Welcome to the Fan Studies community! We’re so happy you’re here and we want you take full advantage of the opportunities our new platform provides. Please read over the code of conduct so we can continue to ensure a safe and supportive space for all. Thank you for your dedication to the Popular Culture Association!

 

Call for Papers

 

The Fan Studies Area, formerly Fan Culture & Theory, of the PCA welcomes papers, presentations, panels, and roundtable discussions that cover all aspects of fandom for inclusion at the PCA National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 8-11, 2026. The conference proposal system will be opening to submissions on Sept. 1, 2025. Please see the pcaaca.org website for more information on submitting your proposals.

 

The area was started in 2009 by the late Katherine Larsen and has grown in size and depth in the years since. Fan Studies as a discipline has similarly evolved from a media-focused discourse to one that widely engages with text, performance, history, and material culture.

 

The Fan Studies Area of the PCA offers a venue for fan scholars from across the globe to share their research and exchange ideas on this growing field. Papers on all of the many aspects of the topic are invited. The following list of past and possible topics is extensive but not exhaustive:

Fan activism

Anti-Fandom and Toxic Fandom

Fan collections in archives and libraries

Collecting, collectors, collections

Conventions

Cosplay

Fan/creator, consumer/producer interactions

Fan crafts

Fans as critics

Disability

Ethics and responsibilities of academics working within fan studies

Fan fiction

Food

Gaming - video games, table top RPG, board games

Gender and Sexuality

Global fan cultures and practices

Historical perspectives on fans and fan studies

Kitbashing, customizing, prop replicas

Pedagogy, teaching fan studies

Politics

Issues of race within fan communities as well as in the discipline of Fan Studies

Reality Television Fandom

Re-enactors, Renaissance faires and festivals, playtrons, living history

Social media and fandom

Specific book, comics, film, television, and music fandoms

Specific theories and case studies

Sports fandom

Theater

Fan videos and films

Virtual and online conventions, fan gatherings, and group watching

Fan tourism and pilgrimages

 

This call asks for individual paper proposals or submissions for entire panels. If you are submitting a panel, please make sure to note the members of your panel. In addition to general papers, if a presenter would like to propose a special panel or roundtable discussion, please e-mail the chairs.

 

For individual papers, please submit abstracts of approximately 250 words and a short bio (100 words). Submissions will only be accepted through the PCA website.

 

Panel proposals should be submitted directly to the area chair for approval (see contact information below). Include an abstract (250 words) describing the panel, accompanied by the abstracts of the individual papers that comprise the panel. Once the panel is approved, individual presenters should submit their proposals through the PCA website.

 

Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals.

 

Individuals must be current, paid members to submit to the conference.

 

Contact information for the chairs:

Cait Coker, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, cait@illinois.edu

Victoria Godwin, Prairie View A&M University, vlgodwin@pvamu.edu

 

We also encourage those interested to follow the Fan Studies/Theory/Culture Area at PCA group on Facebook .

 

 

Important Dates to Remember:

 

• Database opens for Submissions - Sept. 1, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Begins - Sept. 1, 2025
• Deadline for Paper Proposals - Nov. 30, 2025
• Travel Grant Applications Due - Dec. 15, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Ends for Presenters - Dec. 31, 2025
• Regular Registration Begins for Presenters - Jan. 1, 2026 
• Travel Grant Decisions / Notifications - Jan. 31, 2026
• Regular Registration Ends for Presenters - Jan. 31, 2026
• Late Registration Starts for Presenters - Feb. 1, 2026
• Preliminary Program draft available - Feb. 6, 2026

 

Those Presenters Not Registered by Feb. 15 Will be Dropped from the Program

 

CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA, GA - April 8-11, 2026