Transformative Works and Cultures

EXCITING NEWS 📣 #TWC is officially launching a new section of the journal titled Multimedia, spearheaded by our newly (re)named Symposium & Multimedia Editors.
You can read more about this decision here: buff.ly/TpjX9PG

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!

Be sure to follow @journal.transformativeworks.org to get the latest on research into fans, audiences, and transformative works!

Can’t wait to read this

Oooh deciding what to submit for this is gonna be hard

Calling all music fandom researchers; hit us with your best ideas!

Very good read. Glad to have it in my shelf

NEW CFP ALERT 📣 Check out the details of our upcoming special issue on Music Fandom guest edited by @jenessawilliams.bsky.social & ‪@lucykbennett.bsky.social at the follow link: journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...! Deadline is 01/01/2026!

#TWC is wholly run by volunteers, as is true for all of ‪@transformativeworks.org‬! Ever wonder who those volunteers are? Check out our full Editorial Team here:

Don't forget! We are still accepting submissions (through 01/01/2026) for our upcoming special issue on Latin American Fandoms! See the full CFP here:

Stevie Leigh's article "Fan fiction as a valuable literacy practice" was published in #TWC34! This article argues for more use of fan fiction in the classroom and emphasizes that fan fiction is a crucial and valuable practice. Read it here:

Vol. 42 (2024): Fandom and Platforms | Transformative Works and Cultures Guest edited by Maria K. Alberto, Effie Sapuridis, Lesley Willard

#TWC42, published last year, is a special issue focused on Fandom and Platforms! Guest edited by @mariakalberto.bsky.social, @effietheant.bsky.social, & @lesleyawillard.bsky.social, this issue emphasizes putting forward platforms in fan studies! Read it here:

Femslash fan fiction’s expansive erotic imaginary | Transformative Works and Cultures As a genre largely unregulated by market trends and commercial interests, fan fiction can explore forms of bodily pleasure that might not otherwise be viewed as viable in mainstream pornography or…

In 2022, @emcoccia.bsky.social's "Femslash fan fiction’s expansive erotic imaginary" analyzes "the queer theoretical work fic writers do in interrogating dominant sexual scripts" in #TWC38. Read the full Article here:

The margins of print? Fan fiction as book history | Transformative Works and Cultures Contemporary fan fiction is overwhelmingly digital in both publication and dissemination; it has never been easier to access this subculture of writers and writing. However, fan fiction in print has…

In #TWC25, @caitcoker.bsky.social explores how we can "read fan fiction as part of a continuum of historical publication practices by women, and problematize our hierarchies of value between print and digital" in "The margins of print? Fan fiction as book history"! Read it here:

#TWC32 is our special issue on Fandom and Politics, coedited by Ashley Hinck and Amber Davisson. They emphasize that "this special issue persuasively demonstrate[s] that the intersection of fandom and politics is not an unusual exception". Read the full issue here:

[update] Monitoring: Emails, as well as search and history updates, are currently delayed. No data has been lost: emails will still be delivered and history/search will still be updated, just behind schedule. Thank you for bearing with us!

#TWC is wholly run by volunteers, as is true for all of ‪@transformativeworks.org‬! Ever wonder who those volunteers are? Check out our full Editorial Team here: buff.ly/Dj9I56x

Vol. 24 (2017) | Transformative Works and Cultures Edited by Julie Levin Russo and Eve Ng

In #TWC24, guest editors Julie Levin Russo and ‪@evecng.bsky.social‬ published a special issue on "Queer female fandom"! Take a trip back to 2017 with this hit from the #TWCArchives:

Considering eighteenth-century prophecy as transformative work | Transformative Works and Cultures This article explores premodern prophecy as a form of transformative work with connections to contemporary fan fiction. This link is established in three ways: through the archontic nature of…

In 2019, Andrew Crome explored "premodern prophecy as a form of transformative work with connections to contemporary fan fiction" for #TWC30! Read their Article, "Considering eighteenth-century prophecy as transformative work" from the #TWCArchives today:

EXCITING NEWS 📣 #TWC is officially launching a new section of the journal titled Multimedia, spearheaded by our newly (re)named Symposium & Multimedia Editors.
You can read more about this decision here:

Vol. 39 (2023): Trans Fandom | Transformative Works and Cultures Guest edited by Jennifer Duggan and Angie Fazekas

From the not-so-distant #TWCArchives, guest editors Jennifer Duggan and Angie Fazekas put together a special issue on "Trans Fandom"! Published in 2023, #TWC39 has so much to offer to readers. Dive in here:

H/c and me: An autoethnographic account of a troubled love affair | Transformative Works and Cultures An autoethnographic view of the hurt/comfort genre, its significance, and its appeal.

In #TWC07, ‪@judithfathallah.bsky.social‬ offered an autoethnographic view of the hurt/comfort genre, its significance, and its appeal. Take a peek here: buff.ly/iNu0M1R

Vol. 16 (2014) | Transformative Works and Cultures "Materiality and Object-Oriented Fandom," guest edited by Bob Rehak, Swarthmore College

From the #TWCArchives, a special issue on "Materiality and Object-Oriented Fandom," guest edited by Bob Rehak! Rehak writes that "the essays in [#TWC16] aim to explore the material practices of fandom through craft, commodity, collection, and curation". Read it here:

Vol. 45 (2025): Sports Fandoms | Transformative Works and Cultures Guest edited by Jason Kido Lopez and Lori Kido Lopez

Have you read our recent volume yet? #TWC45 focuses on Sports Fandoms and is guest edited by Jason Kido Lopez and Lori Kido Lopez! Dive in here:

African American acafandom and other strangers: New genealogies of fan studies | Transformative Works and Cultures Because scholars have paid insufficient attention to race in fan studies, a new genealogy of fan studies is needed, one that includes different kinds of primary and secondary texts that have explored…

In 2015, "African American acafandom and other strangers: New genealogies of fan studies" by ‪@rawreader.bsky.social was published in #TWC20! ‬In it, Wanzo argues that "a new genealogy of fan studies is needed." Read it here:

Taylor Swift, political power, and the challenge of affect in popular music fandom | Transformative Works and Cultures When Taylor Swift came out politically via Instagram in 2018, her fans, the Swifties, reacted to their object of affection and her political position. An analysis of the online fan response provides…

From the #TWCArchives, here's "Taylor Swift, political power, and the challenge of affect in popular music fandom" by ‪Simone Driessen! In this Article, published in 2020, Driessen analyzes the online fan response to Swift's politics. Read it here:

Latin American Fandoms (01/01/2026) | Transformative Works and Cultures Latin American fandom is a topic that rarely appears in peer-reviewed articles in English and irregularly in Spanish. Phenomena such as fan fiction (fanfic), cosplay, and online communities allow us…

Don't forget! We are still accepting submissions (through 01/01/2026) for our upcoming special issue on Latin American Fandoms! See the full CFP here:

Editorial Team | Transformative Works and Cultures Editors: Poe Johnson (Drew U) and Mel Stanfill (U Central Florida) (editor [at] transformativeworks.org)

#TWC is wholly run by volunteers, as is true for all of ‪@transformativeworks.org‬! Ever wonder who those volunteers are? Check out our full Editorial Team here:

Valuing queer identity in Monster High doll fandom | Transformative Works and Cultures Copyright (c) 2016 Transformative Works and Cultures

In #TWC22, Sara Mariel Austin explores the queer potential of Monster High in "Valuing queer identity in Monster High doll fandom"! Take a dip into this Article from the #TWCArchives here:

Springsteen fans, #bruceleeds, and the tweeting of locality | Transformative Works and Cultures This article presents a case study of one Springsteen-affiliated hashtag, #bruceleeds, which emerged from the Springsteen fan community to organize tweets about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street…

Happy Spring! Today, we dug out Bill Wolff's 2015 Article titled "Springsteen fans, #bruceleeds, and the tweeting of locality" from the #TWCArchives! Get it? SPRINGsteen... 🥁 Read it here: