#acafans
#FanStudies folks, I'm looking for information on educational attainment in fandom, particularly adult fans (≥25 yo).
I've been through the Ao3 2013 & 2024 surveys; Fansplaining 2019 shipping & Overflow survey. No ?.
I know acafans are a thing, but not numbers.
Any suggestions?
December 1, 2024 at 8:14 PM
Moore, M. E. “We Have Never Been Acafans: Notes Towards a Posthumanist Approach to Media Fandom”. Journal of Posthumanism, vol. 4, no. 3, Dec. 2024, pp. 177-90.

#FanStudies

journals.tplondon.com/jp/article/v...
We Have Never Been Acafans: Notes Towards a Posthumanist Approach to Media Fandom | Journal of Posthumanism
journals.tplondon.com
December 22, 2024 at 10:10 AM
It baffles me that academics are doing this unpaid labor for them!! I've been chatting with @effietheant.bsky.social about how to create a pipeline for acafans to publish on the new @fansplaining.bsky.social—we can't pay massive rates, mind you, but of course we'll pay. What kind of org wouldn't? 🫠
April 17, 2026 at 5:50 PM
We need a name, like the acafans
October 19, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Fan studies and Acafans etc bsky.app/profile/shan...
I did the thing! #FanStudies scholars let me know if you'd like to be added (or removed). I started with some scholars I know personally, some I've been following, some new followers and some relevant organizations. #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter @academic-chatter.bsky.social

go.bsky.app/C73J94T
November 10, 2024 at 11:29 AM
the same francesca coppa who is white and one of the best known and platformed acafans in the field, while her scholarship primarily focuses on white fans & characters? that francesca coppa needed to be in an issue on centering black fans? wow
December 17, 2024 at 2:23 AM
I'm also v. selective about the fannish blogs I follow back. Preference is for fans of color & acafans who embrace thoughtful critique rather than valorization of fandom At Large. But I won't follow if there's a lot of stuff about fandoms I'm not in or a list of fandoms/ships that I actively avoid.
January 8, 2025 at 5:34 PM
I could rec a LONG list of acafans that focus on fic! I'd point towards @mariakalberto.bsky.social & @effietheant.bsky.social—two of the academics running @fsnnorthamerica.bsky.social who've been really helpful in getting me to specific scholars' specializations when I've needed comments recently.
December 13, 2024 at 5:04 PM
Acafans unite
September 9, 2023 at 12:14 PM
…including other black women, who shared varied perspectives on the role of acafans in critiquing fan practices, the perceived denigration of rpf fans who ship scandal star kerry washington with the actor playing fitz, & how olivia pope’s blackness is or isn't portrayed
December 19, 2024 at 12:04 AM
another really interesting part is when pow looks at the role that acafans play in fandom and describes the extremely valid distrust that black women fans have in academic analysis of their fan practices
December 19, 2024 at 12:04 AM
Honestly, this. Already the idea of there being a One True Site where everything stays long term is so unusual historically....

(Also side-eyeing contemporary acafans with whole research articles acting like AO3 is ALL of fic fandom when other pretty big and different communities exist even now.)
August 21, 2025 at 8:41 PM
for folks not familiar with fan studies, auto- & self-ethnography are often valuable tools for acafans to interrogate their own practices as simultaneous scholars & fans. pow situates herself as a black woman big name fan in scandal fandom
December 19, 2024 at 12:04 AM
Here's something for #JohnKeats acafans from Małgosia Łuczyńska-Hołdys 👇
qaqv.ia.uw.edu.pl/john-keats-a...
QAQV: John Keats at Hampstead
For lovers of Romantic poetry, Hampstead is the place rich in associations with one poet particularly – John Keats, who spent there three years of his short life (Keats died at 25).
qaqv.ia.uw.edu.pl
June 9, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Ooh this is making me want to talk about it on the podcast! Is there a podcast for acafans to nerd out about their stuff?
November 10, 2024 at 9:15 PM
FOLLOW POLICE as an example of purity culture

Acafans for your consideration
I legit hate the follow police way of thinking, it's self appointed moral guardian stuff and suggestive of weird parasocial relationships. Who appears on my feed just shouldn't be any kind of emotional issue for someone who ain't me. To think otherwise is either weirdly controlling or parasocial.
December 9, 2024 at 12:42 PM
I'm curious if any acafans or fan studies academics have any insights on this as I am also one of the people that have rarely if ever had any issues with new fans or "normies" running the fandom experience.
February 26, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Please stop me from pitching “We are all #AcaFans (or, it’s Still Stanning if your Celeb is 200 Years Dead“ to @emmcgirr & Nora Nachumi.
December 8, 2024 at 4:21 AM
Struck by the lack of research investigating the relationship between sport and romance, we are seeking scholars, acafans and interested individuals to build a community and forum of researchers.
idrottsforum.org/call-for-par...
Call for Participation | Forum to Connect Researchers and Acafans of Sports Romance
S struck by the lack of research investigating the relationship between sport and romance, we are seeking scholars, acafans and interested individuals to build a community and forum of researchers wit...
idrottsforum.org
February 2, 2026 at 1:44 PM