Congratulations to everyone involved in the successful launch of the new fandom journal Transformative Works and Cultures! Here is the Table of Contents and live link to the first issue.

Transformative Works and Cultures
Vol 1 (2008)
Table of Contents

Editorial
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Transforming academic and fan cultures
TWC Editor

Theory
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Participatory democracy and Hillary Clinton’s marginalized fandom
Abigail De Kosnik

“Emotions-Only” versus “Special People”: Genre in fan discourse
Louisa Ellen Stein

Painful pleasures: Sacrifice, consent, and the resignification of BDSM
symbolism in “The Story of O” and “The Story of Obi”
Anne Kustritz

Women, “Star Trek,” and the early development of fannish vidding
Francesca Coppa

Praxis
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“The epic love story of Sam and Dean”: “Supernatural,” queer readings, and
the romance of incestuous fan fiction
Catherine Tosenberger

Ownership, authority, and the body: Does antifanfic sentiment reflect
posthuman anxiety?
Madeline Ashby

The unlearning: Horror and transformative theory
Michael A. Arnzen

Soap operas and the history of fan discussion
Sam Ford

Symposium
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And now, a word from the amateurs
Dana L. Bode

On symposia: LiveJournal and the shape of fannish discourse
Rebecca Lucy Busker

Nothing but Net: When cultures collide
Cathy Cupitt

Fan labor audio feature introduction
Bob Rehak

Interview
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Interview with Henry Jenkins
TWC Editor

Interview with Wu Ming
Veruska Sabucco

Interview with the Audre Lorde of the Rings
TWC Editor

Review
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“Teen television: Essays on programming and fandom,” edited by Sharon Marie
Ross and Louisa Ellen Stein
Mary Dalton

“Fans: The mirror of consumption,” by Cornel Sandvoss
Eve Marie Taggart

“Cyberspaces of their own,” by Rhiannon Bury
Katarina Maria Hjärpe

“The new influencers,” by Paul Gillin
Barna William Donovan

[housekeeping note: i hope to slowly ease back into more regular posting in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here's the CFP for something I am very excited about]

Call for Papers

Affective Audiences: Analysing Media Users, Consumers and Fans
Preconference sponsored by the Popular Communication Division
Date: 20th ˆ 21st May 2009
Venue: Marriott Downtown Chicago, Magnificent Mile Hotel

The study of audiences constitutes a central concern of contemporary (popular) communication research. As Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama fills football stadia addressing enthusiastic supporters and political commentators frequently refer to „Obama fans‰ and „Palin fans‰, evidence of the centrality of notions of affect and participation in contemporary mediated communication – within and beyond the realm of traditional popular culture – is abundant. This preconference aims to explore the social, cultural, textual and psychological conditions through which readers engage with, and attach meaning and emotional significance to the texts they privilege in their everyday life media consumption.

Corresponding with the theme of the 58th International Communication Association‚s conference – Keywords in Communication (21st-25th May 2009 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) – the field of audience studies constitutes a key conceptual battleground that has witnessed a number of paradigm changes over the past half century which have both reflected and contributed to the wider discourses of Social and Cultural Theory.

“Affective Audiences” explores these recent paradigm changes by offering a dedicated space within the ICA conference programme that combines empirical audience research with a thorough examination of the field‚s canon and a discussion of its conceptual challenges vis-à-vis convergence and globalization. The preconference will therefore include, but not be limited to, the following themes at the heart of contemporary audience studies:

The impact of cultural globalization and the formation of transnational audiences on (fan) communities
Affective media consumption and identity (including race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality)
Affective engagements of readers beyond the realm of popular culture
Convergence and audience participation
Fan Democracy and the role of affective media consumption in the public sphere
Aesthetics and politics of transformative audience responses
Teen and childhood media fans

We would like to invite contributions in form of 10-15 minute paper presentations and discussion papers. The organisers in particular encourage submissions focusing on new empirical fields of audience studies as well as those that critically examine its conceptual and methodological canon.

The following submission formats are permissible: full papers and extended abstracts (approx. 1000 words).

Please send papers or paper proposals to Cornel Sandvoss, (C.Sandvoss@surrey.ac.uk) by 20th October 2008 including the following information:

1.      Title
2.      If submitting a full paper, a 200-word abstract
3.      Author(s)‚ name and contact information