My Grandma is a Bigger Stan than Me: Generations and Fandom in Japan
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- Russell Square: College Buildings
- Room
- Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT)
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
We often tell the story of popular music through generations, where each cohort has its own tunes and ways of listening. In Japan, parents, children and grandparents often end up at the same concerts, following the same idols and lurking in similar digital spaces. What does it mean to share a fandom with someone thirty (or fifty) years younger?
This talk is based on fieldwork with Japanese music audiences since the early 2010s. Moving between popular music, virtual idols and vocal synth cultures, I look at how listeners of different ages interpret the same performers and where their readings collide. These shared fandoms, I suggest, can be spaces where generations negotiate different understandings of cultural history and national identity.
About the speaker
Dr Rafal Zaborowski is Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture at King’s College London. He researches music audiences, digital fandom and participatory media, particularly in Japan and East Asia. He is the author of Music Generations in the Digital Age: Social Practices of Listening and Idols in Japan (Amsterdam University Press, 2023). His current work explores intergenerational fandom, vocal synth cultures and sociality on digital platforms.
