Samantha Close earned her PhD in Communication at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include digital media, theory-practice, fan studies, gender, race, and Japanese media. She focuses particularly on labor and transforming models of creative industries and capitalism.
Her documentary, I Am Handmade: Crafting in the Age of Computers, based on her most recent research project, is hosted online by Vice Media’s Motherboard channel. Her writing appears in edited volumes and academic journals, such as Feminist Media Studies, Transformative Works and Cultures and Anthropology Now.
You can find her on Twitter @butnocigar.
Selected Publications
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters
- Close, S. (Forthcoming, 2017). "Knitting Activism, Knitting Gender, Knitting Race". International Journal of Communication.
- Close, S. & Wang, C. (Forthcoming). "Erotic Imaginaries of Power in Fan Fiction Tropes". in A. Spacey (Ed.), Sex, Subversion and Bodily Boundaries: The Darker Side of Slash Fiction. McFarland.
- Close, S. "Fan Activism". in G. Meikle (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Media and Activism. Routledge.
- Close, S. (2017). "‘Moon Prism Power!’ Censorship as Adaptation in the Case of Sailor Moon" Participations Journal of Audience and Reception Studies 14(1). 264-281.
- Close, S. (2016). "Fannish Masculinities in Transition in Anime Music Video Fandom". Transformative Works and Cultures 22.
- Close, S. (2016). "The Political Economy of Creative Entrepreneurship on Digital Platforms: Case Study of Etsy.com". Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 49.
- Close, S. (2014). "Crafting an Ideal Working World in the Contemporary United States". Anthropology Now, 6 (3), 68-79.
- Close, S. (2014). "Through the Eyes, Ears, and Fingertips of Fans: Vidders, AMV Editors, and their Sources". in D. Laderman & L. Westrup (Eds.), Sampling Media (pp. 199-211). New York: Oxford University Press. 199-211.
Edited Collections
- Close, S. & Schrock, A. (2017). Special Issue on Technological Expertise and Publics. Communication and the Public, 2(3).
Selected Book Reviews, Academic Blogging, and Encyclopedia Entries
- Close, S. (In Press). "Convergence Culture". In K. Peppler (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Close, S. (2016, May 13). "Election-related Folk Art". Invited Post for Hippo Reads.
- Close, S. (2016). Review of 'Being Digital Citizens'. Journal of Cultural Economy 9 (5), 519-522.
- Close, S. (2014, July 3). "Trying for a Transnational, Transdisciplinary, Transhierarchical Scholarly Environment: What I Did Last Summer". Invited post for Cultural Interventions Forum of Ethos Review.
- Close, S. (2013). Review of 'Mechademia Vol. 6: User Enhanced'. Transformative Works and Cultures 12.
- Close, S. & Schrock, A. (2013, May 24). "Introduction to Blog Collection on Civic Kickstarters". Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins.
- Close, S. (2011). "A Dialogue Between Danielle Corsetto" and Sam Close. Octopus Journal 5.
Creative Work
Comics
- Close, S. (2015). The Absent Presence of Gender in Webcomics. Feminist Media Studies, 15 (3): 533-538. First comics format article for the journal
- Close, S. (2013, May 24). "Why All Kickstarters are Civic Kickstarters". Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins.
Film
- 'I Am Handmade’: Crafting in the Age of Computers. Hosted by Vice Media’s channel Motherboard. Screened at Feminist Activism: Imagination and Social Change Colloquium. University of York. 6-7 May 2016.
- Southwestern Anthropological Association Annual Conference. 1-2 May 2015.
- Screening Scholarship Media Festival. University of Pennsylvania. 27-28 March 2015.
- Human Cinema Film Festival. California State University at Long Beach. 13 November 2014.
- Master of Arts in Visual Anthropology Thesis Projects Premiere. University of Southern California. 14 September 2014.
Digital