You may also find the Presentation Tips Slides (PDF) useful when preparing for your presentations.
Paper/Presentation 1, Oral History
The focus of this paper is to tell us about a person’s fan/fan culture experience from the past. It should be based on collecting an oral history from a family member or friend over the age of 50, which you can do in person, by phone, Zoom, email, or any other way. I personally recommend you interview a family member, but it can be anyone over the age of 50 (the older, the better). The focus of your paper is not an “objective” historical account of a phenomenon (though factual data about the phenomenon can help us understand your subject) but rather to try to capture the lived experience of someone over 50 about a fan experience of their youth.
The paper should be four to five pages (double-spaced, 12-point font). You should spend the first three pages telling us about the person’s fan experience and the “object” of their experience. This should be from pop culture, not sports, but otherwise can be anything from a family tradition (family reunions performing tunes from Grease, or a favorite TV show), a specific event (seeing the Beatles on TV for the first time, or a person going to their first concert), a favorite song (I once had a paper about a Vietnam vet who talked about the importance of music while deployed), a fan club, viewing/listening habits, etc. The final two pages should be your analysis of how we, as scholars of fans and popular culture, would describe the significance of the experience—for example, by drawing from concepts and theories presented in class or others with which you are familiar (Uses & Gratification theory, political economy, psychoanalytic theory, etc.). In short, the main focus of your paper is to provide a faithful account of your interviewee’s experience, and the secondary focus is to put that experience into conversation with ongoing themes in the class.
The primary source for this paper should be your interview subject (who can remain anonymous if you prefer). Additional sources are necessary if your paper advances historical claims that would be more persuasive with evidence.
Example Presentation
A former student blogged about her work in this class. You can see an example of the first presentation.
Paper/Presentation 2
The second assignment will be a reflexive auto-ethnography of your own fan experience. Organizationally, this should be similar to the first paper. The paper should be about five pages (double-spaced, 12-point font). You should spend the first three pages telling us about your fan experience and the “object” of your experience. Then, use the final two pages to reflect on how we, as scholars of fans and popular culture, would describe the significance of the experience, again drawing from class theory/concepts.
The primary source for this paper is You! Additional sources are necessary if your paper advances historical or historical claims that would be more persuasive with evidence.
Example Presentation
You can see an example of the second presentation.
Paper/Presentation 3
The third paper will be a normative assessment of a current or recent fan culture phenomenon based on theoretical & critical perspectives taught in class. Again, the length should be about five pages, made up of both a description of the phenomenon and a critical assessment (positive, negative, or both) offered from an ethical, ideological, or psychological perspective. Example thesis statements include: “Starship Troopers promotes a racist ideology,” “Brooklyn 99 uses comedy to subvert hegemonic masculinity,” “viewing Power Rangers increases the risk of imitative violence by young children,” etc.
All papers will be presented to the class. You can but do not have to read your paper—you can summarize it or read selected portions in order to fit the presentation into the allotted time. Slides, videos, or other visual aids are optional but encouraged when they can enhance our understanding of your topic. For example, we don’t need a photo of Harry Potter or Lady Gaga, but we might need one for Tom Lehrer. This final paper should be supported with at least three cited sources.
Example Presentation
You can see an example of the third presentation.
