Fan Materiality and Affect: Interview with Henry Jenkins

I was very flattered to have been interviewed by Henry Jenkins this summer on affect and materiality in fandom. We discussed various topics, and I’d love to share them in this short entry with links to the respective blogs. I am very pleased with how the interview turned out and it summarizes key points of my work (especially Productive Fandom) well.

Affect and Materiality in Fan Cultures. An interview with Nicolle Lamerichs by Henry Jenkins. In: Confessions of an Aca-Fan.

Part 1 | Henry Jenkins introduces Productive Fandom, its key concepts and methods, such as ethnography. We discuss the study of material/offline practices, what it means to do (trans)cultural research and I frame my position as a geek feminist more clearly.

Part 2 | Reception theory is discussed as a way to frame fandom and storytelling. I provide views on affect theory as well, and we dive deeper into the study of characters. Do some characters raise more affective reception than others?

Part 3 | We turn towards costumes and play. What does it study materiality, and are some spaces more suitable than others? How can the concept of fan advance game studies? I also discuss cosplay studies, performativity and visual culture.

Part 4 | This final entry goes deeper into cosplay, cultural contexts and global fan culture. We discuss how the field of fandom studies can progress, and how it can be made more inclusive.