This week we are taking a look at Miriam Bengougam’s dissertation! Miriam is a 3rd year Geographer from Homerton, and her dissertation focuses on queer and female oriented fanfiction from the Captain America fandom.
What is your dissertation about?
When summarising my dissertation to academics I tend to talk about the broader themes of popular geopolitics, subversion of literary expectations and understanding how LGBTQIA agendas are incorporated into societal values. At its most basic level, though, my dissertation is about fanfiction.
Based on the work of Dittmer (2012), Captain America media represents the cultural ideals of the nation state of America; consequently, queer and female portrayals in fanfiction subvert the expectations of US nationalism. I aim to demonstrate that popular media’s presentations of the American ideal misaligns with fandom and broader society. With a focus on queer and female-oriented fanfiction, I am investigating how Cap’s introduction to modern American society (post-WW2) represents the writers’ personal identity and interpretation of America’s cultural values.
Why is this important?
This dissertation is all about challenging misconceptions and stereotypes: from the idea that fanfiction is only written by 13-year-old girls, to the belief that popular media is only consumed by the audience. If I’ve learnt anything from conducting this research, it’s that the audience are active agents, and their reinterpretations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are purposeful; either because they disagree with the plot or because they don’t feel represented. Fundamentally, my interviewees and survey respondents have all agreed that reading Captain America fanfiction has been defining – many of my participants have been actively involved in fanfiction for decades – they’ve learnt about queer history, found a community and reinvented Captain America to be representative of themselves. If we view fanfiction as reactive media produced by active actors, it gives us the potential to predict responses to political events and provides an avenue of study that encapsulates a broader range of society than mainstream academic research.
How did you find conducting your research remotely?
Luckily, a lot of my research was originally designed to be conducted through online venues; although, I did have to cancel my plans to visit Manchester comic-con! My dissertation was designed around using one specific archive of fanfiction (Archive of Our Own), so it was important that I learnt to navigate it as a researcher rather than a user. I found that it’s challenging to switch into an analytical mindset when exploring online sources – as you tend to absorb information quite passively – so that was difficult to navigate. However, I worked around this by making sure I downloaded sources to view in different formats (PDF, printed copies, analytical software) and kept an ongoing journal to help reframe my analysis.
What would be your advice to current second years planning their dissertation?
My best piece of advice would be to keep an ongoing list of ideas on your phone and jot down anything that ever pops into your head, review this weekly to see if your thoughts still make sense. Also, use the people around you as sounding boards: I talked to friends, flatmates and family and spent nearly 1 hour on the phone to my mum talking about Captain America.
Treat your dissertation like a date, get to know them before you commit and don’t be afraid to try out different ideas until you find the right one!
Image credits: NIFTY ART
DISCLAIMER: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR ONLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF COMPASS MAGAZINE AS A WHOLE OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY.