FAN ENGAGEMENT, IDENTITIES, AND REPRESENTATION IN POP CULTURE

Adriana Amaral is a professor in Communication at Universidade Paulista and Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She has an interest in studying the relations and controversies between fans, pop culture influencers/creators and digital platforms. She also directs CULTPOP, a research laboratory developing approaches to the study of pop cultures. She works at the intersection of fan studies, music studies, and digital methods. She has published articles in journals such as Transformative Works & Cultures, Media and Communication, Participations, and book chapters in edited volumes such as Online Virality (2024, De Gruyter) and the forthcoming The Intellect Handbook of Popular Music Methodologies (2025, Intellect).

Simone Driessen is an assistant professor in Media & Popular Culture at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has an interest in exploring the intersections of media and popular culture, particularly why fans decide to continue or discontinue their fandom over time. She has published multiple articles and book chapters on popular culture and (music) fandom, in amongst others American Behavioral Scientist, the International Journal of Communication, Celebrity Studies, and Participations. She is one of the co-editors of an edited collection titled Participatory Culture Wars: Controversy, Conflict and Complicity in Fandom (2025, Iowa University Press).