For More Information, please contact:  Jack Karlis, jackkarlis@gmail.com

THE PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING STUDIES ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES ITS INAUGURAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND EDITORIAL BOARD

The Professional Wrestling Studies Association [PWSA] announces its inaugural Executive Committee, under the leadership of President CarrieLynn D. Reinhard.  The PWSA also announces its inaugural Editorial Board for its blog and for its journal.  The Association represents more than 100 scholars from a multitude of disciplines across the globe.

Reinhard is an associate professor of communication arts and sciences at Dominican University, where she researches audience, media reception and fan studies. 

“Professional wrestling has been around for over a century, and seems now more popular than ever. From the standard-bearer WWE to the new AEW, professional wrestling touches upon all aspects of our lives and our world,” Reinhard said. Reinhard led the work to build the association since 2017 and discussed that work at length on her podcast, The Pop Culture Lens. She is co-editor of  Convergent Wrestling: Participatory Culture, Transmedia Storytelling and Intertextuality in the Squared Circle, from Routledge this March. 

The Association connects scholars and fans across continents.  The Board includes a nonacademic member from East Sussex, U.K., in scholar Luke Flanagan.  “The creation of the PWSA is an exciting moment. It is recognition of professional wrestling as a topic of enquiry. However, the PWSA is about more than academia. It must be a forum for fans to share their experiences and insights.  The PWSA is a community for everyone to make a contribution to our understanding of and appreciation for professional wrestling,” Flanagan said. His work can be followed on Twitter.

The PWSA makes scholarship visible via its blog and an ambitious program of peer-reviewed research. The PWSA sponsored a special issue of the Popular Culture Studies Journal on Wrestling in 2018 and looks forward to the first issue of its own journal.  Until then, the PWSA Blog is a resource for scholars and fans of the squared circle;  visit https://prowrestlingstudies.org for reviews of shows and “works in progress” by members.

The Professional Wrestling Studies Association unites scholars, professionals, and fans interested in the critical and learned appraisal of professional wrestling.  The PWSA gathers scholars to disseminate knowledge of professional wrestling and the PWSA identifies new research areas within professional wrestling.  Finally, the PWSA encourages experimentation in the teaching of professional wrestling as art form, cultural form, business practice, and social commentary.  More info about the PWSA can be found at https://prowrestlingstudies.org/. To join, please click this link.   PWSA Logo by Mario Alonzo Dozal (Manchester University).