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Moderator: Prof. Dingkun WANG (School of Chinese, HKU)   

Date: 23 August 2024 (Fri)        

Time: 10:00–13:00 (HKT) 

Language: English

Venue: CRT-4.36, 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

Mode: Face-to-face & Online

https://hku.zoom.us/j/94696776563?pwd=Muv1mui6BEUrZcgsqzsvLR8bMayqSH.1

Meeting ID: 946 9677 6563

Password: 829795

Talk #1: Transcultural Fandom, Imaginary Homelands, and Fan Nationalism

Speaker: Prof. Henry Jenkins (University of Southern California)

Abstract:

Over the past year, the USC Transcultural Fandom in East Asia Research Group has brought together close to a hundred scholars from China, Korean and the United States in order to create conditions that support comparative and collaborative research on fandom in East Asia. This talk will offer an overview of our approach and discuss two of our early efforts: one centered around location-based fan experiences and the concept of imaginary homelands as contrasted with notions of fan tourism and pilgrimage. In the second a team of researchers considers Hanfu and Hanbok as forms of sartorial fandom and that they have become a part of nationalist struggles amongst fans from Korea and Japan.

About the Speaker:

Henry Jenkins is the Provost's Professor of Communications, Journalism, Cinematic Arts, Education, and East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books, including a new series, Frames of Fandom, which he co-authored with Robert Kozinets and will be published starting this fall. He cohosts the How Do You Like It So Far? podcast on pop culture in a changing world.

Talk #2: ‘Narcissistic My God I Love It’: Fans’ Subjective Well-being in K-pop Random Dance

Speakers:

Ms. Kedi Zhou (University of Southern California)

Ms. Xinyue Zhang (The University of Hong Kong)

Discussant:

Dr. Sangita Shresthova (University of Southern California)

Abstract:

With the K-pop industry and fandom becoming increasingly prominent, more diverse fan practices have emerged worldwide — noticeably, the K-pop random dance. It is a leisure and cultural event that invites fans to dance to a mix of various K-pop songs played out loud in public. Participants usually stand in a square and voluntarily go up to dance if they know the moves. K-pop random dances have already received lots of welcomes, mainly in Asia, before 2020, but their magnitude has reached an unprecedented level after the pandemic. Recordings of events hosted all over the world are constantly updated on a daily basis, attracting millions of views and likes. Despite its growing popularity, the phenomenon remains under-researched. This study aims to explore how participating in the K-pop random dance will impact the subjective well-being of its participants. Building on the theoretical framework of participatory culture and the “DRAMMA” model that examines the relationship between leisure events and subjective well-being, this research adopts ethnography and interviews to understand how K-pop random dance functions as a form of fan engagement and cultural expression and analyze how the components of random dance events — such as mastering choreography, connecting with fellow fans, and expressing oneself through dance — contribute to the participants’ overall happiness and life satisfaction.

About the Speakers:

Kedi Zhou is a PhD student at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on feminism and surveillance, drawing broadly from literature in feminist science and technology studies and cultural studies. Kedi completed her undergraduate degree at Queen’s University in Canada, majoring in Film & Media and minoring in Global Development Studies, and her master’s degree in Media and Communication at the London School of Economics.

Xinyue Zhang is a PhD candidate in the School of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong. Her research delves into contemporary developments in Chinese Internet literature, especially in the female-oriented realm, adopting an interdisciplinary methodology to conduct critical analyses of popular youth culture. Her thesis undertakes an in-depth exploration of a web novel subgenre known as the “Infinite fiction.” Xinyue holds an MSc in Social and Cultural Anthropology from University College London. She also possesses a foundation in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Edinburgh.

About the Discussant:

Sangita Shresthova is a writer, researcher, thinker, speaker and doer. She is an expert in mixed research methods, online learning, media literacies, popular culture, performance, new media, politics, and globalization.  She is currently the Director of Research and Programs and Co-PI of the Civic Paths Group based at the University of Southern California, where her current work is focused on the civic imagination. She holds a Ph.D. from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and MSc. degrees from MIT and LSE. She received her BA from Princeton University.​She is also a faculty member at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Social Change in Austria.​

Talk #3: Economies of Visibility?: Fandom and Transnational Queer Feminism

Speaker: Dr. Ting Guo (University of Liverpool)

Abstract:

In the past decades, feminist translation studies have experienced significant new trends, in particular in relation to the advancement of digital technology and the rise of global media culture. Not only are the channels and ways through which feminist knowledge and information are disseminated and consumed changing, the representation of the local and regional feminist culture has also been affected by the rising transnational fan culture driven by the increasingly globalized markets. There is, therefore, clearly a shared ground between studies of transnational fandom and feminist translation studies, given the fact that fandom plays a crucial role shaping the transnational flows of media products as well as the connections between regional feminist culture.

Bringing together research on translation and transnational feminism and scholarship on transnational fandom, this talk problematizes the “source/target text” division as well as the “visibility” - focused model when interpreting the cross-cultural and linguistic flow of queer feminist media texts. By examining a case study of the transnational reception of 天官赐福 (Heaven Official’s Blessing) (2020), a Chinese danmei anime series produced by Bilibili, and transnational queer female fans’ creative engagements with this danmei narrative (in the form of fanart and Vlog), the talk demonstrates how attenuated and complicated expressions of queer feminisms can be re-framed and circulated through transnational fandom, highlighting the significance of capturing the nuanced evidence of queer female fans’ counter-reading of visibility politics supported by capitalism.

About the Speaker:

Ting Guo is Senior Lecturer in Translation and Chinese Studies at University of Liverpool. Her research focuses on fan translation, translation of queer media texts and translation history. She publishes widely in journals such as Translation Studies, Translation and Interpreting Studies and Literature Compass and is particularly interested in the pivotal role of translator in the reproduction and dissemination of knowledge and initiating social changes. Her ongoing AHRC funded project “Translating for change: Anglophone queer cinema and Chinese LGBT+ movement” explores new ways to visualize subtitling practices by Chinese queer fans and how Anglophone queer culture has been translated into Chinese in films.

Notice:

1) The seminar will be conducted primarily in a face-to-face mode; Those who cannot attend the seminar in-person could apply for online participation (via Zoom) with justifications;

2) All those who would like to attend the seminar are required to register online on a first-come, first-served basis;

3) Email of confirmation will be sent to the registered email addresses and participants have to show the screenshot or print-out version of the email for entry of the seminar venue;

4) Walk-in or late-comers will not be allowed for entry of the seminar venue unless situation allows.

ALL are welcome*

*Pre-registration (Click HERE) is requested.