Fandom for Us, by Us - (Postmillennial Pop) by Jr

About the Book

"Fandom for Us, by Us is an in-depth study of Black fan practices using more than 70 interviews with Black fans of Black Panther, The Wiz, The Golden Girls, and the African American ballerina Misty Copeland"--

Book Synopsis

The convergence of the politics of representation and Black fan cultures

Boldly going where few fandom scholars have gone before, Fandom for Us, by Us breaks from our focus on white fandom to center Black fandoms. Alfred L. Martin, Jr., engages these fandoms through what he calls the "four C's" class, clout, canon, and comfort.

Class is a key component of how Black fandom is contingent on distinctions between white, nationally recognized cultural productions and multicultural and/or regional cultural productions, as demonstrated by Misty Copeland's ascension in American Ballet Theatre. Clout refers to Black fans' realization of their own consumer spending power as an agent for industrial change, reducing the precarity of Blackness within historically white cultural apparatuses and facilitating the production of Black blockbusters like 2018's Black Panther. Canon entails a communal fannish practice of sharing media objects, like the 1978 film The Wiz, which lead them to take on meanings outside of their original context. Comfort describes the nostalgic and sentimental affects associated with beloved fan objects such as the television show, Golden Girls, connected to notions of Black joy and signaling moments wherein Black people can just be themselves.

Through 75 in-depth interviews with Black fans, Fandom for Us, by Us argues not only for the importance of studying Black fandoms, but also demonstrates their complexities by both coupling and decoupling Black reception practices from the politics of representation. Martin highlights the nuanced ways Black fans interact with media representations, suggesting class, clout, canon, and comfort are universal to the study of all fandoms. Yet, for all the ways these fandoms are similar and reciprocal, Black fandoms are also their own set of practices, demanding their own study.

Review Quotes

"Martin notes the joy many Black fans get from feeling like they can see themselves in the media ... readers will enjoy the interviewees' excitement and may want to experience all four examples themselves."-- "Library Journal"

"Fandom for Us, By Us is such a welcome addition to audience research, fandom studies, and, of course the field of film and media studies in general. Alfred L. Martin's accessible and hilariously engaging writing in addition to the specific case studies that assist in explaining his concept of the four C's of Black fandom make this text a valued contribution for training up students to become more critically literate consumers and creators and for insisting that scholarship engage harder with Black audiences not traditionally imagined as part of fandom."-- "Kristen Warner, author of The Cultural Politics of Colorblind TV Casting"

"Fandom For Us, By Us will undoubtedly be seen as an essential building block of fan studies. Martin's reception studies do the important work of helping us understand how African Americans use media as a tool in everyday life and make pleasure a political necessity."-- "Rebecca Wanzo, author of The Content of Our Caricature: African American Comic Art and Political Belonging"

About the Author

Alfred L. Martin, Jr., is Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Cinematic Arts at University of Miami. He is author of The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom, editor of Rolling: Blackness and Mediated Comedy, and co-editor of The Golden Girls: Tales from the Lanai.