NEPF Promotes a Bridge Between Fanfiction Academic Studies and Fandom in Brazil

Retratos da Leitura no Brasil [1] (Portraits of Reading in Brazil), a nationwide survey carried out every four years to learn about the behavior of Brazilian readers and non-readers, has been including fanfiction as one of the activities related to reading since 2015. The inclusion of fanfiction in a study of this caliber indicates the relevance that this literary genre is gradually gaining in Brazil. Despite the presence of Brazilian fanfics on sites like Wattpad, Fanfiction.Net and Archive of Our Own, the favorite fanfic platforms are two that were made by Brazilians for Brazilians: Spirit Fanfics e Histórias (Spirit Fanfics and Stories) and Nyah!Fanfiction. The former has more than a million fanfics published and the latter, although it doesn’t provide data on the number of fanfics posted, is one of the most cited sites by Brazilian fic readers and writers on social media. Comparing the data mentioned to the international popularity of the phenomenon, the figures we have for fanfic in Brazil are still remarkable. The high number not only represents fanfic production in just one country, but also it shows that even if Brazilian society doesn’t have the habit of reading (Instituto Pró-Livro), there are many people that are invested in fanfic.

The popularization of fanfic in Brazil has led to an interest in the subject as an object of academic research, and now our country is going through the process of introducing the theme in universities. This process is proving difficult due to the traditionalist view that is very present in Brazilian academia – unlike researchers from countries such as the United States and England, Brazilian academia tends to be resistant to topics related to mass culture, which makes researching fanfic challenging. It’s within this scenario that the Fanfic Studies and Research Group (NEPF) was born. Founded in 2022 by Julia Abrahão, NEPF is one of the research centers of Word Lab, one of the branches of the Advanced Program of Contemporary Culture (PACC) in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) [2]. NEPF's main objective is to promote Brazilian research about fanfic and to promote different types of events and productions, aiming to arouse interest in academic research, and this is what the research group has been doing during the two years of its existence.

IMAGE 1: GEEK WEEK LECTURE FURRY AT PACC (OCTOBER 22, 2024)

In Brazil, NEPF is the only academic space dedicated to fanfic research, and, because of this, it has become extremely important for many graduate students and researchers around Brazil. So, readers of Pop Junctions, we're here to share all the work we’ve done at NEPF with you. From now on, you’ll be able to follow the various academic and artistic productions carried out and disseminated by the center through regular publications here. For all of us at the center, it's an honor to be here showing our work in such a prestigious and important space for Fan Studies. We hope to bring new possibilities in the field through the activities we organize. Since we started, we’ve done workshops about fic writing and fanzine, lectures about Fan Studies and fanfic, an introductory course about the field Fan Studies, and we even held a conference called Geek Week in partnership with two other research groups from Word Lab. Now, let us tell you a bit about the history of our research group.

The process of creation of NEPF was rocky at best. Due to the pandemic, Julia Abrahão, the founder and coordinator of the project, was already in her sixth semester in the English and Portuguese bachelor’s degree when she started attending classes on campus. As she got there, it was clear the Brazilian academic community were very strict and traditional, having no classes about Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, Digital Literature or any form of alternative Contemporary Literature. Her desire to study the literature that she grew up reading drove Julia to create a project that allowed her to research fanfiction. Although the idea faced some criticism and a lot of hesitation, she still managed to gather a group of students willing to work with her and try their luck to make the project go forward. That’s how they met Carlos Pires, one of the head professors of PACC and the only one willing to give them a chance. He agreed to a probation period of six months to see whether the project would take off or not. The first round of applications for the project got over 130 submissions, even students from other universities in Brazil were interested in participating.

So, the group was officially founded on May 31st of 2022 and, although it started as a project made by students for students, now it also includes teachers and bachelors. The current coordinators are Julia Abrahão, Leticia Pimenta, Ticiane Café and Natalia Seixas. They manage everything from paperwork to social media to different types of projects.

IMAGE 2: NEPF’S COORDINATORS (DECEMBER, 2024)

The Fanfic Workshop happens every other semester and it's open for students from any university. The coordinators prepare a full week of fanfiction debates, usually having one theme each day. The debates happen in the PACC Word Lab auditorium at UFRJ, open for anyone to join. Those who choose to participate beyond that can be one of three categories: FicWriter, Beta Reader or Fan Artist. The debate week occurs within the first couple of weeks of the semester, allowing 2 months for a fanfic to be written and beta read to then be sent to a fan artist for a month before being published in NEPF`s AO3 account. The students participating are set up in trios with one of each category. The fanfics and fanart created must be inspired by one of the tropes debated. The workshop tends to be recorded and later posted on YouTube for others to enjoy.

IMAGE 3: FANFIC WORKSHOP AT PACC (MAY 2023)

IMAGE 4: FANZINE WORKSHOP (OCTOBER 25, 2024)

Other workshops like the Fanzine workshop are also staples of NEPF at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, the coordinators are constantly preparing lectures, interviewing big names in the field, or researching relevant topics. NEPF is frequently bringing discussion topics relevant to the fandom community, like legal rights, the concept of literature, the non-profit agenda and others. We work to spread awareness and highlight aspects of the fanfic world that should be further discussed.

Students that decide to apply to NEPF as permanent members instead of only participating in events, can decide what type of research they wish to develop. One of the biggest projects currently in production is the Fanfiction Dictionary. It has a group of nine members working diligently to create an eBook, inspired by Fanlore and Angelfire, that contain over two hundred terms currently used by the fandom community.

For those university students and researchers who want to learn more about Fan Studies, but aren’t ready to commit to research yet, there is the Fan Studies and Fanfiction Study Group. Once a month, they hold an online meeting to discuss a text previously chosen by a poll. Those discussions are supposed to not only create a space to debate about Fan Studies topics, but also help the participants to better understand the texts as many of them aren’t fluent in English and struggle with it. The Study Group was born because of the Introduction to Fan Studies and Fanfiction course given by the coordinator Natalia. Some students from the course requested an activity that would give continuity to the work they started in the course, so that’s how the group came to be.

IMAGE 5: STUDY GROUP ONLINE MEETING (NOVEMBER 7, 2024)

NEPF is dedicated to social work, the project Fanfic in Schools takes fanfic and fanzine workshops to different schools in Rio de Janeiro, mostly attended by lower income students. The idea comes from the premise that fanfiction as a work of creative writing can not only help expand one's imagination, but also help significantly in the process of learning the mother language and second language acquisition. Soon, you’ll have the opportunity to know more about this project as we’ll release a book about it in a few months.

The group has become a point of reference for other institutions, receiving praise for its determination to spread contemporary culture in the academic field. Julia, Leticia, Natalia and Ticiane are incredibly dedicated leaders devoted to not only the quality of their work but also to the longevity of the project. While Brazil oftentimes gets left behind academic discourse, it’s project like this that take a step forward in bringing the contemporary art to the classroom. The past may be important, but one shouldn’t focus only on what has already happened. It’s important to observe and study what is happening right now too. Why wait until it becomes obsolete?

This text was produced by NEPF and further information can be found in social media like Instagram and Tumblr. NEPF has an AO3 - Archive of Our Own account available to read fanfics created and beta read by Brazilian students on Fanfic Workshops. Stay tuned for NEP’s future projects.

Works Cited

Instituto Pró-Livro. “Retratos da Leitura no Brasil.” Instituto Pró-Livro, Mar. 2016, p. 104, www.prolivro.org.br/pesquisas-retratos-da-leitura/as-pesquisas-2/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

“Latin America Rankings.” Times Higher Education (THE), 29 Oct. 2024, www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/latin-america-university-rankings. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

“Nyah! Fanfiction.” Fanfiction.com.br, fanfiction.com.br/.

Spirit Tecnologia LTDA. “Spirit Fanfiction and Stories.” Google.com, 2021, play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.socialspirit.android. Accessed 24 Nov. 2024.

Notes

[1] Retratos da Leitura is considered the most comprehensive survey to measure the behavior of Brazilian readers, in 2024 5,504 people were interviewed during home visits in 208 municipalities.

[2] UFRJ is one of the most prestigious universities in Brazil, ranking 3rd in the Times Higher Education ranking of the best universities in Latin America.