CFP: Fan Studies Network Conference 2017 – DEADLINE APPROACHING

**Reminder: one week remaining (13th March 2017) to submit your abstracts for the following conference**

The Fan Studies Network 2017 Conference
24-25th June 2017
Centre for Participatory Culture,
University of Huddersfield, UK

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Louisa Stein (Middlebury College, USA) 
Plenary Address: Professor Matt Hills (University of Huddersfield, UK)

The fifth anniversary of the annual Fan Studies Network Conference is visiting the University of Huddersfield for a vibrant two-day programme during June 2017. The conference will celebrate and continue FSN’s proud tradition of offering an enthusiastic space for interdisciplinary researchers at all levels to connect, share resources, and further develop their research ideas. In addition to panel presentations, the two days will feature social events, speed geeking, and workshop discussions.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Louisa Stein as the keynote speaker for FSN2017. Louisa is Assistant Professor of Film and Media Culture at Middlebury College; where she teaches classes on remix culture, spectatorship, YouTube, and gender and sexuality in media. Louisa is author of Millennial Fandom: Television Audiences in the Transmedia Age (2015), and co-editor of Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom (2012) and Teen Television: Programming and Fandom (2008).

The event will also feature a plenary address from Professor Matt Hills, who, due to being the keynote of the first ever FSN conference, will reflect on the past five years of the network and the fan studies field. Matt is Professor of Media and Journalism at the University of Huddersfield, where he is co-director of the Centre for Participatory Culture. He has written six sole-authored research monographs, starting with the influential Fan Cultures in 2002 and most recently with Doctor Who: The Unfolding Event in 2015, as well as publishing more than a hundred book chapters and journal articles in the areas of media fandom, cult film/TV and audiences in the digital era.

FSN2017 is sponsored by the Centre for Participatory Culture at the University of Huddersfield, which will have its official launch the day before our conference. Attendees of FSN2017 will be able to attend the centre launch for free – the Centre will announce full details of this event in the coming weeks.

We invite abstracts of no more than 300 words for 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:

– Fandom and grief/mourning
– Representations of fans in media & popular culture
– Fandom and sports
– Fandom and race
– Political fandom
– Non-technological practices in fandom
– Fan conventions and offline spaces
– Histories and archives of fandom
– Non-Western fan cultures
– Ethics and methodology in fan studies
– Interdisciplinary approaches to fan studies
– Anti-Fandom and Non-Fandom
– The future directions of fan studies
– The ‚dark’ or ‘toxic’ side of fandom

We also invite expressions of interest (100-200 words) from anyone wishing to present as part of our popular ‚speed geeking‘ session. This would involve each speaker presenting a short discussion on a relevant topic of their choosing to a number of small groups, and then receiving instantaneous feedback, making it ideal for presenting in-progress or undeveloped ideas. If you have any questions about this format of presentation, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Please send any abstracts/enquires to: fsnconference@gmail.com by 13th MARCH 2017. Please include up to three keywords for your submission and a short biographical note.

You can join the discussion about the event on Twitter using #FSN2017, or visit http://www.fanstudies.org.

Conference Organisers: Lucy Bennett and Tom Phillips (FSN chairs)
Bertha Chin, Bethan Jones, Richard McCulloch, Rebecca Williams (FSN board)