FANS Conference

Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce a CFP for submissions to the Sixth Annual Fandom and Neomedia Studies (FANS) Conference in Ft. Worth, TX, 9-10 June 2018 . #FANS6 is gearing up for a spectacular year.

Fandom for us includes all aspects of being a fan, ranging from being a passive audience member to producing one’s own parafictive or interfictive creations. Neomedia includes both new media as it is customarily defined as well as new ways of using and conceptualizing traditional media.

Ours is an interdisciplinary group, including historians, psychologists, scientists, writers, independent scholars, and industry professionals. This allows for a wide range of opinions in our peer review process, both for the conference and the journal. We welcome contributions from all disciplines and from all levels of academic achievement as we value the intersection of fandom and academia. Our conference is thus unique in its blend of traditional and modern elements. Submissions are welcome from professors, students, and independent researchers. Topics may come from anime, manga, science fiction, television series, movies, radio, performing arts, or any other popular culture phenomenon and their respective fandom groups.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Women and minorities in media
• Stage performance and puppet shows
• Twitter literature
• Science in cinema
• Webcomics
• Fanfic communities
• Politics in video games
• Historical fiction
• Race in popular culture
• Multilingual media and code switching
• Pop culture parenting
• Religious media
• Media technologies
• Costuming and cosplay
• Social media in war zones
• Ecocinema and ecocriticism
• Economics of fandom

Abstracts of no more than 500 words must be submitted by 15 April 2018. Please also include your CV. Authors accepted for the conference will be notified by 1 May 2018. Successful submissions to the conference will also be published in the following Summer edition of The Phoenix Papers, our annual peer-reviewed journal. If you wish to submit a paper for inclusion in the journal but not for conference consideration, the same requirements and deadlines apply but no registration fee is required. Please indicate your preference in your submission email.

Because conference papers will be included in our journal, they must conform to our Style Guide. Presentations will be 20 minutes long with 10 minutes for Q&A sessions. The Sunday sessions will end with a final “How Did We Do?” panel. We are open to full panel discussions if a group of presenters wishes to be scheduled together.

The FANS Conference is hosted and sponsored by A-Kon, the longest continually-running anime and manga convention in North America. Conference registration entitles you to the full enjoyment of A-Kon and its activities, including a chance to study anime, manga, and gaming fans in their native environment.

We are also accepting panel proposals for general fandom audiences. These may be on any topic within the FANS fields of study and should be formatted to be interesting and informative for both academic and popular groups.

Our event will be held at the Ft. Worth Convention Center. Conference pre-registration is $60. Pre-registration closes on 10 May 2018. Pre-registration includes a full weekend pass to A-Kon 29, which will provide an excellent opportunity for in-person research into anime, manga, gaming, and cosplay fandoms. All presenters must pre-register. Information for the hotel can be found at our sponsor’s website.

We also accept article and review (book, film, game, etc.) submissions for those who are unable to attend the conference in person. No registration or fee is required for non-presenting publication.

Please use our Contact Us page should you have any questions. All submissions should be sent by email.

ISSN: 2325-2316

Conference and Editorial Board:

Chair: J. Holder Bennett, Adjunct Instructor of History, Odessa College, Odessa, Texas, USA

Vice Chair and Graduate Student Liaison: Andrew Tague, Texas A & M University at Commerce, Commerce, Texas, USA

Dr. Darren Jon Ashmore, Professor of Anthropology Director of Japan Studies Yamanashi Gakuin University, International College of Liberal Arts, Kofu, Japan

Dr. Marc Hairston, Research Scientist, William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, USA

Dr. Michael Vandehey, Professor of Psychology, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas, USA

Jonathan Davis, Independent Entrepreneur, Colleyville, Texas, USA

Helen McCarthy, Author and Founder of Manga UK, London, England, UK

Jonathan Tarbox, CEO, Arashi Productions, and Adjunct Instructor, California State University at San Marcos, La Jolla, California, USA

Karson Bryant, Undergraduate Student Liaison, Collin College, McKinney, Texas, USA

Short URL: http://bit.ly/2ruhhUF