Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

 
 
Session Overview
Session
Knowledge, Fandoms & Pop Culture
Time:
Thursday, 16/Oct/2025:
2:00pm - 3:30pm

Session Chair: Clarice Greco
Location: Room 1a - 2nd Floor

Novo IACS (Instituto de Arte e Comunicação Social) São Domingos, Niterói - State of Rio de Janeiro, 24210-200, Brazil

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Presentations

TRANSACTIONAL ORDERS: HOW PLATFORMS STRUCTURE PAYMENTS BETWEEN CREATORS AND FANS

Blake Hallinan1, Dana Theiler1, CJ Reynolds1, Isabell Knief2

1The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; 2The University of Bonn, Germany

Subscription platforms like Patreon or OnlyFans, fundraising platforms like Kickstarter, or donation tools built into video platforms like Twitch or Stripchat reconfigure the relationship between creators, audiences, and platforms. While research has highlighted the impact of new monetization opportunities for creators and fans, the role of the platform has received comparatively less attention and is hindered by a lack of shared terminology, comparative research, and the bracketing off of adult content platforms. We present an integrative framework for conceptualizing monetization on digital platforms, connecting anthropology’s veteran concept of transactional orders to more recent work on platformization. We developed the transactional orders framework through an in-depth investigation of livestreaming and camming platforms. We surveyed the literature to identify relevant features, policies, and concepts related to monetization and conducted empirical research on three livestreaming and three camming platforms to develop platform-agnostic concepts and definitions. The transactional orders framework consists of payment paths, or mechanisms that facilitate the transmission of value between users, and measures of value, or commensurable representations of worth on the platform. We identified three primary payment paths (donations, subscriptions, and purchases) and three primary measures of value (tokens, social metrics, and rankings), as well as seven attributes to assess each component. We illustrate the value of the framework through a discussion of donation mechanisms across platforms.



FANDOMS AND LEARNING: THE ROLE OF ACA-FANS IN FORMAL EDUCATION

Fernanda Castilho1, Enoe Lopes Pontes de Marques Tavares2

1Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil; Centro Estadual de Educação Tecnológica Paula Souza, CEETEPS, Brazil; 2Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil

on the concept of lifelong learning, we examine Aca-fan communities to explore the potential impact of fandom participation on the development and production of formal knowledge. To address this question, we will conduct a bibliographic review, administer surveys, and facilitate focus groups. Our research question is: Can fandoms support formal learning? Ultimately, we aim to understand whether engaging with these communities can foster professional, technical, and/or academic learning.



Anitta's Political Activism and Controversies on Digital Platforms: The Case of Her Support for Lula During the 2022 Elections

Simone Pereira de Sá

Federal Fluminense University, Brazil

During the hotly contested 2022 Brazilian presidential elections between Workers' Party candidate Luis Inácio Lula da Silva and Liberal Party candidate Jair Messias Bolsonaro, singer Anitta - one of Brazil's biggest pop singers - declared her support for Lula on her X and Instagram profiles, causing a huge backlash not only among her 60 million followers and fans but also among institutional political actors

This paper is part of a broader research initiative focused on the intersection of Brazilian pop-peripheral music, politics, and activism. Utilizing the frameworks of performance dramaturgy (Taylor, 2013; Schechner, 2009) and the cartography of controversies (Latour, 2015), we center our analysis on Anitta's endorsement to explore the dynamics of political performances and activism by Brazilian pop-peripheral artists (Pereira de Sá, 2021) on digital platforms.

The paper aims to address two interconnected questions: 1. How is a political performance constructed by pop artists on digital platforms? 2. How do fans react, and how effective is this performance in promoting civic engagement?

We will present empirical data gathered from digital platforms, including a collection and filtering of tweets from Anitta's profile on X, along with replies and shares from July 11 to 17, 2022. Additionally, we will analyze tweets associated with hashtags such as #lula and #luladay. Further insights will be drawn from a questionnaire distributed to Anitta's fans between November and December 2022, assessing her political stance and its repercussions on digital platforms.



Fan studies in Brazil: the internet-centric bias and its impact on understanding local fandoms.

Aianne Amado1, Eloy Vieira2

1University of São Paulo, Brazil; 2Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil

Fan Studies as an academic field has been significantly shaped by american researchers like Henry Jenkins (1992, 2006a, 2006b), who conceptualized fans as active participants who engage with media texts through creative production. Since its beginning, the internet has become central to Fan Studies, marking what Gray, Sandvoss, and Harrington (2007) call the “second wave” of research, with a focus on social media and digital fan practices.

In Brazil, Fan Studies emerged in 2002 and aligned with the international references. Morover, Cyberculture scholars were among the few willing to support and metor such studies. Due to this historical context, Brazilian research on fandoms has largely prioritized internet-based interactions, reflecting a bias that overlooks offline fan practices. This focus is evident in literature reviews (Carlos, 2015; Amado, 2020) that highlight digital culture as a dominant theme.

While the internet is crucial for contemporary fandoms, this emphasis may marginalize underrepresented fan groups. Internet access in Brazil expanded from 8% in 2002 to nearly 85% in 2024 (Laboissière, 2024), yet disparities in broadband quality and digital literacy persist (Knop, 2020). Consequently, digital Fan Studies risk favoring privileged demographics while neglecting fans from rural areas, lower-income communities, and older age groups.

Scholars like Costa (2018) argue for a national theoretical framework to address these gaps. This article calls for a broader, more inclusive approach to Brazilian Fan Studies, recognizing the impact of internet-centrism and advocating for methodologies that reflect the country’s diverse fan cultures.