‘Thighs Fell Apart’: online fan fiction, and African writing in a digital age

Yékú, James

doi:10.1080/13696815.2016.1201652

Cited by 21 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Slash fanfiction provides an especially interesting case of queer content creation. Though fanfiction interactions may be framed as pithy distractions (Wild, 2018) or a form of digital serious leisure activity (Hill and Pecoskie, 2017), authoring, sharing, and reading texts are often agentically-driven actions (Jenkins, 2012) that draw upon specialized knowledge and interests (Matthew, 2016) to create rich literary landscapes filled with diverse cultural representations (Yékú, 2017). Slash fanfiction is unique in that it expresses queer possibilities that transform past, present, and future cis/heteronormative trends (Lothian, 2018).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Write the story you want to read”: world-queering through slash fanfiction creation

Floegel

2020

118

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PurposeThis pilot study explores how queer slash fanfiction writers reorient cis/heteronormative entertainment media (EM) content to create queer information worlds.Design/methodology/approachConstructivist grounded theory was employed to explore queer individuals' slash fanfiction reading and creation practices. Slash fanfiction refers to fan-written texts that recast cis/heteronormative content with queer characters, relationships, and themes. Theoretical sampling drove ten semi-structured interviews with queer slash writers and content analysis of both Captain America slash and material features found on two online fanfiction platforms, Archive of Our Own and fanfiction.net. “Queer” serves as a theoretical lens through which to explore non-cis/heteronormative perspectives on gender and sexuality.FindingsParticipants' interactions with and creation of slash fanfiction constitute world-queering practices wherein individuals reorient cis/heteronormative content, design systems, and form community while developing their identities over time. Findings suggest ways that queer creators respond to, challenge, and reorient cis/heteronormative narratives perpetuated by EM and other information sources, as well as ways their practices are constrained by structural power dynamics.Research limitations/implicationsThis initial data collection only begins to explore the topic with ten interviews. The participant sample lacks racial diversity while the content sample focuses on one fandom. However, results suggest future directions for theoretical sampling that will continue to advance constructs developed from the data.Originality/valueThis research contributes to evolving perspectives on information creation and queer individuals' information practices. In particular, findings expand theoretical frameworks related to small worlds and ways in which members of marginalized populations grapple with exclusionary normativity.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Write the story you want to read”: world-queering through slash fanfiction creation

Floegel

2020

118

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“…That he also refers to Africa is a Country as an open-ended journal and blog (as opposed to a website) seems to be with the intention to position it in a sense of communality and semi-informality. Yékú (2017) observes that in the online African literary space of blogs, authors and readers have cultivated agency to contribute to these narratives and challenge the idea of storytelling as consisting of a singular voice of authority as was more evident during the print era (Yékú, 2017). What emerges is a decentralized medium of communication that is based on participation and interactivity pointing to "ideas that gesture back to the representational strategies of oral literature in pre-colonial Africa" (p. 262).…”

Section: African Digital Cosmopolitanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fact that social segregation by gender, language, class and tribe still thrives and that most Africans still have little or no access to the internet (Yékú, 2017;Dabiri, 2016;McLean & Mugo, 2015) further complicates the idea of African digital cosmopolitanism. And even among those who are privileged to have access, there are still authoritarian governments-ready to effect internet shutdowns at the f irst signs of mass online dissent-to contend with.…”

Section: African Digital Cosmopolitanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing Digital Migration Studies:

Leurs,

Ponzanesi

2024

Doing Digital Migration Studies

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ICT-based co-presence in transnational families and communities: challenging the premise of face-to-face proximity in sustaining relationships. Global Networks, 16(2), 133-144. Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway. Duke University Press. Beck, U. (2016). The metamorphosis of the world: How climate change is transforming our world. Polity. Beck, U. (2010). The cosmopolitan manifesto. In G. Wallace Brown & D. Held (Eds.).The cosmopolitan reader (pp. 217-228). Polity Press.

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“…Importantly, she focused largely on hypothetical romantic pairings between them. This same form of writing with its relational focus occurs in the present day in the form of so-called “fan fiction,” which allows fans to write their own version of a narrative, often focusing on fictional romantic pairings (Barnes, 2015; Davies, 2005; Day, 2014; Hanmer, 2014; Kustritz, 2015; Leavenworth, 2015; Thomas, 2011; Tosenberger, 2008; Yékú, 2017). Shipping is also reflected in fan artwork, in which individuals edit or create their own digital images, drawings, paintings, or music videos portraying fictional couples (Brennan, 2013a; Russo, 2009; Scott, 2015).…”

Section: Shipping and Interest In Fictional Couplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interest and investment in fictional romances.

Monsjou¹,

Mar²

2019

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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Shipping, which refers to emotional investment in fictional relationships, has been occurring for decades yet has not received much theoretical or any empirical attention. In light of it becoming more recognized in mainstream culture, we wanted to establish whether interest in fictional relationships is a relevant, intriguing, and meaningful form of media engagement. To do this we ran one exploratory study, one preregistered confirmatory replication, and one preregistered extension. Together, these three studies answered several questions: (a) Are people interested in fictional relationships?; (b) Who is likely to be interested?; (c) Why are individuals interested?; and (d) Is interest in fictional relationships a distinct form of media engagement? We found that emotional investment in fictional couples is somewhat common and occurs across a number of media platforms. Being more inclined to think about relationships and have more romantic beliefs was linked to interest in fictional relationships, which reflects a general inclination to focus on relationships. We were also able to demonstrate moderate correlations between relationship interest and other media engagement variables-namely parasocial relationships, narrative transportation, character identification, and celebrity worship-in addition to showing that interest in fictional relationships provides incremental prediction after controlling for these other types of media engagement. These three studies support the notion that relationship interest is a unique and important form of media engagement that is related to individuals' romantic cognition.

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‘Thighs Fell Apart’: online fan fiction, and African writing in a digital age

Cited by 21 publications

References 6 publications

“Write the story you want to read”: world-queering through slash fanfiction creation

“Write the story you want to read”: world-queering through slash fanfiction creation

Doing Digital Migration Studies:

Interest and investment in fictional romances.

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