This thesis explores a gendered conflict in nerd culture. I sent an online survey to self-identified women nerds with a series of questions asking their opinion of the representation of women in nerd media and about their experiences within the nerd community. Seventy-five percent of respondents reported that a sexy or sexualized appearance was the most prominent aspect of women's representation in nerd media. Eighty-two percent of participants had experienced a gender-based insult when participating in nerd media. Findings suggest that harassment and representation in media is worse for women comic book and video game media and communities than in other sub-genres within the culture. More research is needed on racial representation and participation and on nerd men's experiences with gate-keeping.

Dans un contexte généralisé où les cultures générationnelles otaku et geek multiplient leurs influences autant sur le plan du contenu culturel que sur les nouveaux médias qu’elles génèrent, nous nous sommes intéressés à sa propension à pénétrer les champs des arts dont la pratique contemporaine. La convergence des médias inhérents à ces deux cultures produit de nouveaux moyens d’expression donnant naissance à plusieurs types de pratiques expérimentales. Il s’est agi pour nous d’interroger nos référents autant que notre pratique sous ce nouvel angle. Une émergence de nouveaux systèmes technologiques se démocratise et intervient de plus en plus fréquemment dans le quotidien des usagers. Sur la base de ces nouvelles connaissances se développent de nouveaux rapports aux objets à partir desquels se forment de nouveaux espaces de fiction.La thèse « Expérimentations artistiques des espaces de fiction générés par les nouveaux médias issus des cultures générationnelles otaku et geek » est transdisciplinaire. Elle mêle études étymologiques, anthropologiques et sociologiques à l’étude des arts. En plus de s'appuyer sur des études réalisées par des chercheurs, la méthodologie appliquée se fonde sur l’expérimentation des œuvres présentées qui touchent à la fois à l’art contemporain, aux livres, aux bandes dessinées, aux films, aux jeux vidéo, aux jeux à réalité alternée, etc., mais aussi à la convergence de tous ces médias. L’expérimentation par une pratique nous semble dans le domaine présenté une donnée très importante du bien-fondé de la recherche qui est basée sur l’étude d’un terrain culturel en constante évolution. / In a widespread background in which the influences of Otaku and Geek Generational Cultures have increased as regards both their cultural content and the new media created by them, we undertook to study their propensity to penetrate into the art sphere, whether within or outside contemporary art. The convergence of the media inherent to both cultures has produced new means of expression which have given rise to several types of experimental practices. In the light of these new aspects, we strove to review our referents as well as our practice. Emerging new IT systems are becoming more and more popular and they are increasingly affecting their users' daily lives. With such new items of knowledge, new relations to things have developed and they provide a foundation on which new Fantasy Realms are being built."Artistic Testings of Fantasy Realms Created by New Media derived from the Otaku and Geek Generational Cultures" is a transdisciplinary thesis. It blends art research with etymological, anthropological and sociological studies. The methodology applied relies on studies carried out by researchers and is based on the testing of the works presented which are related to contemporary art, books, comics, video games, alternate reality games etc., as well as to the convergence of all such media. As regards the domain referred to herein, we believe that testing through practising is a paramount aspect of the relevance of this thesis which is based on the study of an ever evolving cultural territory.

This thesis is a creative work of fiction in the form of one novella and four short stories. The collection is a work of humour and entertainment. “The Coin Collective” delves into the cut-throat world of cosplay, “The Dead of Waynesboro” follows Declan Mortel as her tries to create the ultimate zombie movie in true gothic fashion, “220 Torren Mill Road” is an epistolary horror story about a whack-job mother and her game-addicted son, “Dragon’s Lair Comics & Collectables” is set during a Magic the Gathering tournament and questions ‘what makes a monster?,’ and Chemical Connection explores drug and raver culture through an eclectic variety of characters. I hope the collection will speak to an entire generation of self-described and closet geeks. For those without intimate knowledge of the material, I endeavoured to exhibit, even expose, aspects of specific subcultures, shedding light on the basement dwellers who inhabit them.

This project is an analytical history of the discourse of media panics that have affected comics-like forms in the mid- to late-1800s, comic books in the mid-1900s, and comics media in 1990s and the contemporary moment. The study of these media panics shapes a theory of nerd culture in general and comics culture specifically in order to better understand the delicate and foundational dialectic that sustains a consumer identity that is paradoxical in its indulgence in and animosity towards popular culture. With its historical formation in mind, this project explores the formation of geek chic as a consumer identity that, in many ways, troubles and even threatens the status quo of nerd culture.

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The academic study of comic books - especially superhero comic books - has predominantly focused on the analysis of these books as texts, as teaching and learning resources, or on children as comic book readers. Very little has been written about adult superhero comic fans and their responses to superhero comics. This thesis explores how adult comic book readers in New Zealand engage with superhero comics. Individual interviews and group conversations, both online and face-to-face, provide insights into their responses to the comics and the characters as well as the relationships among fans. Analysis of fans’ talk about superhero comics includes their reflections on how masculinities are represented in these comics and the complex ways in which they identify with superheroes, including their alter egos. The thesis examines how superhero comic book readers present themselves in their interactions with other readers. Comics ‘geekdom’, fans’ interactions with one another and their negotiation of gendered norms of masculinity are discussed. The contrast between the fan body and the superhero body is an important theme. Readers’ discursive constitution and management of superheroes’ bodies, and their engagement with representations of superheroes are related to analyses of multiplicity in individual identities and current theories of audience reception and identification.

Through a combination of personal interviews and participant-observation in three field sites ? the Tim Miller workshop and performance of October 2010 and the student organizations Cepheid Variable and the GLBT Aggies ? I argue that manifestations of utopian desire and performance circulate within and among marginalized groups on the Texas A&M University campus, undermining the heteronormative and monolithic utopia the university attempts to present. I participated in each night of rehearsal during the Tim Miller workshop, as well as the creation and performance of my own solo autobiographical monologue as a part of the ensemble. My participant-observation in Cepheid Variable and the GLBT Aggies was concurrent, consisting of attendance at both weekly organizational meetings and outside events sponsored by the organizations over two years. I argue that the Tim Miller workshop and performance is best understood by examining the intersection of queer intimacy, utopia, and performance. I argue that processes of connection, sharing, and mutual transformation allowed it to function as an example of queer utopian performance qua performance at Texas A&M. I explore the links between the ?nerd,? ?queer,? and ?family? identities of Cepheid Variable, arguing that the intersection of these identity-markers and the performance practices which reinforce them enable Cepheid Variable to create a utopian space on the Texas A&M campus for those students who do not fit traditional notions of Aggie identity. I explore two Cepheid performance practices: noise-making and storytelling, arguing that they construct, support, and interweave each element of Cepheid identity, allowing the organization to perpetuate and reaffirm its utopian and counterpublic statuses at Texas A&M. I explore what the GLBT Aggies claims to provide in theory, juxtaposed with what it actually accomplishes in practice. I examine a moment of crisis the LGBTQ community at Texas A&M faced in spring 2011. I argue that the utopia the GLBTA promises remains unfulfilled because the marginalization of the LGBTQ community at large leaves diversity within that community unaddressed. I conclude that utopian communities persist if able to adapt, and that the strength of the intimacy built into queer utopias in particular sustains them through time.

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