This may be true, but I also think that sometimes the expectation of "fan" is about an affective devotion to certain kinds of white medievalism. People have asked me a lot in the last year how I became a medievalist. I think they expect some narrative that involves GofT, cosplay,
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Replying to @dorothyk98 @ricutz and
possibly SCA, and other signs of certain kinds of white medievalism. They expect some sort of affective devotion connected to childhood. And for folks who got to medieval things that way, great for them, but it's not the only narrative. I literally have had to explain that I
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Replying to @dorothyk98 @ricutz and
Yes I find it so interesting that it’s queer, feminist, and BIPOC medievalists who are often most explicit about taking a path to medieval studies that does NOT take the form of devotional fandom/identification. Our paths tend to take different routes, need more “explaining”
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Replying to @JonathanHsy @dorothyk98 and
It all comes back to the issue of fields as monoliths--fan studies and fandom aren't monoliths either, and there are many different types of affective engagement. I find it a useful lens simply because it allows us to take into account whatever our own ingrained views are.
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Replying to @KVMFinn @JonathanHsy and
There are as many different kinds of being a fan as there are fans themselves, and it IS frustrating that the stereotype is so prevalent even with all the work that fan studies has done over the past 30+ years.
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Replying to @KVMFinn @JonathanHsy and
True, but I do feel that Nick and Joy's point in discussing medievalism and its whiteness is spot on. Why pedagogically center GoT rather than the medievalism of the center of Stonewall? Why teach one and not teach the other? What does that say about decolonized pedagogy.
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Replying to @dorothyk98 @KVMFinn and
and speaking of medievalist fan reactions, they got a lot of medievalism scholars coming to them in super white defensive mode about their quite powerful statement about why center this vs. that. Again, medievalists are not immune to replicating the patterns of toxic fan culture.
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Replying to @dorothyk98 @JonathanHsy and
Absolutely correct. That's why it's so important to have different voices demonstrating that even affective response doesn't all fall into the same patterns. I do feel like we're early enough in the process of theorizing medievalism that we can diverge from that toxicity.
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Replying to @KVMFinn @JonathanHsy and
The toxicity happens often. So maybe it's also about practicing not to be toxic. I would also say, the thing I am interested in is a decolonized medievalism that's been there, that's been happening but not discussed. And then an attendance to medium critique.
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@edmondchang and I have much side-eye about things like Reacting to the Past and it's complete lack of understanding of games as platform and critical form. There are some serious horrors in that roster.
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