Fans in the Gutter: People of Color in Comics Fandom
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Fan Studies
Comic Fandom
Media Fandom
Race
Ethnicity
Stigma Theory
Matter out of Place
Social and Cultural Anthropology
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Abstract
Fandom and so called “geek culture” have often been characterized as a haven for the marginalized, a place where those who fit in nowhere else have been able to form communities around a shared appreciation of media. I am interested in understanding the experiences of people of color in comic book fandom and how they differ from the experiences of white comic fans. I did a pilot study in Los Angeles in the summer of 2018. I conducted five semi structured interviews of Los Angeles area comic book fans who identified as people of color. This data was augmented by data from an online survey of 31 self-identified comic fans over eighteen of any ethnicity which sought to identify how fans reacted to the idea of racial diversity among comic book characters, and in what contexts most fan interactions took place.