026, on Feb. 27th (Marburg University). Deadline: December 1st! #FanStudies

The Pluralism of Thai Boys Love Industry: Auteur Migration, Fan Showrunners, Labor Vulnerability, and Queer Potentiality - Wikanda Promkhuntong, 2025 This paper explores Boys Love media from Thailand through the lens of screen labor. This trajectory allows an examination of the pluralist landscape and complex...

New article ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Promkhuntong, W. (2025). The Pluralism of Thai Boys Love Industry: Auteur Migration, Fan Showrunners, Labor Vulnerability, and Queer Potentiality. Television & New Media, 0(0).

doi.org/10.1177/1527...

CFP for Digital Games Research Association. This year's theme is Intersectional Pleasures, so might be of interest to our members.

A promotional graphic with "FSNNA 25" in dark boxes at the top left and right corner. Between those two boxes, in all capital letters reads "HEADLINER." Below that, centered and in bold letters reads the name "Alfred L. Martin, Jr." Below that, on the left it says the name of the headliner panel "Rejecting the Reputed Center of Reception Studies: Blackness, #Capital, and Power" and below that is smaller text it lists the other roundtable guests "Brienne Adams, Aymar Jean Esofferey, & Allyson F. Smith" To the right of that text is a black and white zoomed in photo of Martin's new book, "Fandom for Us, by Us," which shows a person sitting in front of a wall of TVs, viewed from behind.

🚨 *insert alarm sounds* 🚨
It's time to announce our 2025 FSNNA #FanStudies Conference's 3rd headliner...

It's DR. ALFRED L. MARTIN!!

He's an assoc. prof (Uni of Miami) & will be leading the session on Oct. 26- "Rejecting the Reputed Center of #ReceptionStudies: #Blackness, #Capital, and Power"

The Lizard People Don’t Want You to Read This - McFarland The Lizard People Don’t Want You to Read This Essays on Conspiracy Theory in Popular Culture Edited by Robert Spinelli 978-1-4766-9485-6 978-1-4766-5625-0

I've got a chapter in this collection on The X-Files (obviously) and have just found it it's available for pre-order from McFarland's website. I can't wait to read the rest of the essays.

mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-...

Popular Communication Queer Women's Fandom. Volume 23, Issue 1 of Popular Communication

New special issue of Popular Communication

Queer Women's Fandom

#FanStudies

www.tandfonline.com/toc/hppc20/2...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

It was an absolute pleasure to review @briony.bsky.social's brilliant book on feminist fandom for the EJCS. If you haven't bought her book yet (or forgot to ask your university library to purchase it), please let my review convince you to do so immediately: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Last week I defended my thesis, "Yearning Hours: Desire, Darcymania, and Readerly Attachments in the Digital Jane Austen Fandom," published by Linköping University Press. It can now be ordered to your local library (or hmu for the PDF 🥰)!

Congrats to SIG member @melstanfill.bsky.social whose new book FANDOM IS UGLY won the NCA's annual book award!

Film International
Special Issue Calls for Papers: ‘Transnational Horror Culture in Cinema’

This themed issue of Film International will explore the complex relationship between horror culture per se and cinematic expression.

Deadline: 30 Nov 2025

👉ow.ly/XRiK50WZfAf

📣 #TWC is excited to announce the publication of #TWC46, our annual general issue! This issue, however, holds some new and exciting features. Dig in at this link: buff.ly/EHJTStO

OTW Recruitment

Do you have experience copyediting or proofreading academic journals? Would you like to wrangle #AO3 tags? Can you read and translate from Chinese or Italian to English? Do you have experience in managing or leading people? The #OTW is Recruiting! otw-news.org/w8thejrv

Friendly reminder that nominations for SIG co-chair are due tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 19!

We got you, boo

A flyer that reads "Do you own any fandom-related makeup or beauty products? If you are 18 or older, please consider answering a few questions about it by filling out this 10 min survey to support a research project on fan identities and embodiment" followed by a QR code.

Have you ever purchased makeup or beauty projects based on your fandom? If you are 18 years or older, please fill out this 10 minute survey for a research project on embodied fan identities. Share widely! Contact with any questions: suzanne.scott@utexas.edu. utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Call for Abstracts: 2026 CDCS Symposium

Call for Abstracts: 2026 CDCS Symposium

“Good Vibes Only? How Affects and Emotions Are Mediated for Justice in Digital Culture”

www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

2025 SCMS FaAS Election Nominations As her three-year tenure as Fan and Audience Studies SIG co-chair has come to an end, Bethan Jones is stepping down from the SIG Steering Committee, and we're looking for a new co-chair to take her pl...

SIG members, remember we're having an election! Nominations for co-chair are due Friday, Sept. 19: forms.gle/w2g2C9cm4uq1...

The special issue of Critical Studies in Television on the 40th anniversary of EastEnders that I edited with the fantastic Christine Geraghty is now officially out!

6 great articles & an Editorial, all open access!

journals.sagepub.com/toc/CST/curr...

I interviewed Justin Wyatt about his new book, Creating the Viewer, on the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social.

It's a great book, especially for those interested in media industry studies and audience studies.

newbooksnetwork.com/creating-the...

SIG members: Please see your email for an important notice about our upcoming election, and consider nominating yourself for co-chair!

Reminder graphic for SCMS Conference 2026 in Chicago. Submission portal closes Friday, August 29 at 5:00 pm Central US. Conference dates are March 26–29, 2026.

The deadline for conference proposal submissions is THIS FRIDAY at 5 PM Central Time! You are highly encouraged to visit the submission portal ahead of time to avoid last-minute stress. The office may not be able to get back to you as quickly as the deadline approaches.
buff.ly/Gxpi0S9

General Annual Conference Guidelines and Procedures Yes, you must be a member to submit a proposal. We do still encourage our members to include guests from outside the field as panel, workshop, or roundtable participants.

Last year, our SIG launched a Discord to help international scholars who couldn't get to the US. This year SCMS itself is offering a pre-recorded option for this reason. Please read this info, as it might impact your desire to submit to the conference (deadline Friday!).
tinyurl.com/ycv8b89j

TV Survey Online surveys is a powerful, easy to use tool for creating online surveys. Run by Jisc, online surveys is used by over 300 different organisations in the UK...

Do you watch TV? Please take this survey to help me understand what audiences think of TV production techniques. app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/edinburgh/... Please share widely, and thanks in advance.
#FanStudies #AudienceResearch

Two of our postdoctoral research associates, @svegaard.bsky.social and @vilkins.bsky.social , have guest edited the latest issue of M/C Journal. They have curated some excellent articles around the theme of fandom and politics.

Read the issue here! journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mc...

New issue of M/C Journal ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Vol. 28 No. 3 (2025): fan

#FanStudies

www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mc...

NEW CFP ALERT! 📣 Check out the details of our upcoming special issue on Latin American Fandoms guest edited by Yazmín Carrizales and Libertad Garzón at the following link: buff.ly/9PupLIf ! Deadline is 1/1/2026!

Happy to announce that my book chapter in "Beyond Fandom: The Dark Side of Social Media Discourse" just released. Check out the whole book! #fanstudies @scmsfaas.bsky.social
scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...