Project basics

[unjapanologist]

Short version

Most content on this site is related to my PhD research at the Japanese Studies unit of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, begun at the end of 2008. The basic aim of the project is to conduct a comparison of narrative and visual elements occurring in Japanese and English-language fanwork based on the same original work, 'Harry Potter'. Specifically, this calls for the creation of a theoretical framework specifically designed for the cross-cultural comparison of fanworks, the collection of data on narrative and visual elements in a large number of dōjinshi (amateur manga) and fanfic samples, and an analysis of these data within the abovementioned theoretical framework by means of open publication of the data and online discussions with fan authors and scholars. Any and all comments are immensely appreciated.

The menu called 'research data' on the right links to the draft of the thesis text, the bibliography, data sets used to compare elements from dojinshi and fanfics, and other research-related data. I'm publishing these data while they are still incomplete in the spirit of open notebook science.

Long version in academese

Research into fan communities and the media they produce (fanwork) is no longer a rarity in European and American academia. Similar sociological and literary inquiry into the activities of Japanese fan communities has remained limited up to now, certainly in English-language scholarship. Japanese fans' chief medium of expression, the amateur manga (Japanese comics) called dōjinshi, which feature characters from commercial titles, have enjoyed very little scholarly attention. Research into dōjinshi has focused mainly on their legal status, not their contents. For this reason dōjinshi remain a blind spot both in fan studies and manga studies, in spite of their importance for these fields as a medium of amateur manga expression online and in print.

This project unlocks dōjinshi for research by manga and fan studies scholars by constructing a theoretical framework specifically suited to the cross-cultural comparison of fanwork, comparing narrative and visual elements in dōjinshi to elements with a similar function in English-language fanwork (fan fiction and fan art), and establishing the position of dōjinshi as a medium within Japan's contemporary system of cultural production through analysis of the data within the aforementioned theoretical framework.

Amateur media based on commercially published media such as films, television programs, books or comics are becoming an increasingly important part of the informal entertainment economy in Japan and in other parts of the world. The Japanese market for amateur media, and in particular the well-developed economy centering on dōjinshi, is often cited by non-Japanese researchers of fanwork as a potential model for a global entertainment industry that struggles to adapt to technological developments that allow consumers to easily copy and share media. In spite of the growing volume and market value of amateur work such as dōjinshi, however, policymakers in Japan or in the West do not seem sufficiently aware of the productive role that amateur derivative media can play in global and local cultural production.

The research has three concrete goals:

• The construction of a theoretical framework specifically suited to the cross-cultural comparison of data on Japanese- and English-language amateur media.
• The collection and interpretation of large amounts of these data within the aforementioned theoretical framework, in order to identify the function of dōjinshi and other amateur media within Japan's contemporary system of cultural production.
• Formulating recommendations on how amateur media might succesfully be protected and integrated into the system of cultural production, first and foremost in Japan, but with an eye on the situation in other countries.

An analysis of the ways Japanese and English-speaking fan authors differ in their interpretation of a single source text is feasible when conducted within an appropriate custom-made theoretical framework for cross-cultural study of fanwork. As an added benefit, this research will result in extensive amounts of data about dōjinshi useful for further research beyond this project.

The project has been underway since November 2008. During past one year and a half, I constructed the theoretical framework for my research, did a pilot test of my methodology, and selected 100 dojinshi and 100 fan fiction samples for analysis. I have selected narrative and visual elements to be analysed in the samples and have begun data input concerning the narrative elements. I have presented and published on the influence of copyright legislation and authorship concepts on the position of amateur manga within cultural studies research, and on appropriate theoretical frameworks for the cross-cultural comparison of Japanese with English-language fanwork. A book chapter that contrasts Western and Japanese theories on the position of amateur works in the broader system of cultural production is currently in pre-publication, and scholarly papers on the visual language of manga and how the visual language of manga influences Western animation are planned.

By the end of 2010, I will have completed construction of my theoretical framework and input of the basic data about my samples. The second half of the research project will focus on intensive processing of and interpretation of the data. From 2011 on, I will closely study::

• Japanese intellectual property law, in particular copyright legislation, in order to understand the ways it restricts or encourages particular aspects of amateur cultural production, and how it is determined by international copyright legislation.
• The Japanese content industry, and cultural policy related to that content industry. In order to examine the particularities of amateur cultural production in Japan, I will study the basics of the Japanese content industry, paying particular attention to the function of amateur manga within the manga industry. I will also consider how cultural policy in Japan encourages and hinders amateur cultural production.
• Several other topics that are relevant to my analysis but that I plan to spend less time on, such as the issue of gender in Japan's system of cultural production, other topics related to the demographics of Japanese fan authors, and the role of technology in shaping amateur cultural production.

Apart from studying the abovementioned topics, I'm preparing to carry out several practical projects necessary for the completion of my project, such as fieldwork centering on the Japanese system of amateur cultural production and participation as a volunteer in several manga- and fanwork- related academic projects (details to follow).

This is a radically interdisciplinary project which makes use of theories from literature and media studies in order to examine an informal economic system, with the use of digital scholarly tools. As a PhD student working in the Japanese Studies research unit at the Catholic University of Leuven, I have learned the advantages and pitfalls of a broad interdisciplinary approach, and the importance of working within the digital humanities in order to make the research as relevant and interesting as possible. By using ICT to disseminate my results as widely as possible in several languages, solliciting input from Japanese and English-language creators themselves as well as numerous scholars, and working in an interdisciplinary fashion throughout the whole research project, I hope to produce results that are not only intelligible and of interest to scholars from several fields, but also practically applicable for amateur creators and policymakers in Japan and elsewhere.