Charles Ledbetter | Cardiff University (original) (raw)

Papers by Charles Ledbetter

Transformative Works & Cultures, 2020

Although escapism has been used pejoratively in describing fandom, it might be reframed as a reac... more Although escapism has been used pejoratively in describing fandom, it might be reframed as a reaction to untenable external circumstances. This reformulation of escapism is a starting point for examining how fan fiction is a political practice. In light of the political upheaval in the United States as well as the existential threat of climate change, this is a topical, even urgent, collective project for producing survivable conditions. Fan fiction uniquely diagnoses and imagines alternatives to oppressive political conditions. The lens of political dysphoria, adapted from critical transgender studies and used here to describe the dissonance between dominant political structures and desiring subjects, permits exploration of how fan fiction enables subjects to acknowledge oppressive political conditions, engage in coalitional rebellion, and reimagine societal structures for collective liberation.

As fan culture studies has gradually shifted focus to internet communities, analyses of queerness... more As fan culture studies has gradually shifted focus to internet communities, analyses of queerness in fan interactions have distanced themselves from discourses of the body, and the body's relationship with identity. While exploring online disembodiment has revealed novel configurations of sexuality in fan culture, the dismissal of the body's role in such interactions ignores the negotiations of identity taking place behind the screen. This essay analyses identity construction in gender creative costume performance, or “crossplay,” where individuals impersonate their favourite characters during fan meet-up events, in order to analyse the confluence between performance and identity in embodied fan practice. Utilising two case studies, I analyse the concrete practice of crossplay as a renegotiation of identity through gender alterity. For cisgender individuals, crossplay enables an expansion of licit expressions of heteronormative identity and for trans and gender nonconforming individuals, crossplay initiates broader reconfigurations of identity beyond the gender, even transgender, binary. (Written as an MPhil thesis in 2010, so please excuse that the discourse has evolved in some areas.)

Drafts by Charles Ledbetter

This represents a five-year ethnographic study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy i... more This represents a five-year ethnographic study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy in the Church of England. Using participant observation and ethnographic interviewing, this research examines the sociological dimension the Church’s policies regarding clerical sexuality, specifically the relationship between the Church’s official policy, which bars those in same-gender sexual relationships from ordained ministry, and the observation that a significant number of clergy fall into this category. The primary effect is a culture of deep institutional uncertainty. Clergy employ a range of strategies to reconcile with Church policy, safeguard partnerships, and maintain secure professional relationships. On the institutional side, supervisors negotiate responsibility to Church policy, pastoral responsibilities to clergy, and public perception. Ultimately, the tensions between these various roles are negotiated between clergy and supervisors in informal relationships employing covert uses of power and authority.

Transformative Works & Cultures, 2020

Although escapism has been used pejoratively in describing fandom, it might be reframed as a reac... more Although escapism has been used pejoratively in describing fandom, it might be reframed as a reaction to untenable external circumstances. This reformulation of escapism is a starting point for examining how fan fiction is a political practice. In light of the political upheaval in the United States as well as the existential threat of climate change, this is a topical, even urgent, collective project for producing survivable conditions. Fan fiction uniquely diagnoses and imagines alternatives to oppressive political conditions. The lens of political dysphoria, adapted from critical transgender studies and used here to describe the dissonance between dominant political structures and desiring subjects, permits exploration of how fan fiction enables subjects to acknowledge oppressive political conditions, engage in coalitional rebellion, and reimagine societal structures for collective liberation.

As fan culture studies has gradually shifted focus to internet communities, analyses of queerness... more As fan culture studies has gradually shifted focus to internet communities, analyses of queerness in fan interactions have distanced themselves from discourses of the body, and the body's relationship with identity. While exploring online disembodiment has revealed novel configurations of sexuality in fan culture, the dismissal of the body's role in such interactions ignores the negotiations of identity taking place behind the screen. This essay analyses identity construction in gender creative costume performance, or “crossplay,” where individuals impersonate their favourite characters during fan meet-up events, in order to analyse the confluence between performance and identity in embodied fan practice. Utilising two case studies, I analyse the concrete practice of crossplay as a renegotiation of identity through gender alterity. For cisgender individuals, crossplay enables an expansion of licit expressions of heteronormative identity and for trans and gender nonconforming individuals, crossplay initiates broader reconfigurations of identity beyond the gender, even transgender, binary. (Written as an MPhil thesis in 2010, so please excuse that the discourse has evolved in some areas.)

This represents a five-year ethnographic study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy i... more This represents a five-year ethnographic study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy in the Church of England. Using participant observation and ethnographic interviewing, this research examines the sociological dimension the Church’s policies regarding clerical sexuality, specifically the relationship between the Church’s official policy, which bars those in same-gender sexual relationships from ordained ministry, and the observation that a significant number of clergy fall into this category. The primary effect is a culture of deep institutional uncertainty. Clergy employ a range of strategies to reconcile with Church policy, safeguard partnerships, and maintain secure professional relationships. On the institutional side, supervisors negotiate responsibility to Church policy, pastoral responsibilities to clergy, and public perception. Ultimately, the tensions between these various roles are negotiated between clergy and supervisors in informal relationships employing covert uses of power and authority.