12:20-12:40: “Wrestling Zine Culture and Material Fandom”
Franny Howes is an Associate Professor of Communication at Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls.
A zine is a self-published or independently published pamphlet, magazine, or small book. They can be about anything, though some common genres are fandom, music, autobiography, politics, and art. But wrestling has a very active zine culture. In this presentation, I will explore the range of contemporary wrestling zines, discuss some of their historical antecedents in the wrestling fandom, and theorize how they remain a meaningful means of engaging in fandom even in a digital era. I will also demonstrate the construction of one common type of zine, an eight-page mini booklet folded from a single sheet of paper.