“Participatory culture is growing, and it is a driver for a lot of other factors of our society”

In this interview with Anne Deckbar and Laura Désirée Haas (A01), Henry Jenkins, renowned communication and media scholar and leading expert in fan and popular culture studies, discusses the development of participatory culture.
Regarding this, he points out its importance as well as its impact on various social domains, while also highlighting the significance of fan studies and fan practices in academia. Furthermore, Jenkins talks about popular culture in the digital age, the role of quantitative data and metrics for the phenomenon of the popular and emphasizes the negotiation processes between producers and fans of comic books, including toxic fandom.

Henry Jenkins is the Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California (USC). For more than a decade he was the Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Journalism from Georgia State University, followed by a master’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa. Jenkins has a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His thesis on “What Made Pistachio Nuts”: Anarchistic Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic (1989) was supervised by David Bordwell and John Fiske. Jenkins’ most important and widely cited works include: Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (1992); Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006); Spreadable Media: Creating Meaning and Value in a Networked Culture (2013) and Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: A Conversation on Youth, Learning, Commerce, and Politics (2015).

This interview offers an interesting perspective on the dynamic field of popular culture and fan studies in the digital age and provides an overview of the changes, opportunities and challenges that come along with it.

The interview was recorded on March 21, 2023, in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California (USC).

Henry Jenkins, renommierter US-amerikanischer Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaftler sowie führender Experte auf dem Gebiet der Fanforschung und der Popular Culture Studies, erörtert mit Anne Deckbar und Laura Désirée Haas aus dem Teilprojekt A01 die Entwicklung der Participatory Culture sowie ihre Bedeutung und ihren Einfluss auf verschiedene gesellschaftliche Faktoren. Er betont dabei den signifikanten Wert von Fan Studies sowie Fan-Praktiken für die Wissenschaft. Jenkins spricht in diesem Interview u. a. über populäre Kultur im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung, die Rolle von quantitativen Daten und Metriken in Verbindung mit dem Phänomen des Populären und beleuchtet die Interaktionen bzw. Aushandlungsprozesse (Negotiations) zwischen Produzent:innen und Fans von Comicheften, einschließlich des Phänomens des Toxic Fandom.

Gegenwärtig ist Henry Jenkins als Professor für Kommunikation, Journalismus, Filmkunst und Bildung an der University of Southern California (USC). Zuvor bekleidete er über mehrere Jahre die Position des Direktors und Mitbegründers des Comparative Media Studies Program am Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Jenkins erlangte seinen Bachelor-Abschluss in Politikwissenschaften und Journalismus an der Georgia State University, gefolgt von einem Master-Abschluss in Kommunikationswissenschaften an der University of Iowa. Seinen Doktortitel in Kommunikationswissenschaften erwarb er an der University of Wisconsin-Madison, mit seiner von David Bordwell und John Fiske betreuten Dissertation „What Made Pistachio Nuts“: Anarchistic Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic (1989). Zu seinen wichtigsten Werken zählen unter anderem: Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (1992); Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006); Spreadable Media: Creating Meaning and Value in a Networked Culture (2013) sowie Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: A Conversation on Youth, Learning, Commerce, and Politics (2015).

Das Interview wurde am 21. März 2023 in Los Angeles an der University of Southern California (USC) aufgezeichnet.