Apologies for cross-posting
Paul Booth, Matt Hills, Joy Piedmont, and Tansy Raynor Roberts (editors)
are seeking chapters for *Adventures In Space and Time: A Doctor Who
Reader, *a collection to be part of Bloomsbury Academics’s “Who’s Watching”
series. *A Doctor Who Archive* collects a wealth of academic articles and
fan work published over the past sixty years about the television
series *Doctor
Who*, and introduces newly commissioned works about the history and
longevity of the series. Thus, this unique book takes a snapshot of
important work about the show and its culture over the past sixty years,
augmented with brand new contemporary academic and fan writing about the
influence of the series.
We are seeking 200-300 word abstracts for chapters of various lengths for
the following topics. We are particularly interested in seeing work from a
diverse array of scholars and fans, particularly those from
underrepresented groups. A modest honorarium is available for authors.
*Please email your abstract to **[log in to unmask]* <[log in to unmask]>* by
Oct 15, 2021.*
· Doctor Who Podcasting
· Doctor Who YouTubing/Vidding
· Casual/Non-Fans of Doctor Who
· The Tumblr Generation
· Feminine Gaze and Doctor Who
· Fan Response to Companions of Color
· Shipping in Doctor Who Fandom
· Doctor Who Fandom around the World
· US Doctor Who Fandom
· Fan Activism
· Intersectional Fandom
· Doctor Who Live Experiences/Theatrical Productions
· Professional Media Coverage of Doctor Who
· Professionals within Fannish Spaces
· The pros and cons of professionals stepping into fannish spaces
Full Book summary follows:
Section I: Studying Doctor Who's Audiences and Fans
Doctor Who has been the focus of decades of fan-focused writing. As it has
shifted and changed over time, so too have the fan audiences that have
guided the multifaceted experiences of the show. This section ranges from
early media studies’ work on Doctor Who’s fans and followers through to new
work on the contemporary fan ‘blogosphere’ represented by types of “social
media entertainment” such as podcasting and YouTubing. However, there has
been far, far more work on fan activities and interpretations over the
years than on what John Tulloch calls Doctor Who’s “coalition” audience --
i.e. more casual and uncommitted, fleeting viewers alongside enduring fans.
Therefore this section also includes groundbreaking work on this
under-researched or even relatively ‘invisible audience’, present in BBC
internal reports, perhaps, but rarely seriously studied in scholarship and
fan writing alike. It revisits John Tulloch’s influential concept of fandom
as a “powerless elite” in the ‘nu Who’ era and considers the desires and
cultural politics of both female and feminist fans, including recent work
on reactions to Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the Doctor.
Section II: Doctor Who Fandom in the 21st Century
While Doctor Who is often conceptualized as a children’s program, the truth
is more complicated: originally produced by the “drama” department (rather
than the “children’s” department), the show has always had a
multi-generational audience. With the modern series’ premiere in 2005, the
fan generations split: many older fans returned to the show, joining
children and young adults who were meeting the Doctor for the first time.
Within this generation of fans there's a range of experiences that seem to
fall along racial but also geographical lines, and as a whole, they're much
more comfortable viewing the show through the lens of identity and
politics. In this section, we explore the way that Doctor Who discussion
has developed into silos for different generations and identities and
highlight changing focuses of concern by the fan audience.
Section III: Into the (Transmedia) Vortex: From Dalekmania to Time Lord
Victorious
Doctor Who isn’t just one text: it’s a television series, but it’s also
book series, films, theatrical productions, merchandise, clothing, audio
adventures, comics. It’s a transmedia spectacular. In this section, we
chart the growth of Doctor Who across media, from early work that focuses
on Doctor Who's televisual presence, and then work on the Doctor Who across
media, culminating in new work about live adventures (escape rooms, etc.)
and the Time Lord Victorious transmedia experience.
Section IV: Doctor Who’s Creative Intersections
In the history of Doctor Who, many fans went into writing, publishing, and
television production, even becoming part of the creative side of things.
Even secondary texts like Doctor Who Magazine are spaces fans are being
paid professionally to cover their fannish love. There's a discomfort to
those crossovers sometimes, with pros intruding on fannish spaces and vice
versa. At what point does fan power get so large that it intrudes on the
making of the show? How can fans salvage problems of the show's making? For
example, fannish spaces helped to bring actors back to feeling positive
about their role in Doctor Who, like Christopher Eccleston in 2019 and
Caroline John in the 90s who thought everyone hated her until a convention
convinced her otherwise. Professional production companies like Big Finish
have taken fannish frustrations with some of the worst failings of the show
and turned them around, but as fans become professionals, they stop being
able to exist in those fannish spaces anymore.
--
Paul Booth, PhD
Pronouns: he, him, his
Professor of Media and Cinema Studies/Digital Communication and Media Arts
College of Communication
DePaul University
14 E. Jackson
Chicago, IL 60604
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----
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