[Air-L] CFP: 21.6Global queer fandoms of Asian media and celebrities

[Sophie Helen Bishop]

Call for submissions

*FEMINIST MEDIA STUDIES *

Commentary and Criticism



*21.6 Global queer fandoms of Asian media and celebrities *



Since the 2010s, K-pop music groups, Chinese, South Korean, and Thai TV
dramas, Japanese ACG (anime, cosplay, and gaming) cultures, and Hong Kong,
Taiwanese, and Singaporean films have continued to grow in popularity on a
trans-geocultural scale. With little doubt, global flows of Asian
entertainment media and pop culture have been paving the way for a
decentering of the Western-dominated global mediascape. Certainly, due to
the increasingly close and frequent collaborations between media industries
in diverse geolocales, the too-often essentialized notion of “Asianness”
and the problematic theoretical binarisms of East/West, global/local, and
center/periphery need urgent contestation. It is also hard to ignore the
central role played by androgynous personas, homosocial and homoerotic
narratives, and norm-defying performances in the worldwide prominence of
Asian media and celebrity cultures, as well as their flourishing queer fan
communities in inter-Asian and Anglophone contexts.



This special Commentary and Criticism section aims to re-center Asia within
fan studies through a combined global feminist and queer lens. It
highlights the multivalent potential of queer in forming disruption and
alternation to established meanings, identities, and norms in global media
flows and fannish spaces devoted to Asian media and celebrities. It thus
invites contributions that bridge global media studies, Asian pop culture
studies, LGBTQ media and audience studies, and queer fan studies to
identify promises and problems rooted in or emerging from transcultural,
cross-linguistic, multi-ethnic, and (de-)globalist settings.



The following are some of the questions this special section considers: How
and why do queer sentiments, narratives, and images contribute to the
global impact of Asian media and celebrities and appeal to a global fan
community? In what ways do global queer fans of Asian media and celebrities
negotiate norms and ideals surrounding gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity,
nationality, and other sociocultural registers? What roles do traditional
values, shared cultural roots, or racial and linguistic proximities play in
the global popularity of Asian entertainment? How have contemporary
international economic-political situations and local technological
affordances complicated queer fans’ transcultural consumption,
interpretation, and circulation of Asian pop culture?



Short contributions of no more than 1500 words from a wide range of
disciplines and theoretical approaches are encouraged. The editor
especially welcomes entries concerning queer fandoms in inter-Asian
contexts and based in non-English-speaking locales and digital spaces.

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, topics such as:

·       Ethno-nationalistic sentiments and racial conflicts in
transcultural queer fandoms of Asian media and celebrities

·       The role of queerbaiting in expanding the global fandom of Asian
entertainment

·       Asian pop cover dance involving cross-gender or cross-dressing
performances

·       Anglophone fandoms of Asian boys’ love (BL) or girls’ love (GL)
media

·       Cross-dressing, inter-ethnic anime, cosplay, and gaming (ACG)
cultures

·       Fan communities dedicated to Asian media and celebrities as global
LGBTQ spaces

·       The role of social media in forming global queer fandoms of Asian
pop culture

·       Fansubbing (fan subtitling/translation), fanvidding (fan
video-making), and fan gossiping practices for queer readings of Asian
media and celebrities

·       Cross-cultural imaginations and stereotyping in queer fan
productions concerning Asian media and celebrities



The Commentary and Criticism section of *Feminist Media Studies* aims to
publish brief (~1000 words), timely responses to current issues in feminist
media culture, for an international readership. Submissions may pose a
provocation, describe work in progress, or propose areas for future study.
We will also consider book and event reviews, as well as contributions that
depart from traditional academic formats. We encourage all submissions to
strategically mobilize critique to also offer a productive contribution to
both feminist politics and media studies. Submissions must go beyond mere
description in order to be considered for publication in Commentary and
Criticism.



*Please submit contributions by Thursday 1 April 2021, via email to Jamie
J. Zhao (**jingjamiezhao at gmail.com**). *Questions and expressions of
interest can also be addressed to Dr. Zhao in advance of the deadline.



Please note that submissions for Commentary and Criticism will not be
correctly processed if submitted through via the *Feminist Media Studies*
website, and should be emailed directly to Dr. Zhao using the email address
above.



Please be sure to follow the *Feminist Media Studies* style and referencing
guides, which can be found here.


Dr Sophie Bishop
www.sophiebishop.co.uk | @sophiehbishop