If it's OK with you, I'll just go through the questions one by one and try to answer them like that. ^-^
NOTE: Since you’ve got a lot of questions about culture, I thought it best to define my own definition of culture up here, so you can interpret my answers in context. ^-^ Basically, my understanding of “culture” follows the definition by Dirk Lange, who says that:
“Culture is a system of relevance and meaning which is communicated by larger groups of people. Thus, culture is a collective phenomenon. It can not be identified as a homogeneous attribute of certain national, religious, ethnic and cultural groups, however. Cultural identity is defined by the individual and thus isn’t static, but subject to constant changes or affirmation.”
(Dirk Lange, “Social Studies in an Intercultural Perspective”, 2004)
This means that when I use “culture” and “country” interchangeably, I’m aware that they’re not the same, but use them this way because I either speak about my own experiences as a member of one of my country’s “mainstream cultures”, which traditionally has close ties between country and culture, or I speak about another country’s media culture, which is strongly influenced by its geographic location / country’s history, etc. and which I feel has close enough ties between culture and country to justify the mix-up. I also, in a few, instances, use “mainstream” [insert other country] culture. I know this is a bit dangerous, because I’m not actually part of that culture. I try to do it only when I genuinely think that it’s part of a “mainstream” in that country, because I’ve read/heard other people refer to it as “mainstream”.
Anyway, onto the questionnaire!
Media Questions:
How much of what you fan on is produced by your own culture/country?
At the moment, nothing I actively fan (instead of just passively admire, like poetry) is produced by my own country (which is Germany, for your study’s records), and nothing is produced by the main culture in my country. About 1/5, however, is produced by the British culture, which I feel I belong to just a little bit, because I’ve lived in the Midlands and I have family there. (Plus, the part of Germany I live in has a culture very similar to the British one.)
How much of what you fan on is originally produced in your native language(s)?
Absolutely nothing, as far as I know.
Have either of the above changed over the course of your time in fandom?
No, not really. I discovered fandom (and especially online fandom) very late, so I never got into the organized fandoms of the books I used to love as a child/young teenager that were originally written by authors from my country. As an online fan, I started out in anime/manga fandom, then went on to rediscover my love for American/Canadian nineties TV shows and then fell into love with parts of the J-pop scene, none of which originates in my country or culture.
Got here via friendslist and promply started being tl;dr (Part 1)
NOTE: Since you’ve got a lot of questions about culture, I thought it best to define my own definition of culture up here, so you can interpret my answers in context. ^-^
Basically, my understanding of “culture” follows the definition by Dirk Lange, who says that:
(Dirk Lange, “Social Studies in an Intercultural Perspective”, 2004)
This means that when I use “culture” and “country” interchangeably, I’m aware that they’re not the same, but use them this way because I either speak about my own experiences as a member of one of my country’s “mainstream cultures”, which traditionally has close ties between country and culture, or I speak about another country’s media culture, which is strongly influenced by its geographic location / country’s history, etc. and which I feel has close enough ties between culture and country to justify the mix-up.
I also, in a few, instances, use “mainstream” [insert other country] culture. I know this is a bit dangerous, because I’m not actually part of that culture. I try to do it only when I genuinely think that it’s part of a “mainstream” in that country, because I’ve read/heard other people refer to it as “mainstream”.
Anyway, onto the questionnaire!
Media Questions:
How much of what you fan on is produced by your own culture/country?
At the moment, nothing I actively fan (instead of just passively admire, like poetry) is produced by my own country (which is Germany, for your study’s records), and nothing is produced by the main culture in my country. About 1/5, however, is produced by the British culture, which I feel I belong to just a little bit, because I’ve lived in the Midlands and I have family there. (Plus, the part of Germany I live in has a culture very similar to the British one.)
How much of what you fan on is originally produced in your native language(s)?
Absolutely nothing, as far as I know.
Have either of the above changed over the course of your time in fandom?
No, not really. I discovered fandom (and especially online fandom) very late, so I never got into the organized fandoms of the books I used to love as a child/young teenager that were originally written by authors from my country. As an online fan, I started out in anime/manga fandom, then went on to rediscover my love for American/Canadian nineties TV shows and then fell into love with parts of the J-pop scene, none of which originates in my country or culture.