scholarly journals "Emotions-Only" versus "Special People": Genre in fan discourse

Author(s):  
Louisa Ellen Stein

This essay looks at genre as a complex set of discursive threads running unevenly through production, TV text, and fan reception. Through a case study of the reception of fan favorite Roswell, this essay interrogates the role of genre in spectatorship. In its mixing of teen and science fiction elements, Roswell trod upon contested generic spaces, eliciting strong reaction from its viewers. Connections between genre and gender came to the fore, as producer commentary linked science fiction with male audiences and teen romance with female audiences. Fans responded with analyses that greatly complicated and at times overtly rejected industrial suppositions regarding the gendered work of genre. Through these fan conversations, we can witness the complexity of genre as discursive thread moving through not only TV texts but also multivariant fan responses. I intend this essay to work at two levels. My analysis of fan responses to Roswell models the possibilities of a close study of genre discourse. At the same time, my case study probes the nature of genre in fan engagement, as genre discourses intersect with other fan concerns such as character identification, perceptions of textual quality, and questions of gender representation. While we cannot necessarily look to fan accounts for proof of how viewers engage with genre, they do tell us how fans frame their engagement with genre, how they incorporate genre into their performance of fannishness, and how they perform and thus enact genre itself as a shared cultural process.

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Fernanda Neubauer ◽  
Michael J. Schaefer

We discuss the important role of the feminist critique in bringing awareness to gender, childhood, and identity research, and in giving voice to the perspectives of underrepresented groups. As a case study of ancient social lives and gender, we discuss a range of Marajoara identity markers interpreted through the study of ceramic tangas (female pubic coverings) from Marajó Island in the Brazilian Amazon (A.D. 400-1400). There, tangas were made and used by women as a material representation of social position, gender, and individual identity. We argue that identity constitutes a fundamentally important aspect of archaeological research, and that the strongest case studies in identity are those that encompass a variety of gendered inferences to understand social lives of the past.


2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 1609-1631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varda Wasserman ◽  
Michal Frenkel

How does the multiplicity of surveilling gazes affect the experience of employees subjected to a matrix of domination in organisations? Building on a case study of ultra-religious Jewish women in Israeli high-tech organisations, the article demonstrates how the intersectionality of gender and religiosity exposed them to a matrix of contradicting visibility regimes – managerial, peers, and religious community. By displaying their compliance with each visibility regime, they were constructed as hyper-subjugated employees, but simultaneously were able to use (in)visibility as a resource. Specifically, by manoeuvring between the various gazes and playing one visibility regime against the other, they challenged some of the organisational and religious norms that served to marginalise them, yet upheld their status as worthy members of both institutions. Juxtaposing theoretical insights from organisational surveillance and gender studies, the article reveals the role of multiple surveilling gazes in both the reproduction of minorities’ marginalisation, and their ability to mobilise it to maintain their collective identities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
Catherine Gomes ◽  
Glenda Mejía

The literature on transnational migrations tells us that new migrants often look for points of similarity and familiarity with people in destination countries. Whether they intend to settle permanently or if they are transient and temporary, new migrants whatever their histories (e.g., as forced, lifestyle, economic, worker and study migrants) look to create connections with people in destination countries. These connections allow migrants to feel a sense of belonging through established or new community networks that anchor them in their adopted/host country. Moreover, these connections provide practical benefit in terms of allowing migrants to access sources of support (e.g., emotional) and information that are useful in navigating everyday life in the new country. Often, the connections that migrants make are with fellow migrants who are from the same country of origin or migrants from elsewhere primarily because of their shared migration experience. This shared migration experience though is subject to variables such as socio-economic class, education levels, religious affiliation and gender, or a combination of these, just to name a few. For migrants, connecting with people who they identify and recognize as fellow migrant actors, in other words, is a common, if not, instinctual occurrence for migrant belonging-making. While this article acknowledges the significance of the identity-migrant nexus by referring to two separate research projects conducted in Australia involving Latin American participants as a case study, it observes that migrants may also seek out those who they perceive to be fellow co-national/co-ethnic migrants through conventional or perceived visual and cultural markers.


Kalbotyra ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 160-181
Author(s):  
Iva Novakova

The present paper is based on the assumption that the language of the novel is characterized by a statistically relevant overrepresentation of certain linguistic units (e.g. lexemes, key words, collocations and colligations, Siepmann 2015). First steps towards checking the validity of this hypothesis had been undertaken in pioneering works in the 1990s/2000s (e.g. Stubbs & Barth 2003). These studies were however limited by the small size of their (exclusively English) corpora. The present study explores the role of some patterns (phraseological motifs) in distinguishing French literary subgenres. It also proposes a case study of some motifs related to the verbal (dire avec sourire ‘to say with a smile’) and non-verbal communication (adresser un sourire ‘to send a smile’). Unlike traditional corpus-stylistic analyses, which frequently focus on the style of a single author, our corpus-driven approach identifies lexico-syntactic constructions in literary genres which are automatically extracted from the corpora.The main purpose is to show the relevance of the notion of phraseological motif (Legallois 2012; Longrée & Mellet 2013; Novakova & Siepmann 2020) for the distinction of literary subgenres. Linking form and meaning, these ‘multidimensional units’ fulfil pragmatic as well as discursive functions.The data has been extracted from large French corpora of the PhraseoRom research project https://phraseorom.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr. They are accessible on http://phraseotext.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/phraseobase/index.html and contain 1000 novels (published from the 1950s to the present), partitioned into six sub-corpora: general literature (GEN), crime fiction (CRIM), romances (ROM), historical novels (HIST), science fiction (SF) and fantasy (FY).The results of our study reveal some unexpected differences between the literary subgenres: e.g. the motif dire d’une voix ‘to say in a voice’ in HIST compared to GEN. In FY, expressions of verbal communication are related to shouting and screaming. Expressions related to the non-verbal communication (prendre dans ses bras ‘to take in one’s arms’) are specific to ROM, where body language is overrepresented. In SF, there is a very limited number of these types of expressions. More generally, the motifs provide the link between the micro level (phraseological recurrences) and the macro level (the fictional script).


Author(s):  
Eni Maryani ◽  
Preciosa Alnashava Janitra ◽  
Detta Rahmawan

A report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2016 says that Indonesia is still struggling to close its gender equality gap. However, looking at the development of internet usage and the penetration of social media in Indonesia, it can be said that Indonesia has the opportunity to utilize social media to address various gender issues. This article uses a case study to explore and analyze the way “Aliansi Laki-Laki Baru” (ALLB) or “New Men’s Alliance”, a form of activism which emphasizes the importance of men's involvement in fighting for gender equality, utilizes social media to promote their ideas. As a social movement, ALLB consistently use social media to reach their audiences, engage their partners, and creating a sense of community. They focus in promoting mutual relationships between men and women and the importance of men’s involvement to support gender equality. The study on men’s involvement in promoting the agenda of feminism and gender issues is critical, yet there are still few studies in the context of Indonesia. This study shows that through ALLB, advocacy on gender issues has undergone a fundamental change that does not make women as the main focus but rather on men, and their role to fight for gender equality and justice for women.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cora González otero

Given the current wave of nationalisms in Spain, this research project aims to explore the connection between nationalism and women in Galicia, a nation in north-western Spain. Through Lovenduski’s framework of ‘feminising politics‘, and Dean and Maiguashca’s ‘feministisation’ analytical criteria, this qualitative study seeks to identify the process of ‘feministisation’ that has been taken place in Galician nationalism, the role of women activists in this process and the obstacles encountered; ultimately assessing this ‘feministisation’ as a strategy to find a path towards reconciliation.Based on the experiences of women activists collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews, the study has identified that the alliance of feminism and nationalism has allowed international and local networks to be interwoven, and it has also positioned feminist values and gender analysis at the core of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), one of the institutional organisations within Galician nationalism. Additionally, it has defined ‘feministisation’ as a complex process where the wide context of an internal crisis, the years of collective work by feminist groups and individuals, and the current hegemonic acceptance of feminism in Galician society have played their part. The study concludes that there is substantial evidence to identify a process of feministisation that is taking place within the Galician Nationalist Bloc and that the characteristics and values of this process could become a strategy to forge a path towards a more tolerant and internationalist reconciliation.


Author(s):  
Aaron Graham

Abstract Recent work has emphasized the role of colonial state structures in the construction and enforcement of race and gender in the British Empire from the seventeenth century onward, particularly among people of color. But work on the parallel phenomenon of “Whiteness” has focused on White men rather than White women and children, on elites rather than those below them, and on North America rather than the Caribbean. This article, using the records of a “Clergy Fund” established in Jamaica in 1797 as an insurance scheme for the (White) widows and orphans of clergymen, therefore addresses a gap in this literature by providing a case study of how a colonial state in the Caribbean tried—and failed—to construct and enforce race and gender among White women and children from outside the elite, during a period when White society in the region seemed under threat.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Jonathan Kangwa

This article examines the role of Prophecy and divination in the success of the Lumpa Church of Alice Mulenga Lenshina in Zambia. Concurring with James Amanze (2013), the article argues that the rapid growth of Christianity in Africa is to a large extent due to its engagement with prophecy and divination. Strong growth in African Christianity takes place mainly in the African Initiated Churches (AICs) which are Pentecostal-charismatic in their outlook. In these Churches the emphasis is on the prophetic ministry of the Church, evident in the performance of divination, healing and in predictions of the future. A good example is the Lumpa Church of Lenshina. Taking this Church as a case study, the article argues that Lenshina’s success and that of her Church are based on the fact that divination, prophecy and a search for gender justice were taken seriously.


Author(s):  
Erzsébet Barát

This chapter reviews research on populism by describing the role of discourse in articulating a “we” as an empty signifier. The emergence of “gender-ideology” discourse is presented as key to contemporary forms of exclusionary populism, as demonstrated in a case study of Hungary’s recent modification of the national register to prevent transgender individuals from retroactively changing their “sex at birth” status. The chapter argues that the discrediting of gender as an ideology mobilizes not only exclusionary right-wing populism but also feminisms asserting binary distinctions of a biologized sex and gender. While the government defends “us, the Hungarian people” against a “gender” that is not material but pure propaganda, self-identified progressive feminists dismiss trans-politics for focusing on identity instead of political economy. Both groups thus use “gender ideology” to mobilize an exclusionary rhetoric of hate. The chapter proposes that “us, the people” may instead be used to motivate a radical left populism organized around a “feminist people” of flexible inclusivity.


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