Opening Doors: African Fan Personas and the Growth of Fan Studies Perspectives

Traditionally, political affiliation has proven to be one of the most fruitful mechanisms to create division and derision amongst the voting masses. So polarising is the topic of politics that it has coined its own phrase – political divide. Drawing from insights in fan studies, this article explores toxic fan practices within political fandom, as highlighted by Petersen et al. (2023) and Le Clue (2024). It examines the participation and practices of online users/fans within South African politics by focusing on the use of #voestsekanc via X (formerly Twitter) as a case study.In the constantly evolving landscapes of online communities, fan studies provides a lens to comprehend the complexity of participation and engagement, which can both empower and disempower individuals (Pearson 2010, p. 84). Despite this level of agency, the representation of African voices in fan studies is severely limited, which excludes the possibility of a comprehensive understanding of online dynamics within the African context. Therefore, this paper expands the scope of fan studies beyond Western perspectives and contributes to a more diverse scholarly discourse within this field of study

The role of gamification in fostering inclusivity for Vietnamese adult EFL learners in continued education

As adult learners may encounter various challenges and constraints in continued education, it is important to maintain their engagement and resilience in their academic pursuit. This article explores the role of gamification in fostering inclusivity for Vietnamese adult learners undertaking a second degree program in English linguistics. Drawing on a narrative frame and semi-structured interviews with nine professionals aged 22-47, the present study examined the impacts of incorporating gamified elements into an English grammar course. The findings highlighted that gamification effectively catered to the diverse learning needs and styles of adult learners, enhancing their confidence, engagement, and motivation while reducing anxiety. The collaborative nature of gamified activities promoted social connections and a community of practice. However, some learners experienced certain challenges in gamified environments concerning technical issues and their unfamiliarity with platform functionality. This study presents important implications for teachers and curriculum developers in employing gamification to provide a more inclusive and engaging environment for adult learners

To what extent do Australian universities offer dedicated units to prepare pre-service teachers to support EAL/D learners?

Framed by social justice perspectives, in this article, we present our findings from an audit of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) degrees offered by Australian universities. The purpose is to establish which degrees (and universities) offered dedicated English as an Additional Language and/or Dialect (EAL/D) units that explicitly and solely focus on EAL/D learning and teaching, as core units or elective units, or as a specialisation for secondary ITE courses. To do this, we analysed the publicly available unit titles and descriptions on university websites for 37 Australian universities, representing 215 undergraduate and postgraduate ITE degrees in early childhood, primary and secondary education offered in 2024 and the beginning of 2025. The data were categorised using an EAL/D unit identification tool that we developed. Our findings show that while some universities are preparing teachers to support the EAL/D learners in their classrooms, many are not. This is tied to the accreditation process for ITE degrees and the role that the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) teacher standards play. Given the clear need, this lack of recognition and failure to adequately allocate resources towards meeting the needs of EAL/D learners is a social justice issue, and we end with a plea for change in this area

Developing countries don’t need saving: They may need support

This article challenges the paternalistic mindset often embedded in international development discourse, arguing that developing countries require respectful support rather than saving. Drawing on the author’s personal experiences in Eswatini and other contexts, alongside scholarly insights, it explores the complex realities faced by local communities and highlights the transformative role of education in fostering sustainable development that goes beyond the saving mentality. Central to this argument is the cultivation of intercultural competence and critical thinking in both developing and developed contexts. Education can bridge cultural divides, promote empathy, and empower communities to pursue change while maintaining autonomy. The paper contends that English language teaching, beyond its linguistic goals, holds significant potential to advance these aims by facilitating dialogue, reshaping attitudes, and encouraging context-sensitive perspectives. To enable such transformative practice, educators must engage with authentic voices both inside and outside the classroom and be supported with appropriate resources and training

Microcredential learners need quality careers and employability support: Provocation

Providers, industry, and governments have embraced microcredentialing as a solution to the volatility and velocity of changes in labour markets, workplace competencies, and the needs of the 21st century lifelong learner (Oliver, 2019). However, microcredentials do not, in and of themselves, guarantee career or employment success. Seeking a microcredential is one adaptive career behaviour that people might enact in pursuit of their career goals (Lent & Brown, 2013). Similarly, holding a microcredential is one form of employability capital that people might highlight when seeking employment (Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020)

The effects of deductive, inductive, and a combination of both types of grammar instruction in pre-sessional classes in higher education

The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ grammar performance and attitudes toward inductive and deductive approaches to teaching grammar in English. A mixed-method study in higher education tested the effectiveness of inductive, deductive, and a combination of both approaches on student performance on grammar tests using eight grammatical structures. To collect data, a quasi-experimental control group pretest-posttest design was used, which included interviews, observations, questionnaires, and diaries. As indicated by the results, there were significant differences between the grammar performances of the different groups in favour of the deductive approach. Students’ grammar performance was also slightly improved when deductive grammar instruction was used or when both types were combined for university L2 students. Also, the study suggested using inductive instruction with simpler grammatical structures and deductive instruction with more complex grammatical structures. As a result, the study highlights the importance of practicing both types of instruction

A Peek at Cesuo as Nonhuman Online Fan Persona on Weibo

As media platforms expand, fan communities reshape both the industry and the ways to interact. Cesuo [厕所, toilet], unlike algorithmic social bots, is user-operated: real individuals enforce norms, moderate content, and coordinate discourse—while mimicking bot-like behaviour. This distinctive form of information exchange in Chinese internet culture plays a dual role in fandom, functioning as both an organisational tool and a mechanism of identity regulation. As a fan NHOP, Cesuo represents a digital persona decoupled from individual identity, enabling collective performance through personal accounts. This study identifies key traits of fan NHOPs in Cesuo: rulemaking, anonymity, use of fan-specific slang and memes, and emotional engagement via fan paratexts. Drawing on qualitative analysis of two representative Cesuo accounts, the research examines their construction, operation, and embedded power structures. By engaging with and extending the NHOP framework, it argues that Cesuo enables fans to forgo individual identity in favour of shared persona, fostering emotional resonance and a sense of belonging. Though it may appear as a single bot-like entity, Cesuo is a collaborative creation

The Girl’s Body, Climate, and Neoliberalism in Weathering with You

Set in an eternally raining Tokyo and in a time when the climate has changed permanently, the anime film Weathering with You (2019) tells the story about a teenage girl possessing the magical ability to clear the sky and bring sunshine back to a part of the city for a short period of time through prayers. This form of power is later employed by the young protagonists to run a “sunshine girl” service in the city characterised by the neoliberal market. The first half of the film gives sentimental values to the service; however, as the plot unfolds, the overuse of the magical power gradually results in the bodily sacrifice of the girl protagonist. This article makes the case that Weathering with You makes visible how girls’ bodily sacrifice is entangled with humans’ mistreatment of the environment. Engaging with ecofeminist philosophy, Stacy Alaimo’s term of trans-corporeality, and economic geography, this article argues that the film cautions against manipulation of nature and girls’ bodily labour within the ideological framework of neoliberalism. The “sunshine girl” service therefore offers a dark model that illuminates what it means to be a girl (or human) living in the Anthropocene against the backdrop of masculinist desires to master the natural world.

Occupy Conversations — Talking Portraits (2013/15)

This ‘work is based around a series of remediations – paintings reanimated through film; a dialogue recontextualised through two paintings; a film remade through a montage of images. Translating content through media in this way re-materialises and radicalizes these works. When the seemingly lighthearted dialogue between Sigrid Thorton and Brian Dennehy in The Man From Snowy River II is decontextualized we notice their topic of discussion is not only strangely to secure pastoral land, but more ominously the commodification of the female body. Bishop offers a second lens through which to view this exchange when he videos a couple in the same poses as Thomas Bock’s paintings’ Manalargenna (1837) and Eliza Langhorne (1849) rehearsing the dialogue. Translated to this medium the dialogue is sutured to a history of violent dispossession – a far cry from the romantic notion of pioneering Australia envisioned through the film’.[1]There is an occupation at play here, of the body as a medium for an other’s ideologies, only they are confused in the merging of technologies and subjectivities. These two can only ever rehearse their identities. [1] Luciana Pangrazio, ‘Flatpak Australia’, catalogue essay in Cameron Bishop: Heteromania, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, 2013

Real Person Fanfiction and the Construction of the (Un)Ethical Fan

Real person fanfiction (RPF) has a tumultuous history within academia and fandom. Though RPF remains a staple of fandom, the fans that write and read it are often moralised for their alleged misunderstanding of what constitutes a fictional character. Consequently, much of RPF studies focuses on fans’ construction of the celebrity persona. Though important, this focus on celebrity persona is prioritised over the role that RPF plays in constructing the persona of the (un)ethical fan. The act of reading, writing, and discussing RPF is not just about constructing the celebrity persona—it is equally, and always, concerned with constructing and performing the fannish persona, particularly along moral lines. This article uses the Taskmaster fandom as a case study, as the British comedy panel show—whose presenters enact a dominant/submissive dynamic via their Taskmaster personas—blurs the boundary between fiction and reality both on and off the show, making its fannish spaces ripe with discussion of fan ethicality, the construction of (un)ethical celebrity, and fan persona. Simultaneously, Taskmaster’s presenters’ explicit discussion of RPF written about them, and the response of the fandom to this discussion, shines light on how fans view their own moral positionality and how they construct (un)ethical fan personas. In investigating this fandom’s performance of what they call “ethical RPF”, this article seeks to theorise the construction of an (un)ethical fan persona as innately intertwined with RPF as a practice and fans’ treatment of it as moral performance