Chapter 7 Exercises

Exercise 7.1 — Racial Default Audit (Individual, 60 min)

Purpose: Make the racial default visible through systematic observation.

Instructions:

  1. Choose a fandom you are familiar with — either one of the running examples or another community you know. Gather a sample of fan art (minimum 30 pieces) from a publicly accessible platform (Tumblr, DeviantArt, Pinterest fan boards, or similar).

  2. For each piece, record: - The canonical skin tone of the character depicted - The depicted skin tone in the fan art - Whether the depiction is lighter than, equivalent to, or darker than the canonical appearance - Any other racial/ethnic markers (hair texture, facial features) and whether they have been altered

  3. Compile your data. What percentage of the sample shows lightening relative to canonical appearance? What percentage shows accurate representation? Is there a difference based on the skin tone of the canonical character — do darker-skinned characters get more or less whitewashing than lighter-skinned characters of color?

  4. Write a 400-word analysis of your findings, applying the chapter's framework.

Discussion: Share your findings with at least two classmates who studied different fandoms. Are the patterns similar across fandoms, or do they differ? What might explain the differences?

Exercise 7.2 — Pande's Framework Application (Written Analysis, 45 min)

Purpose: Apply Squee from the Margins concepts to a specific case.

Scenario: You are a South Asian fan of the MCU — you can use Priya Anand's perspective as a frame if helpful. You are attending a panel at a fan convention titled "The MCU's Diversity Problem: A Discussion." The panel includes four speakers: two white fans who believe the MCU has overcorrected toward "forced diversity," one Black fan academic who argues that representation is still inadequate, and one South Asian creator who works in adjacent media.

Task: Write a 600-word response paper that: 1. Identifies which "side" of the diversity debate you find more analytically supported, and why 2. Applies Pande's concept of "visibility without value" to at least one specific dynamic you observe in the panel description 3. Identifies what perspective is missing from the panel composition and what its absence costs the discussion 4. Reflects on your own racial position in relation to this debate and how it shapes your analysis

Exercise 7.3 — Convention Demography Research (Group Project, 90 min + research time)

Purpose: Investigate fan convention demographics empirically.

Instructions (groups of 3–4):

  1. Research the demographic composition of attendees at two different fan conventions: one large mainstream convention (San Diego Comic-Con, Dragon Con, or similar) and one K-pop concert event (BTS's MUSTER, KCON, or similar). Use available published data, press coverage, published research, or official statements.

  2. Identify what data is publicly available and what data is not. Who is counting? What categories are being used? What purposes do the demographic data serve?

  3. Research the ticket pricing, travel costs, and income required for a "typical" attendee at each event. Calculate: what percentile of household income is required to attend each event without financial strain?

  4. Compile your findings into a 5-minute presentation addressing: - What do we know about the racial composition of each convention? - What economic barriers exist, and whose demographics do they most affect? - What does the comparison between the two events reveal about how race and economics interact in fan community accessibility? - What data do we wish we had, and who should be collecting it?

Exercise 7.4 — Fan Fiction Race Analysis (Pair, 60 min)

Purpose: Apply the chapter's analysis of race in fan fiction to specific texts.

Instructions:

With a partner, read two short fan fiction pieces from Archive of Our Own that both feature the same character of color from any fandom you both know. Choose: - One piece that engages explicitly with the character's racial identity as part of the narrative - One piece that does not mention race at all ("colorblind" narration)

For each piece, analyze: 1. What does the narrative do with the character's race — center it, ignore it, work around it? 2. Is the "colorblind" approach in the second piece neutral, or does it produce specific effects? What are they? 3. Does the race-aware approach in the first piece do something that the colorblind approach cannot? What does it risk? 4. What do the authorship tags (if visible) tell you about the author's likely racial position? Does this affect your reading?

Deliverable: A 500-word comparative analysis, shared with the class.

Exercise 7.5 — K-Pop's Racial Politics: Debate Preparation (Group, 90 min)

Purpose: Engage seriously with the genuine controversy around accountability standards in K-pop fandom.

Format: Structured debate (Oxford style, 3 speakers per side, 5 minutes per speech, 2-minute responses)

Motion: "K-pop artists should be held to the same standards of racial awareness and accountability as American artists with equivalent global reach."

Preparation: Each side of six students should: 1. Research specific cases of racial controversy involving K-pop artists (examples are available in published academic and journalistic sources) 2. Develop three distinct arguments for their position 3. Anticipate the strongest objections to their position and prepare responses 4. Identify which of Mireille's or TheresaK's perspectives supports their argument and how

Post-debate reflection (individual): Write 200 words on which argument you found most persuasive and why, regardless of the side you argued.

Exercise 7.6 — Counter-Practice Design (Creative + Analytical, 45 min)

Purpose: Move from analysis to constructive response.

Scenario: You have been asked to design a moderation policy for a large fan community Discord server (1,000+ members) for a mainstream American media franchise. The server currently has no explicit policies on race-related issues, and the moderation team has observed the following: whitewashing in the art channel, "I don't see color" responses when race is mentioned, dismissal of race-focused fan readings as "political," and one incident of explicitly racist commentary that was removed but not addressed communitywide.

Task: Draft a 600-word moderation policy document that: 1. Articulates community values regarding race and representation 2. Identifies specific behaviors that violate those values 3. Proposes specific response protocols for different levels of violation 4. Addresses the "I don't see color" response specifically 5. Describes how the community will handle genuine good-faith disagreements about representation politics

Your policy should be realistic — it needs to be enforceable by volunteer moderators, readable by community members, and specific enough to apply consistently.