Scholars of MSCSI, Unite!

There's a book on Gaiman and Jospeh Campbell, Riv, have you read that? I've skimmed through it but it looks like it'd be interesting.

Your research sounds fascinating katshimmy! Will your PhD be looking at similar themes?

I did my BA in Religious Studies and English, and my MA in the Teaching and Practice of Creative Writing. One of the things that interested me on the MA was writing therapy and depression (the other website/board I run supports people dealing with depression, self harm, eating disorders, etc. and we use writing as a therapeutic tool on there) so I was considering a PhD looking at that. I was also considering a PhD looking at body modification and spirituality but I didn't hear back from the university so I ended up going for the one I'm doing now on The X-Files fanfic and gender.

My main three interests/areas in this field then (broadly falling under cultural studies) are: fan studies; gender; new media. Within that I'm interested in fan fiction/fan production; participatory culture; digital/social media and fandom; activism; gender in science fiction and fantasy (including comics in that); fan labour and exploitation. I've written about Harry Potter[/] and participatory culture; erotic adaptations of The X-Files; gender in Buffy and Twilight; anti-fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and slash fic.

I have very wide-randing interests!

I've written about some stuff on my blog and some of my publications are on my academia.edu page. I'm always happy to talk about what I'm working on if so anyone wants to know more just message me or reply here.

I'm currently studying Theology and Religious Studies. I pretty much like every area of it but in particular I'm interested in Indigenous Religions (especially Shamanism), environmental ethics, the science and religion debate, and animal theology.

My favorite textbook is 'Religions in the modern world: traditions and transformations' as it covers so many different religions in such great detail. The diversity of different religions on the plant never fails to amaze me!.

In terms of theorists that inspire me, I really like Andrew Linzey's work on Animal Theology and stuff by Jonathan Sacks.

My other areas of interest are philosophy (links in quite nicely with theology) and I'm starting to read more and more about science at the moment in order to answer a question I've been thinking about which is whether time is an objective or subjective concept

I join Rhi as a non-academic guy ^^" In fact after High school I did two years of med school, then a three years degree in genetics/biochemistry, but I didn't feel like going into research. So instead I found work as a self-taught programmer. (I had studied programming by myself with the goal to enter bioinformatics lab and discovered with surprise that programming was my thing. )
But I'm still interested by, hu, almost everything, so, I don't think I have the knowledge (or the english skills ^^' ) to participate in anything, but I'd be pleased to read your exchanges and learn from them *-*

Aw, thanks Beth !
My favourite kind of programming is web programming, there are a lot of challenges in the field (distributed code, stacks of different languages to be used simultaneously, asynchronism, concurrency, scaling, big data... ) and that's very interesting.
Currently, I'm working in a company which makes software for other companies, so I can work on really different things (two weeks ago I was developing demos on a tactile table to be shown at an exhibition... Now I'm on a three-month project to make a complete online business solution for a company which sells expensive swimsuits xD )
In term of languages, I'm deeply convinced that a developer should be able to switch easily, and just use the one which is required for the job. My primary is C#, but I can use several, and I'm constantly learning new ones with different paradigms.
Hu, whatever the context, I'm kind of addicted to learning ^^'

Rhi and Fenn, you don't need to be actively engaged at a college or University to be an academic. You have to follow a curiosity until it has taught you something, find another, and repeat. You are more than welcome x

Katshimmy, the first thing I thought of when I read your earlier post was Se7en, and how it uses Paradise Lost. I definitely want a rad of this at some point, it sounds fascinating.

Cheers, all! So, with regards to my background--I did a BA majoring in American Studies and minoring in Film Studies, and then my MA (combination taught/practical) in factual programming/documentary film and television, with a filmed dissertation on women's experiences in science fiction fandom.

My academic interests are, uh, varied. It could probably be best summed up as cultural studies in a huge huge way, along with media production and a bit of film/television studies (though I must confess I don't get on super-well with film theory as a subject), but I'm also ridiculously keen on 20th century US history, and with cultural studies I get to dabble in history and literature and a bit of sociology and anthropology and film studies all at once.

Jack of all trades, master of none, that's the cultural studies academic.

More specifically, I'm interested in the intersections of fandom as subculture and social media, science fiction as cultural lens, and the concept of historical representation in screen media.

And I have no training in it save an intro course but I am keen on linguistics as well, particularly medieval British languages and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (interesting, despite how it's been set aside in academia, language as framing devices plays out constantly in today's social justice circles).

I wish I had access to an academic library, so I could get into reading some more texts. WOE.