Category: Critical/Cultural Studies
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Fandom as Attitude
Applying Fan Studies Beyond Popular Culture I wrote this essay for a book proposal that was rejected. I plan to continue to expand this idea, but I wanted to share what I wrote in case it will help others. While increasingly common in everyday conversations, people utilize the term “fandom” for different purposes. One understanding…
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On Kayfabe, Reality, and Truth
Presented April 12, 2023, to Mercy College. What do true crime, paranormal studies, and professional wrestling all have in common? Likely many things, but I what I want to focus on is something that I have been contemplating for over 20 years now. All exemplify the co-construction of reality as people make sense of the…
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Marriage Around the World
An undergraduate paper from my cultural psychology class — how much have times changed in the two decades since? In 1999, Davila et al. examined the changes in attachment which are thought to occur in American married couples after the “newlywed phase.” They tested several theories to see how attachment style can change as people…
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Professional Wrestling Fanfiction from an EDR Perspective
I have been working on this project for a couple years now (as seen here, here, and here). I’m not sure if it will ever get to the point to be truly publishable, and I don’t really need it “published” in the traditional academic sense. So, I’m just going to continue sharing my thoughts on…
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Fandom During the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on our lives, including how we experience our fandoms. Cons were moved online or cancelled. New movies came out on streaming apps at the same time as theatrical releases. Online gaming replaced in-person gaming. And people turned to their fandoms to cope with the pandemic. Krysten Stein and…
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Disney+, the Fan Industrial Complex, and Star Wars
I love this term: Fan Industrial Complex. Chris thinks he heard it from someone else, so I will need to investigate it. Because from a media ecology perspective, it’s very useful. That’s what we have now with online mediated fan-producer networks. The technologies and economic systems require a symbiosis between more ardent fans and producers,…
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The Four Paradigms in Spiral Form
Subtitle: A positivistically constructed model to critique dominant design with a postmodern flair This was a group project from a class with Patti Lather at OSU in 2005 that I completed with Carrie Hung, Hana Kang, and Yongfang Zhang. I look at it now and think it’s so twee! In looking at the four research…
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Importance of Play to Politics
Reading Huizinga’s Homo Ludens and struck by discussion of how fundamental play is to the formation of culture and thus human civilization, as well as its relationship to politics and political life. Per Huizinga, “Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin… All are rooted in the primaeval…
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Transjective Media Studies and Reciprocal Determinism
Yep, that’s right — I’m being one of those academics. Engaging in neologisms to make a name for myself. But what I am working through here is an idea for a book project, and I’d love peoples’ comments to help me to do so. Redefining Media Studies A medium is a technology for the storage,…
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Meet the PWSJ and PCSJ
The Professional Wrestling Studies Association announces the first issue of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal from editor Matt Foy. This online, open access journal can be reached at https://www.prowrestlingstudies.org/professional-wrestling-studies-journal. The first issue contains scholarly essays and reviews from different disciplines, all considering various aspects of professional wrestling. Issues include how professional wrestling relates to the…
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