The following argument develops an analytical framework to identify and investigate media-fandom observations sui generis. To accomplish this, the project’s author formulates a tripartite framework that, by way of analogy, draws from a psychoanalytic theory of mind to classify and investigate distinct fan-observation types. The work purports that the corresponding designations represent differential modes of observing characterized by and articulating specific affective semantic forms. Furthermore, the separate modes—notwithstanding their discrete functionalities— will imbricate and implicate one another in a manner that gives way to dynamic interactional effects. The project herein explores and further theorizes these observational relationships and the consequences they effectuate for a diverse community of fans. 

About the presenter:

Dr. James B. Chouinard is a lecturer in The School of Sociology at The Australian National University. His research interests centre on popular culture fandom, the affordances emerging from media artefacts, the discursive strategies employed by various vegan campaigns, as well as the epistemological development and implications of psychoanalytic sociologies.