What happens when these cafes shut down and their archival records disappear and functions cease? #FanLIS2025

These K cafe spaces tend to demonstrate uncompensated feminized fan labor while cafe proprietors tend to be men who may not be fans themselves. #FanLIS2025

Cafes decorated with standees and posters provide a historical record of the life cycle of a media text. #FanLIS2025

Fans’ notes and art posted in cafes tend to be dated and signed, creating an informal archive, #FanLIS2025

Some cafes deliberately center the fan experiences as part of their marketing while others don’t.

Das is comparing cafes in Delhi, Kolkata, and Siliguri. #FanLIS2025

Das’s RQ: “Do fandom-centered cafe systems exhibit characteristics of alternate, informal memory institutions?” as opposed to formal, traditional memory institutions like libraries and archives #FanLIS2025

Das is investigating cafes as a method of cross-cultural fandom for Indian fans of Korean entertainment. #FanLIS2025

First up, Susrita Das with Food, fan art, and preserving a moment in time: a case study of the fandom-themed cafe ecosystem as alternative memory institution. #FanLIS2025

Ludi Price is introducing the fifth FanLIS Symposium. #FanLIS2025 doesn’t have a particular theme. Ludi asks how are things different in FanLIS now than five years ago? (A note on names and titles: I’m using first names for people I know personally, titles/last names for people I don’t.)