K-pop fandom, race and activism: Educating from within: Fan-led Education and Activism in BTS Fandom
This audio lecture describes the complexity involved in fan led activism and educating about social issues in the BTS fandom known as A.R.M.Y. While much attention has been given to the collective efforts of this fandom to raise awareness, funds, and support around social issues, less has been given to the kind of fan led educating that happens within the community. While fan led activism is not new, many are curious when it comes to A.R.M.Y because of the effort and diversity represented in the fandom. The larger goal of this project is to explore how fan led responses to social issues are organised at both the level of pubic-facing projects and educating from within the community. This speaker shares two examples of fan led attempts to organise and educate around #BLM that she documents as part of an ongoing case study. This presenter argues that we must examine the communicative practices used to teach about social issues within the fandom to more accurately reflect the complexity involved in organising for public-facing social justice-oriented work.
Dr. Candace Epps-Robertson is an assistant professor of English and Faculty Affiliate in the department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she currently holds the Jonathan M. Hess Term Professorship. Her primary research investigates the ways in which communities teach, practice, and learn what it means to be a citizen in non-school spaces. She's published in several journals on the connection between literacy and citizenship. Her first book, Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, & Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018) received the 2019 Outstanding Community Literacy Book Award. Her current research examines the BTS fandom, A.R.M., as a site for examining the complexity of transcultural social justice efforts and the literacy practices used within the community to connect fans around the world.