Greetings, We want to let you know that the new issue of Flow: A Critical Forum on Television and Media Culture is available at http://flowtv.org. This issue features columns from: Paul Booth, Catherine Coker and Candace Benefiel, Michael Dwyer, Jen Gunnels and M. Flourish Klink, David Jenneman, Eve Ng, Tom Phillips, and Olivier J. Tchouaffe This issue's columns in brief: "Fandom In/As the Academy" by Paul Booth http://flowtv.org/2010/12/fandom-in-as-the-academy/ A look at the specific pedagogical value of fandom as an activity and how it can be appropriated in a variety of educational contexts. "We Have Met the Fans, and They Are Us: In Defense of Aca-Fans and Scholars" by Catherine Coker and Candace Benefiel http://flowtv.org/2010/12/we-have-met-the-fans/ Fans hold their objects of study to a higher standard. How can the critical study of any text succeed without the passionate and knowledgeable participation of the scholar? "The Gathering of the Juggalos and the Peculiar Sanctity of Fandom" by Michael Dwyer http://flowtv.org/2010/12/the-gathering-of-the-juggalos/ The Gathering of the Juggalos is the scene of questionable fan practices contrary to the noble portrait of fandom elaborated by several scholars. "'We are all together:' Fan Studies and Performance" by Jen Gunnels and M. Flourish Klink http://flowtv.org/2010/12/we-are-all-together/ Gunnels and Klink argue that fan studies parallels performance studies in discerning tensions between researcher and subject. "Stop Being an Elitist, and Start Being an Elitist" by David Jenemann http://flowtv.org/2010/12/stop-being-an-elitist-and-start-being-an-elitist/ Given how Aca-fandom has created its own canon and looks down its nose at certain cultural forms like sports broadcasting, we could use a little of Adorno's elitism in the discipline today. "Telling Tastes: (Re)producing Distinction in Popular Media Studies" by Eve Ng http://flowtv.org/2010/12/telling-tastes/ What we study and how we learn to talk about it is productive of our identities along mostly covert dimensions of power. How do scholars distinguish themselves from the mainstream critics? "Embracing the 'Overly Confessional:' Scholar-Fandom and Approaches to Personal Research" by Tom Phillips http://flowtv.org/2010/12/embracing-the-overly-confessional/ A scholar argues that embracing an "overly confessional" approach to his academic writing is integral to the fidelity of his research. "Revisiting Fandom in Africa" by Olivier J. Tchouaffe http://flowtv.org/2010/12/revisiting-fandom-in-africa/ The application of fandom and its resources is not the same in all cultures, and African fans might not be recognized as legitimate fans. The point of this piece is to demonstrate that there is a unifying figure of American domination of mass culture. Interested in supporting Flow? Click HERE http://flowtv.org/about/support/ FlowTV is now on Twitter! Follow Flow's Twitter page at: http://twitter.com/flowtv FlowTV is also on Facebook! Get updates on your news feed by becoming a fan: www.facebook.com/FlowTV We look forward to your visit and encourage your comments. Best wishes, Flow Editorial Staff ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org