[I came a long way in Project 3 as prefaced by this wild proposal].
Emma Hudson
Dr. King
ENGL 494
19 October 2020
Research and Presentation Project: Proposal
To be transparent, I do not have a set project idea in mind and wish I did. Instead, I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head and once I solidify which one would work best, then I will have a proper proposal ready in finalizing the project. For now, my realm of knowledge and interests include: (1) the asexual spectrum/ how it mingles in the LGBTQIA+ community, (2) fanfiction as a fandom cultural practice, and if I recall correctly, I remember talking about ways in which (3) Honey Magazine could work into this project.
For the asexual spectrum, I have identified as asexual since high school, but not so much in a form of coming out because I have looked into whether asexuality is accepted in the greater realm of the LGBT+ community, but it’s in the “+” which could signify it’s a sexuality “category” on the fringes of the community. I’ve seen arguments that agree to disagree that asexuality is meant to be associated with the LGBT+ community or not. I think in this capacity that a conference paper or teaching lesson would suit this cultural rhetoric. Another option would be an artistic demonstration of how the asexuality spectrum functions because the baseline is not feeling sexual attraction, then various identities within the spectrum can be pinpointed based on colors associated with the labels. Essentially, asexuality is like a grey rainbow and there are numerous tones to consider.
Another idea I have thought about is the rise of fanfiction. There is an interesting history involved with the practice and I think fanfiction tends to be overlooked because it’s not published through an “official” publisher. However, I think fanfiction is becoming a strong cultural practice in our time because it’s how people engage with stories and fandoms they enjoy. I thought of this idea when reflecting on my past BTS research and I have knowledge on the fanfiction community, but have not done a project on the practice. I think fanfiction has a wide variety of tastes because it can reach a wide audience. Some enjoy the concept for purposes that are more sexual (i.e. 50 Shades of Grey was a Twilight fanfic) and others who love to see a full-blown story (i.e. Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series, got her start writing Harry Potter fanfic). I could definitely concentrate on how fanfiction has grown through the development of fanfiction platforms. For instance, I have noticed the shift from FanFiction.Net to Wattpad to Archive of Our Own and I could research why there has been an influx of developments to harbor fanfiction collections. I think fanfiction is a huge cultural phenomenon that could even date back to Dante’s Inferno, meaning there is a lot to potentially unpack. I think this idea could function well as a conference paper or teaching unit with the possibility of having an assignment to let students indulge and write fanfiction. Whenever I’m stressed, I end up writing 5,000 words for a fanfiction before writing a 1,000-word paper (weird, yes, but it’s happened).
Lastly, I recall having a conversation on how to tie Honey Magazine to cultural rhetorics. My concern with this idea is that Honey is not fully established; however, I have worked for more than a year in trying to establish Honey as a strong, feminist collective. The lens I could probably work from is how to start a new publication on a college campus and the culture behind social media promotion. I have been making graphics for Honey since December 2019, so I have observed a variety of trends of what posts work for the publication and which ones aren’t as favorable. Social media has been the most important tool, specifically Instagram has acted as a great cultural artifact for raising brand awareness. In this project, I could have a lesson plan on how to use Canva to make an informative swipe post, which could play into how future Honey Social Media Teams continue to make great social media graphics. Honestly, this is an area I worry about the most after I graduate because I have had to do too much editing on these posts and feel bad for starting from scratch on some, so I think there’s some sort of disconnect here that could use a good lesson plan that will help the team for years to come. Culturally, there’s a certain art technique that is more minimalist that appeals to wide audiences, so in terms of social media design, I think this would be fascinating to research.
Overall, I look forward to conducting this project. I hope I provided enough insight for each idea since I need help landing on one.
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