Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 12-2009 Toward a Rhetoric of Scholar-Fandom Tanya R. Cochran Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Cochran, Tanya R., "Toward a Rhetoric of Scholar-Fandom." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2009. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/51 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. TOWARD A RHETORIC OF SCHOLAR-FANDOM by TANYA R. COCHRAN Under the Direction of Lynée Lewis Gaillet ABSTRACT Individuals who consider themselves both scholars and fans represent not only a subculture of fandom but also a subculture of academia. These liminal figures seem suspicious to many of their colleagues, yet they are particularly positioned not only to be conduits to engaged learning for students but also to transform the academy by chipping away at the stereotypes that support the symbolic walls of the Ivory Tower. Because they are growing in number and gaining influence in academia, the scholar-fans of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy) and other texts by creator Joss Whedon are one focus of this dissertation. Though Buffy academics or Whedon scholars are not the only ones of their kind (e.g., academic- fan communities have cropped up around The Simpsons, The Matrix Trilogy, and the Harry Potter franchise), they have produced more literature and are more organized than any other academic-fan community.