Annotated Bibliography
You will develop an annotated bibliography exploring perspectives and theoretical debates that have been central to the field of fan studies. There should be at least 5 annotations. They might include other topics more relevant to the your own research. What are the key contributions of fan studies literature to this larger field of inquiry? What models from these theoretical traditions have informed work in fan studies? This bibliography is intended to get you familiar with the field and the academic discussions surrounding fan studies. It is also a starting point for your final project and should include a brief abstract of what you hope to explore through that project.
Fan Autoethnography
You will write a short five-page auto-ethnography describing your own history as a fan of popular entertainment. You will explore whether or not you think of yourself as a fan, what kinds of fan practices you engage with, how you define yourself as a fan, how you became invested in the media franchises that have been part of your life, and how your feelings about being a fan might have adjusted over time.
FanSpace
You will create your own fandom space using Scalar, a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online. You will choose a specific story world and provide your audience with a visual and textual representation of your interpretation and narrative.