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Community and Gift Economy in Harry Potter Fanfiction

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Community and Gift Economy in Harry Potter Fanfiction Minnesota State University, Mankato Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato All Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects Projects 2020 Comments, Gifts and Kudos: Community and Gift Economy in Harry Potter Fanfiction Deanna Almquist Minnesota State University, Mankato Follow this and additional works at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Almquist, D. (2020). Comments, gifts and kudos: Community and gift economy in Harry Potter fanfiction [Master's thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/963/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects at Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. COMMENTS, GIFTS AND KUDOS: COMMUNITY AND GIFT ECONOMY IN HARRY POTTER FANFICTION By Deanna Almquist A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science In Applied Anthropology Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota May 2020 i November 4, 2019 Comments, Gifts and Kudos: Community and Gift Economy in Harry Potter Fanfiction Deanna Almquist This thesis has been examined and approved by the following members of the student’s committee. Dr. Rhonda Dass___________________ Advisor Dr. Susan Schalge__________________ Committee Member Dr. Chelsea Mead__________________ Committee Member ii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support and patience of many faculty and staff members at Minnesota State University Mankato. Primarily Dr. Rhonda Dass, as well as my committee Dr. Susan Schalge and Dr. Chelsea Mead, and the rest of the anthropology department. Your time and on-going support have been invaluable. I also want to thank Rachel Walden who has been my partner in crime during both undergraduate studies and graduate studies, your support has meant everything. Also, Jared Schmidt and Ryan Walker, you two have been pillars of support and I appreciate all you have done for me. Lastly, to the Harry Potter Fanfiction Community, your support has allowed me to gain even more appreciation for the fanfiction community. Without your willingness, I would not have been able to complete my work. iii Abstract Comments, Gifts and Kudos: Community and Gift Economy in Harry Potter Fanfiction Deanna Almquist Master of Science, Applied Anthropology Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota May 2020 This research explores the Harry Potter fanfiction community and how fanfiction readers and authors interact in a virtual space. The primary interest is how the virtual community partakes in gift economy and how they motivate each other to produce fanworks in the form of fanfiction, as well as personal motivations that authors carry. Fanfiction participants from multiple social media groups dedicated to Harry Potter fanfiction volunteered to participate in a survey. The survey consisted of qualitative and quantitative questions, and the data was collected, and qualitative responses coded to determine commonalities and differences. The findings of this research show that the Harry Potter fanfiction community is motivated to provide feedback and gifts to authors in the form of kudos, comments and fanworks. Further, fanfiction authors provide gifts of their own to specific followers or editors in the form of dedicated fanfictions. iv Table of Contents Chapter I: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Chapter II: A Brief History of Fanfiction....................................................................... 5 Rise of the Internet .......................................................................................................... 6 Chapter III: The Academics of Fanfiction ..................................................................... 9 The Online Community ................................................................................................. 10 Gift Economy ................................................................................................................ 13 Fandom Studies ............................................................................................................. 16 Chapter IV: Research Design and Methods ................................................................. 19 The Survey .................................................................................................................... 20 The Harry Potter Community ........................................................................................ 22 Finding the Online Community ..................................................................................... 23 Virtual Ethnography ...................................................................................................... 26 Data Analysis and Coding ............................................................................................. 28 Chapter V: Fanfiction Participation ............................................................................. 31 Country Demographics ................................................................................................. 31 Survey Participants ........................................................................................................ 34 Participation in Fanfiction ............................................................................................. 38 Commenting .............................................................................................................. 40 Creator of Prompts/Challenges .................................................................................. 40 Prompt Response/Challenges .................................................................................... 41 Archiving ................................................................................................................... 42 Gifts ........................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter VI: The Reader ................................................................................................ 47 Reader Feedback ........................................................................................................... 47 Kudos ......................................................................................................................... 49 Comments .................................................................................................................. 49 Sharing Fanfiction ..................................................................................................... 50 Favoriting Fanfiction ................................................................................................. 51 v Translating Fanfiction................................................................................................ 52 Fanworks ................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter VII: The Author ............................................................................................... 54 Fanfiction Story Types .................................................................................................. 54 Gift Stories ................................................................................................................. 55 Author Motivations ....................................................................................................... 56 Motivated by the Community .................................................................................... 58 Story Completion ....................................................................................................... 59 Abandoning a Story ................................................................................................... 61 Story Inspiration ........................................................................................................ 62 Story Length .............................................................................................................. 64 Chapter VIII: Conclusion .............................................................................................. 67 Work Cited ...................................................................................................................... 71 Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 75 vi Appendices Appendix A - Reader Prompted Actions in Fanfiction Codebook ................................... 75 Appendix B - How Should Readers Show Appreciation to Authors Codebook .............. 76 Appendix C - Source of Author Motivations Codebook .................................................. 77 Appendix D - Reason for Abandoning a Story Codebook ............................................... 78 Appendix E - Sources of Inspiration in Fanfiction
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