Jul 17 2023 70 mins
Who is your favorite superhero and why? We answer this question before exploring the impact of fandoms on social activism, gender, and how society can be reimagined to better support people with invisible disabilities. Dr. Cook discusses how her new book acts as a how-to guide to doing chaotic good within any fandom.
Tanya Cook is a sociology professor at the Community College of Aurora near Denver, Colorado. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2019, Cook was one of 26 community college faculty awarded a research grant from Mellon/ACLS to support sociological research on fandom. Her current project, Always Keep Nerd Fighting: Fandoms as Social Movements, investigates how and why fans are becoming more charitable and politically engaged. Cook’s forthcoming book, co-authored with Kaela Joseph, on how to engage in fan activism, is scheduled for publication in early 2023. Her research and writing interests include social movements, sociological theory, and popular culture. She was recently awarded the Barbara R. Walters Award from the Easter Sociological Society for her paper “‘It’s a Gift and A Curse:’ How Covid Reframed Our Understanding of Disability as Intersectional Identity.” When she’s not trying to find new ways to use popular culture and fandom to democratize the classroom, you can probably find her at Comic Con.