The Critical Fan Toolkit
The Critical Fan Toolkit (CFT) traces, defines, and celebrates critical fan practices. Critical fans are fans who challenge harmful systems of power — such as white supremacy, misogyny, heteronormativity, homophobia, and ableism — in their everyday fan engagements.
This toolkit is a collection of resources designed for fans, teachers, and researchers who are invested in integrating critical fan practices into their online and in-person fan interactions, their teaching, and research. These resources include:
- Fandom by Numbers: interactive data from fanfictions published on AO3,
- Interviews: interviews of critical fans from either TLOK or GOT fandoms,
- Case Studies: longer posts about critical fanfiction practices,
- Teaching Materials: for both inside and outside classroom settings.
Choose Your Path
The CFT is a resource for teachers, scholars, and fans alike. These paths are a first step to guide your experience based on how you identify. These identities are not necessarily exclusive, but each choice gives you a path to navigating this toolkit based on what you may be interested in. You may be a scholar, teacher, and fan! Even if you do not directly identify with one of these positions, you may still find some paths relevant.
Accessibility Statement
This webpage was built using HTML-5 and accessibility guidelines for screen readers. Some visualizations are not screen-reader friendly, so I have paired these with descriptions to ensure those using screen readers can still engage with the content. All images include alt-text and all videos include captions. If you come across a bug or something inaccessible, please use the guestbook to let me know!