College of Arts & Humanities
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1611
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item SOME OF US ARE STARING AT THE STARS: SPECULATIVE FICTION, FANDOM, AND TRANS IMAGINATION(2023) Hagen, Damien; Lothian, Alexis; Women's Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Some of us are staring at the stars: Speculative Fiction, Fandom, and Trans Imagination takes up the multiple ways that trans and nonbinary people have used speculative fiction as a survival strategy and worldbuilding tool. Through engagement with trans and nonbinary fans and creators of imaginative works, Damien shows how speculative fiction has powerful material effects for trans lives. Primary attention is given to the possibilities contained in media that was not created to be explicitly “transgender,” but was experienced and read as such through a “trans imaginary.” Damien’s research methods are interdisciplinary, incorporating the use of autoethnography, focus groups, close readings, and thematic analysis. Chapters include an analysis of regeneration as trans possibility in the TV series Doctor Who, an inquiry into shared experiences among trans and nonbinary fans deriving from focus group interviews, an examination of the ways the genre of “body horror” in film and television has been used as a tool for processing and dealing with experiences of body dysphoria, and an analysis of the trans world building possibilities in Blue Delliquanti’s Oh Human Star and Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt.Item Sexuality, Gender, and the Performance of Wrestling Fan Culture(2017) Krenek, Jessica Lloyd; Carpenter, Faedra C; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation focuses on fan culture in the world of professional wrestling, specifically the perspectives and experiences of female and AFAB (assigned female at birth) non-binary fans . The project explores broader themes about empowerment, female sexuality, and representation through the lens of fans of American professional wrestling, particularly World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The dissertation looks at the performance of self and the performance of fandom on social media sites (such as Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram), during “live” wrestling events, as well as through fan fiction and other artistic expressions. In so doing, I explore various ideas about the ways that fans behave, interact, and connect with one another in a frequently male-dominated forum in order to grapple with larger questions about gender and performance in American society and history. I argue that non-male fans attempt to refigure the image of wrestling fan culture to include their own voices and their own presence through the use of social media and other virtual methods of connection and community-building.